The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film
The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film
Superhero films are one of the most enduring genres of cinema, and their popularity is only increasing in the 21st century. These ten critical essays explore the phenomenon through the lenses of numerous academic disciplines, and cover topics such as the role of globalization in the formation of superhero narratives, the shifting nature of masculinity and femininity in the superhero world and the state of the genre today. Of particular interest is the way these narratives, however fantastic, abstract, futuristic or simplistic, resonate with specific events in the world and function as starting points for discussion of contemporary sociopolitical conflicts.
- ASIN: 0786463457
- ISBN: 0786463457
- Brand: Brand: McFarland
- Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century
Dark Dreams 2.0: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film from the 1950s to the 21st Century
Greatly expanded and updated from the 1977 original, this new edition explores the evolution of the modern horror film, particularly as it reflects anxieties associated with the atomic bomb, the Cold War, 1960s violence, sexual liberation, the Reagan revolution, 9/11 and the Iraq War. It divides modern horror into three varieties (psychological, demonic and apocalyptic) and demonstrates how horror cinema represents the popular expression of everyday fears while revealing the forces that influence American ideological and political values. Directors given a close reading include Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Michael Haneke, Robert Aldrich, Mel Gibson and George A. Romero. Additional material discusses postmodern remakes, horror franchises and Asian millennial horror. This book also contains more than 950 frame grabs and a very extensive filmography.
- ASIN: 0786433973
- ISBN: 0786433973
- Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
Extras of Early Hollywood: A History of the Crowd, 1913-1945 (Twenty-first Century Works)
Extras of Early Hollywood: A History of the Crowd, 1913-1945 (Twenty-first Century Works)
Pity the "extras." Mostly overlooked and forgotten. Especially those in the major Hollywood films 1913 to 1945--right through the dream factory's golden era. The struggles of extras to unionize were followed by internal struggles as the extras fought for a voice within that union. There were just too few jobs for far too many extras, some of whom were lured to Hollywood by what seemed to be rags-to-riches tales of stardom (but which were likely little more than industry publicity plants). Once lured to the film capital the reality was much different: low pay, little or no work, ripoffs from private employment agencies, and sexual harassment of the women, likely very much underreported. Some extras had special skills or language abilities, some had wardrobes replete with many period costumes.
- ASIN: 0786473304
- ISBN: 0786473304
- Manufacturer: McFarland
Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century: Essays on New Adaptations
Sherlock Holmes for the 21st Century: Essays on New Adaptations
The 21st century is a good time to be Sherlock Holmes. He stars in the recent Guy Ritchie films, with Robert Downey, Jr., playing the great detective; an internationally popular BBC television series, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock; a novel sanctioned by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate; and dozens of additional novels and short stories, including two by Neil Gaiman. Add to this video games, comic books, and fan-created works, plus a potent Internet and social media presence. Holmes' London has even become a prime destination for cinematic tourists.The evidence is clearly laid out in this collection of 14 new essays: Holmes and Watson are more popular than ever. Why we continue to be fascinated with them is the overall topic. The genius detective has been portrayed as hero as well as antihero. Adaptations describe him as tech savvy, scientifically detached, even psychologically aberrant; he has been romantically linked to The Woman and bromantically to Watson. Whether Victorian or modern, he continues to intrigue us. These essays analyze Sherlock Holmes as a cultural icon and explain why he is destined to be a beloved if controversial character for years to come.
- ASIN: 0786468408
- ISBN: 9780786468409
- Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious
Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious
For many years, conspiracy theories have been among the most popular story elements in Hollywood films. According to the "conspiracy culture," Government, Big Business, the Church, even aliens--all of which, bundled together, comprise the ubiquitous "Them"--are concealing some of the biggest secrets in American and world history. From The Manchurian Candidate (1962) to JFK (1991), The Matrix (1999) to The Da Vinci Code (2006), this decade-by-decade history explores our fascination with paranoia. The work paints a vivid picture of several of the more prevalent conspiracy theories and the entertainment they have inspired, not only in theatrical films but also in such television series as The X-Files, Lost and V.
- ASIN: 0786439017
- ISBN: 0786439017
- Brand: Brand: McFarland
- Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy)
Apocalypse in Australian Fiction and Film: A Critical Study (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy)
Australia has been a frequent choice of location for narratives about the end of the world in science fiction and speculative works, ranging from pre-colonial apocalyptic maps to key literary works from the last fifty years. This critical work explores the role of Australia in both apocalyptic literature and film. Works and genres covered include Nevil Shute's popular novel On the Beach, Mad Max, children's literature, Indigenous writing, and cyberpunk. The text examines ways in which apocalypse is used to undermine complacency, foretell environmental disasters, critique colonization, and to serve as a means of protest for minority groups. Australian apocalypse imagines Australia at the ends of the world, geographically and psychologically, but also proposes spaces of hope for the future.
- ASIN: 0786460512
- ISBN: 0786460512
- Manufacturer: McFarland
Plays from New River 2
Plays from New River 2
This is the second volume of Plays from New River, showcasing a place where gifted writers of plays and screenplays are paid and nurtured to write whatever they most want to write. These three very different plays are among the results. Mark Eisman's Feasting on Cardigans explores with whimsical humor a pair of dedicated exterminators and the emotional effect they have on those lives they touch. M.Z. Ribalow's Tiger in the Tree is an intriguing thriller that as it proceeds becomes about much more than one might assume at the beginning. James McLure's Baseball Game of the Week is a deceptively moving, always funny meditation on progress, memory and baseball.
- ASIN: 0786472758
- ISBN: 0786472758
- Brand: Brand: McFarland
- Manufacturer: McFarland
Portraying 9/11: Essays on Representations in Comics, Literature, Film and Theatre
Portraying 9/11: Essays on Representations in Comics, Literature, Film and Theatre
Commentators and artists attempting to represent the events of September 11, 2001, struggle to create meaning in the face of such powerful experiences. This collection of essays offers critical insights into the discourses that shape the memory of 9/11 in the narrative genres of comics, literature, film, and theatre. It examines historical, political, cultural, and personal meanings of the disaster and its aftermath through critical discussions of Marvel and New Yorker comics, American and British novels, Hollywood films, and the plays of Anne Nelson.
- ASIN: 0786459506
- ISBN: 0786459506
- Manufacturer: Mcfarland
Rape, Rage and Feminism in Contemporary American Drama
Rape, Rage and Feminism in Contemporary American Drama
This first-ever study of rape in modern American drama examines portrayals of rape, raped women and rapists in 36 plays written between 1970 and 2007, the period during which the feminist movement made rape a matter of public discourse. These dramas reveal much about sexuality and masculine and feminine identity in the United States. The author traces the impact of second-wave feminism, antifeminist backlash, third-wave feminism and postfeminism on the dramatic depiction of rape. The prevalence of commonly accepted rape myths--that women who dress provocatively invite sexual assault, for example--is well documented, along with equally frequent examples which dispute these myths.
- ASIN: 0786470356
- ISBN: 0786470356
- Manufacturer: McFarland
The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy: A Critical Study
The Contemporary American Dramatic Trilogy: A Critical Study
The dramatic trilogy has been flourishing for some time now in new works and revivals of older works by American, British, and European playwrights. This book analyzes recent American works by Caucasian, African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American men and women. There are five chapters beginning with Opposing Families (trilogies of, e.g., Lanford Wilson, Foote, Machado, and McCraney are examined). Carson, Rabe, and McLaughlin are among those in the Classical Reimaginings chapter while Coen, Berc, and Wolfe constitute the Medieval Reimaginings chapter. Van Itallie, Havis, Rapp, and Hwang, among others, create New Forms. LaBute, Fierstein, and Nelson, among others, create New Selves. The concluding chapter is devoted to Ruhl's Passion Play, which spans 400 years of theatre-creating from Elizabethan England to Hitler's Germany to the Reagan era in America.
- ASIN: 0786470976
- ISBN: 0786470976
- Brand: Brand: Mcfarland
- Manufacturer: Mcfarland