ABSTRACT
What I propose to discuss here is the extent to which one may gain an idea of 'popular taste' from a certain cinematic genre, the peplum, 1 which is regarded as 'mass entertainment' both because of the large audiences it draws and because of the contempt in which it is held by most film historians and critics. For it is a fact that although sociological research has been done on this subject it is very hard to ascertain what sort of reception such films get in social milieux which do not habitually express themselves, or at least leave few detectable traces of their opinions, and what 'cultural uses' spectators make of them. I shall start by postulating that it may be possible to gain some idea of that reception by analysing the films' recurring themes and formal mannerisms.
