Tollywood Historical Drama is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Tollywood Historical Films include historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swashbucklers. A period piece may be set in a vague or general era such as the Middle Ages, or a specific period such as the Roaring Twenties, or the recent past. In different eras, different subgenres have risen to popularity, such as the westerns and sword and sandal films that dominated North American cinema in the 1950s. Costume drama is often separated as a genre of historical drama. Other critics have defended costume dramas and argued that they are disparaged because they are a genre directed toward women.