Representations of New York City in the Superhero Genre

Representations of New York City in the Superhero Genre PDF Author: Ann Kathrin Weber
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656670536
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1.0, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: This paper attempts to provide a scholarly analysis of the discussion triggered by Frank Miller’s comment that “Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night.” The paper aims to analyze the representation of Gotham City in Nolan’s "The Dark Knight" trilogy and the representation of Metropolis as fictional version of New York City in selected episodes of the television series "Smallville." Starting from a disambiguation of the respective city’s name, it continues with an analysis of the resulting relation of factual and imagined place. In the following,the author discusses the possibility of understanding the cities, both Gotham City and Metropolis, as characters within the framework of the respective superhero narrative. To do so, three different theories of space and spatial practices are being introduced: Michel Foucault’s “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” (1984), Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space (1991), and Michel de Certeau’s The Practices of Everyday Life (1984). These theories and their respective approaches to space, as contradictory as they might seem, open up various ways to discuss the city as character.

Representations of New York City in the Superhero Genre

Representations of New York City in the Superhero Genre PDF Author: Ann Kathrin Weber
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3656670536
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Get Book Here

Book Description
Bachelor Thesis from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1.0, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: This paper attempts to provide a scholarly analysis of the discussion triggered by Frank Miller’s comment that “Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night.” The paper aims to analyze the representation of Gotham City in Nolan’s "The Dark Knight" trilogy and the representation of Metropolis as fictional version of New York City in selected episodes of the television series "Smallville." Starting from a disambiguation of the respective city’s name, it continues with an analysis of the resulting relation of factual and imagined place. In the following,the author discusses the possibility of understanding the cities, both Gotham City and Metropolis, as characters within the framework of the respective superhero narrative. To do so, three different theories of space and spatial practices are being introduced: Michel Foucault’s “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias” (1984), Henri Lefebvre’s The Production of Space (1991), and Michel de Certeau’s The Practices of Everyday Life (1984). These theories and their respective approaches to space, as contradictory as they might seem, open up various ways to discuss the city as character.

The Modern Superhero in Film and Television

The Modern Superhero in Film and Television PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Brown
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317484517
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
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.

The Superhero Symbol

The Superhero Symbol PDF Author: Liam Burke
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813597161
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Bringing together superhero scholars and key industry figures The Superhero Symbol unmasks how superheroes have become so pervasive in media, culture, and politics. This timely collection explores how these powerful icons are among the entertainment industry's most valuable intellectual properties, yet can be appropriated for everything from activism to cosplay and real-life vigilantism.

Multiplicity and Cultural Representation in Transmedia Storytelling

Multiplicity and Cultural Representation in Transmedia Storytelling PDF Author: Natalie Underberg-Goode
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000801950
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book explores the relationship between multiplicity and representation of non-European and European-American cultures, with a focus on comics and superheroes. The author employs a combination of research methodologies, including close reading of transmedia texts and interviews with transmedia storytellers and audiences, to better understand the way in which diverse cultures are employed as agents of multiplicity in transmedia narratives. The book addresses both commercial franchises such as superhero narratives, as well as smaller indie projects, in an attempt to elucidate the way in which key cultural symbols and concepts are utilized by writers, designers, and producers, and how these narrative choices affect audiences – both those who identify as members of the culture being represented and those who do not. Case studies include fan fiction based on Marvel’s Black Panther (2018), fan fiction and art created for the Moana (2016) and Mulan (2020) films, and creations by both U.S.-based and international indie comics artists and writers. This book will appeal to scholars and students of new media, narrative theory, cultural studies, sociocultural anthropology, folkloristics, English/literary studies, and popular culture, transmedia storytelling researchers, and both creators and fans of superhero comics.

Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes

Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Brown
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1978825285
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Impossibly muscular men and voluptuous women parade around in revealing, skintight outfits, and their romantic and sexual entanglements are a key part of the ongoing drama. Such is the state of superhero comics and movies, a genre that has become one of our leading mythologies, conveying influential messages about gender, sexuality, and relationships. Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes examines a full range of superhero media, from comics to films to television to merchandising. With a keen eye for the genre’s complex and internally contradictory mythology, comics scholar Jeffrey A. Brown considers its mixed messages. Superhero comics may reinforce sex roles with their litany of phallic musclemen and slinky femme fatales, but they also blur gender binaries with their emphasis on transformation and body swaps. Similarly, while most heroes have heterosexual love interests, the genre prioritizes homosocial bonding, and it both celebrates and condemns gendered and sexualized violence. With examples spanning from the Golden Ages of DC and Marvel comics up to recent works like the TV series The Boys, this study provides a comprehensive look at how superhero media shapes our perceptions of love, sex, and gender.

Superheroes and Excess

Superheroes and Excess PDF Author: Jamie Brassett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351396927
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Finding the superhero genre in need of further investigation from philosophical standpoints that value excess as a creative drive, rather than denigrate it as a problem to be resolved, this book opens up discussions that highlight different approaches to ‘the creative excess of being’ as expressed through the genre. While superheroes are an everyday, culturally dominant phenomena, philosophical methods and investigations have a reputation for lofty superiority. Across 13 chapters, this book facilitates a collision between the superhero genre and the discipline of philosophy, resulting in a voyage of exploration where each illuminates the other. The contributions in this book range from new voices to recognized scholars, offering superhero studies a set of critical interventions that are unusual, conceptually diverse, theoretically grounded and varied in practice. These chapters consider ‘excessive’ traits of superheroes against schools of thought that have attempted to conceptualize and understand excess by analysing texts and figures across a variety of mediums, such as The Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Vision, Logan, Black Panther and Super Hero Girls. With its unique approach to the superhero genre, this book will be an invaluable read for students and scholars working on comic studies, transmedia studies, cultural studies, popular culture and superhero studies.

Capitalist Superheroes

Capitalist Superheroes PDF Author: Dan Hassler-Forest
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1780991800
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
In the same way that Stallone and Schwarzenegger played film heroes who came to embody the values of Ronald Reagans aggressive conservative agenda in the 1980s, the 21st-century film narratives of Batman, Spider-Man and Superman reflect the policies of the Bush Doctrine after 9/11. This book offers a groundbreaking study of the relationship that exists between post-9/11 American politics and the contemporary superhero movie phenomenon. No other Hollywood subgenre was as consistently popular during the George W. Bush presidency, as films such as Spider-Man, Superman Returns, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight embodied the key contradictions that inform the cultural and political life of the post-9/11 years. By combining in-depth analyses of numerous major superhero films from this era with astute readings of contemporary critical theory, this book offers accessible and academically potent insight into the complex interplay between politics, ideology, and entertainment in the 21st century. ,

Gender and the Superhero Narrative

Gender and the Superhero Narrative PDF Author: Michael Goodrum
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496818830
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
Contributions by Dorian L. Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola, Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich, Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott-Johnson, Philip Smith, and Maite Ucaregui The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests. Yet just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic shifts—both in the creation of superhero media and in their critical and reader reception—need reassessment not only of the role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.

Urban Comics

Urban Comics PDF Author: Dominic Davies
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351054481
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Urban Comics: Infrastructure and the Global City in Contemporary Graphic Narratives makes an important and timely contribution both to comics studies and urban studies, offering a decolonisation and reconfiguration of both of these already interdisciplinary fields. With chapter-length discussions of comics from cities such as Cairo, Cape Town, New Orleans, Delhi and Beirut, this book shows how artistic collectives and urban social movements working across the global South are producing some of the most exciting and formally innovative graphic narratives of the contemporary moment. Throughout, the author reads an expansive range of graphic narratives through the vocabulary of urban studies to argue that these formal innovations should be thought of as a kind of infrastructure. This ‘infrastructural form’ allows urban comics to reveal that the built environments of our cities are not static, banal, or depoliticised, but rather highly charged material spaces that allow some forms of social life to exist while also prohibiting others. Built from a formal infrastructure of grids, gutters and panels, and capable of volumetric, multi-scalar perspectives, this book shows how urban comics are able to represent, repair and even rebuild contemporary global cities toward more socially just and sustainable ends. Operating at the intersection of comics studies and urban studies, and offering large global surveys alongside close textual and visual analyses, this book explores and opens up the fascinating relationship between comics and graphic narratives, on the one hand, and cities and urban spaces, on the other.

Affirmative Reaction

Affirmative Reaction PDF Author: Hamilton Carroll
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822349485
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This title explores the cultural politics of hetero-normative white masculine privilege in the US. Through close readings of texts ranging from the television drama '24' to the Marvel Comics 'The Call of Duty', Carroll argues that the true privilege of white masculinity is to be mobile and mutable.