Marvel Comics' Civil War and the Age of Terror
Marvel Comics' Civil War and the Age of Terror

Author: Kevin Michael Scott

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2015-09-04

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0786496894

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Marvel Comics has an established tradition of addressing relevant real-life issues facing the American public. With the publication of Civil War (2006-2007), a seven-issue crossover storyline spanning the Marvel universe, they focused on contemporary anxieties such as terrorism and threats to privacy and other civil liberties. This collection of new essays explores the Civil War series and its many tie-in titles from the perspectives of history, political science, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, law and education. The contributors provide a close reading of the series' main theme--the appropriate balance between freedom and security--and discuss how that balance affects citizenship, race, gender and identity construction in 21st-century America.

Captain America and the American Journey, 1940-2022
Captain America and the American Journey, 1940-2022

Author: Richard A. Hall

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2024-02-28

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1476688745

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Captain America made his debut in 1940, just two years behind the first comic book superheroes and five years before the United States' emergence as the world's primary superpower at the end of World War II. His journey has been intertwined with America's progress throughout the decades. Known as the "Sentinel of Liberty," he has frequently provided socio-political commentary on current events as well as inspiration and warnings concerning the future. This work explores the interconnected histories of the United States and Captain America, decade-by-decade, from the character's origins to Chris Evans' portrayal of him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It examines how Captain America's story provides a guide through America's tenure as a global superpower, holds a mirror up to American society, and acts as a constant reminder of what America can and should be.

A Philosopher Reads...Marvel Comics' Civil War
A Philosopher Reads...Marvel Comics' Civil War

Author: Mark D. White

Publisher: Ockham Publishing Group

Published: 2022-06-29

Total Pages: 726

ISBN-13: 1910780111

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We love to see superheroes fight, whether to protect innocent people from supervillains or to save the world. But superheroes also fight each other, and if we can look past the energy blasts and earth-shattering punches, we can find serious disagreements over principles and ethics. This was certainly the case when Captain America and Iron Man went head-to-head over liberty and security in Marvel Comics' epic Civil War storyline, a fictional allegory to post-9/11 America (as well as the basis for the third Captain America film). In his latest book, Mark D. White, author of The Virtues of Captain America and editor of Iron Man and Philosophy, carefully leads you through the ethical thinking of the three characters on the front lines of the Civil War: Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man. In his characteristically light and humorous tone, White lays out the basic ethical foundations of each hero's thinking and highlights the moral judgment each must use to put his ethics into action. But also how conflicting principles such as liberty and security must be balanced in the real world, lest both be lost. Written in a style that will be easily accessible to everyone, A Philosopher Reads... Marvel Comics' Civil War will be a fascinating read for diehard comic fans and philosophy buffs, as well as those looking for a simple introduction to philosophical ethics.

Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Author: Michael D. Nichols

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2021-02-22

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1476681597

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Breaking box office records, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has achieved an unparalleled level of success with fans across the world, raising the films to a higher level of narrative: myth. This is the first book to analyze the Marvel output as modern myth, comparing it to epics, symbols, rituals, and stories from world religious traditions. This book places the exploits of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, and the other stars of the Marvel films alongside the legends of Achilles, Gilgamesh, Arjuna, the Buddha, and many others. It examines their origin stories and rites of passage, the monsters, shadow-selves, and familial conflicts they contend with, and the symbols of death and the battle against it that stalk them at every turn. The films deal with timeless human dilemmas and questions, evoking an enduring sense of adventure and wonder common across world mythic traditions.

Reborn of Crisis
Reborn of Crisis

Author: Annika Hagley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-08-09

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 0429885156

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This book examines the dominant popular culture convention of the superhero, situated within the most significant global event of the last 20 years. Exploring the explosion of the superhero genre post-9/11, it sheds fresh light on the manner in which American society has processed and continues to process the trauma from the terrorist attacks. Beginning with the development of Batman in comics, television, and film, the authors offer studies of popular films including Iron Man, Captain America, The X-Men, Black Panther, and Wonder Woman, revealing the ways in which these texts meditate upon the events and aftermath of 9/11 and challenge the dominant hyper-patriotic narrative that emerged in response to the attacks. A study of the superhero genre’s capacity to unpack complex global interplays that question America’s foreign policy actions and the white, militarized masculinity that has characterized major discourses following 9/11, this volume explores the engagement of superhero films with issues of authority, patriotism, war, morals, race, gender, surveillance, the military industrial complex, and American political and social identities. As such, it will appeal to scholars and students of cultural and media studies, film studies, sociology, politics, and American studies.

The Modern Superhero in Film and Television
The Modern Superhero in Film and Television

Author: Jeffrey A. Brown

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-11-10

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1317484517

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Hollywood’s live-action superhero films currently dominate the worldwide box-office, with the characters enjoying more notoriety through their feature film and television depictions than they have ever before. This book argues that this immense popularity reveals deep cultural concerns about politics, gender, ethnicity, patriotism and consumerism after the events of 9/11. Superheroes have long been agents of hegemony, fighting for abstract ideals of justice while overall perpetuating the American status quo. Yet at the same time, the book explores how the genre has also been utilized to question and critique these dominant cultural assumptions.

Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan

Author: Darren Mooney

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2018-10-10

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1476634610

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Christopher Nolan is one of the defining directors of the 21st century. Few of his contemporaries can compete in terms of critical and commercial success, let alone cultural impact. His films have a rare ability to transcend audience expectations, appealing to both casual moviegoers and dyed-in-the-wool cineastes. Nolan's work ranges from gritty crime thrillers (Memento, Insomnia) to spectacular blockbusters (the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception). They have taken audiences from the depths of space (Interstellar) to the harsh realities of war (Dunkirk). And they have pushed the boundaries of the possible in modern movie making. This critical history covers his complete filmography, tracing his career from film student to indie darling to Oscar-nominated auteur.

The Sleeper Agent in Post-9/11 Media
The Sleeper Agent in Post-9/11 Media

Author: Vanessa Ossa

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-01

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 3031115163

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This book examines the figure of the sleeper agent as part of post-9/11 political, journalistic and fictional discourse. There is a tendency to discuss the terroristic threat after 9/11 as either a faraway enemy to be hunted down by military force or, on the other hand, as a ubiquitous, intangible threat that required constant alertness at home. The missing link between these two is the sleeper agent – the foreign enemy hiding among US citizens. By analyzing popular television shows, several US comic books, and a broad variety of Hollywood films that depict sleeper agents direct or allegorically, this book explores how a shift in perspective—from terrorist to sleeper agent—brings new insights into our understanding of post-9/11 representations of terrorism. The book’s interdisciplinary focus between media studies, cultural studies, and American studies, suggests that it will find an audience in a variety of fields, including historical research, narratology, popular culture, as well as media and terrorism studies.

The Ages of the Justice League
The Ages of the Justice League

Author: Joseph J. Darowski

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2017-03-27

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1476662258

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The first superhero team from the Silver Age of comics, DC's Justice League has seen many iterations since its first appearance in 1960. As the original comic book continued and spin-off titles proliferated, talented writers, artists and editors adapted the team to appeal to changing audience tastes. This collection of new essays examines more than five decades of Justice League comics and related titles. Each essay considers a storyline or era of the franchise in its historical and social contexts.

The Function of Evil across Disciplinary Contexts
The Function of Evil across Disciplinary Contexts

Author: Malcah Effron

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2017-02-15

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 1498533426

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The Functions of Evil Across Disciplinary Contexts explores answers to two important questions about the age-old theme of evil: is there any use in using the concept of evil in cultural, psychological, or other secular evaluations of the world and its productions? Most importantly, if there is, what might these functions be? By looking across several disciplines and analyzing evil as it is referenced across a broad spectrum of phenomena, this work demonstrates the varying ways that we interact with the ethical dilemma as academics, as citizens, and as people. The work draws from authors in different fields—including history, literary and film studies, philosophy, and psychology—and from around the world to provide an analysis of evil in such topics as deeply canonical as Beowulf and Shakespeare to subjects as culturally resonant as Stephen King, Captain America, or the War on Terror. By bringing together this otherwise disparate collection of scholarship, this collection reveals that discussions of evil across disciplines have always been questions of how cultures represent that which they find socially abhorrent. This work thus opens the conversation about evil outside of field-specific limitations, simultaneously demonstrating the assumptions that undergird the manner by which such a conversation proceeds.