The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice

2021-11-06 Performing Arts

Author : Joseph Zornado
Release : 2021-11-06
Genre : Performing Arts
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 582/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice by : Joseph Zornado

Download or read book The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice written by Joseph Zornado. This book was released on 2021-11-06. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyzes the cinematic superhero as social practice. The study’s critical context brings together psychoanalysis and restorative and reflective nostalgia as a way of understanding the ideological function of superhero fantasy. It explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic breakthrough with Superman (1978). The authors then focus on Spider-Man as reflective response to Superman’s restorative nostalgia, and read MCU’s overarching narrative from Iron Man to End Game in terms of the concurrent social, political, and environmental conditions as a world in crisis. Zornado and Reilly take up Wonder Woman and Black Panther as self-conscious attempts to reflect on gender and race in restorative superhero fantasy, and explore Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as a meditation on the need for authoritarian fascism. The book concludes with Logan, Wonder Woman 1984, and Amazon Prime’s The Boys as distinctly reflective fantasy narratives critical of the superhero fantasy phenomenon.

The Disaster Film as Social Practice

2024-07-26 Social Science

Author : Joseph Zornado
Release : 2024-07-26
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 977/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Disaster Film as Social Practice by : Joseph Zornado

Download or read book The Disaster Film as Social Practice written by Joseph Zornado. This book was released on 2024-07-26. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveying disaster films from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, this book explores the disaster film genre from its initial appearance in 1933 (The Grapes of Wrath, 1933) to its present-day form (Don’t Look Up!, 2021), laying bare the ideological unconscious at work within the genre. The Disaster Film as Social Practice examines environmental science, history, film and literature in its interdisciplinary analysis of the disaster film genre. It explores the interplay, and the dichotomy, of “restorative” and “reflective” disaster narratives. An analysis of cinema's role in symbolizing and managing collective anxiety around disaster and death narratives examines how disaster films, through their narrative structures and symbolic elements, contribute to the public's understanding and emotional processing of real-world threats, and how cinematic narratives shape and are shaped by public and private ideological discourses, reflecting deeper psychological and environmental truths. Finally, the book offers an overview of how the transformation of the disaster film genre over time tells a history through imagining the worst. Providing a nuanced understanding of the disaster film genre and its significance in contemporary culture and thought, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of film studies, cultural studies, media studies, and environmental studies.

Superheroes as a Social Practice

2013 Comic books, strips, etc

Author : Sara Reilly
Release : 2013
Genre : Comic books, strips, etc
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Superheroes as a Social Practice by : Sara Reilly

Download or read book Superheroes as a Social Practice written by Sara Reilly. This book was released on 2013. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Science Fiction Film in Contemporary Hollywood

2023-07-27 Performing Arts

Author : Evdokia Stefanopoulou
Release : 2023-07-27
Genre : Performing Arts
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 222/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Science Fiction Film in Contemporary Hollywood by : Evdokia Stefanopoulou

Download or read book The Science Fiction Film in Contemporary Hollywood written by Evdokia Stefanopoulou. This book was released on 2023-07-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Science Fiction Film in Contemporary Hollywood focuses on the American science fiction (SF) film during the period 2001-2020, in order to provide a theoretical mapping of the genre in the context of Conglomerate Hollywood. Using a social semiotics approach in a systematic corpus of films, the book argues that the SF film can be delineated by two semiotic squares -the first one centering on the genre's more-than-human ontologies (SF bodies), and the second one focusing on its imaginative worlds (SF worlds). Based on this theoretical framework, the book examines the genre in six cycles, which are placed in their historical context, and are analyzed in relation to cultural discourses, such as technological embodiment, race, animal-human relations, environmentalism, global capitalism, and the techno-scientific Empire. By considering these cycles -which include superhero films, creature films, space operas, among others-as expressions of the genre's basic oppositions, the book facilitates the comparison and juxtaposition of films that have rarely been discussed in tandem, offering a new perspective on the multiple articulations of the SF film in the new millennium.

The Contemporary Superhero Film

2020-11-10 Performing Arts

Author : Terence McSweeney
Release : 2020-11-10
Genre : Performing Arts
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 792/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Contemporary Superhero Film by : Terence McSweeney

Download or read book The Contemporary Superhero Film written by Terence McSweeney. This book was released on 2020-11-10. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Audiences around the globe continue to flock to see the latest releases from Marvel and DC studios, making it clear that superhero films resonate with the largest global audience that Hollywood has ever reached. Yet despite dominating theater screens like never before, the superhero genre remains critically marginalized—ignored at best and more often actively maligned. Terence McSweeney examines this global phenomenon, providing a concise and up-to-date overview of the superhero genre. He lays out its narrative codes and conventions, exploring why it appeals to diverse audiences and what it has to say about the world in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Unpacking the social, ideological, and cultural content of superhero films, he argues that the genre should be considered a barometer of contemporary social anxieties and a reflection of cultural values. McSweeney scrutinizes representations of gender, race, and sexuality as well as how the genre’s conventions relate to and comment on contemporary political debates. Beyond American contributions to the genre, the book also features extensive analysis of superhero films from all over the world, contrasting them with the dominant U.S. model. The book’s presentation of a range of case studies and critical debates is accessible and engaging for students, scholars, and enthusiasts at all levels.

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