Epic / Everyday

Sarah Cardwell is Honorary Fellow in the School of Arts at the University of KentJonathan Bignell is Professor of Television and Film at the University of ReadingLucy Fife Donaldson is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St. Andrews

• Introduction: epic/everyday – Sarah Cardwell1 Configurations of man, monster and hero in The Incredible Hulk – James C. Taylor2 Game of Thrones’ Epic 9s: a series of epic moments intertwined with the everyday – Louise Coopey3 ‘I felt the touch of the kings and the breath of the wind’: making the everyday epic in Detectorists – Phil Wickham4 From the everyday to the epic and back: ‘foreground’ and ‘background’ in Community– Timotheus Vermeulen5 The epic in the everyday: television and Doctor Who, ‘The Chase’ – Jonathan Bignell6 Storms and teacups: Russell T. Davies, the epic and the everyday – James Walters7 Spies with ties: the marital logic of the Cold War in The Americans– Courtney Hopf and Liam Creighton8 Columbo: in touch with the ordinary –Alex Clayton and Sarah Moore9 Lost in the everyday – Zoë ShacklockIndex

'In this addition to the "Moments in Television" series from Manchester University Press, the authors of this essay collection employ varying definitions of "epic" (e.g., the hero’s journey, grandeur, a sweeping narrative) and "everyday" (e.g., omnipresence of television in everyday life, representations of everyday life) to compare and contrast how the concepts play out in a number of television texts. For example, the chapter on Lost contrasts mundane tasks like laundry with an overarching epic narrative that includes a monster, the afterlife, and time travel. In the chapter on Columbo, the central question of life and death serves as the epic canvas, but the detective uses the disruption of daily routine, like a misplaced bath towel, to uncover the murderer. Other texts explored in these essays include Game of Thrones, The Incredible Hulk, Doctor Who, The Detectorists, and The Americans.'CHOICE(Reprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association.)