Of Muscles and Men

Michael G. Cornelius is a professor of English and director of the Master’s of Humanities program at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He is an award-winning novelist and the author or editor of numerous scholarly works.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction—Of Muscles and Men: The Forms and Functions of the Sword and Sandal FilmMICHAEL G. CORNELIUS      Hercules, Politics, and MoviesMARIA ELENA D’AMELIO      Hero Trouble: Blood, Politics, and Kinship in Pasolini’s MedeaKRISTI M. WILSON      “To do or die manfully”: Performing Heteronormativity in Recent Epic FilmsJERRY B. PIERCE      From Maciste to Maximus and Company: The Fragmented Hero in the New EpicANDREW B. R. ELLIOTT      Reverent and Irreverent Violence: In Defense of Spartacus, Conan, and LeonidasJOHN ELIA      “Civilization ... ancient and wicked”: Historicizing the Ideological Field of 1980s Sword and Sandal FilmsKEVIN M. FLANAGAN      Homer’s Lies, Brad Pitt’s Thighs: Revisiting the Pre-Oedipal Mother and the German Wartime Father in Wolfgang Petersen’s TroyROBERT C. PIRRO      An Enduring Logic: Homer, Helen of Troy, and Narrative MobilityLARRY T. SHILLOCK      “By Jupiter’s Cock!” Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Video Games, and Camp ExcessDAVID SIMMONS      Beefy Guys and Brawny Dolls: He-Man, the Masters of the Universe, and Gay Clone CultureMICHAEL G. CORNELIUS      Developments in Peplum Filmmaking: Disney’s HerculesCHRIS PALLANT      Hercules Diminished? Parody, Differentiation, and Emulation in The Three Stooges Meet HerculesDANIEL O’BRIEN      About the Contributors      Index