Description
Book SynopsisTerence McSweeney provides 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.
Trade ReviewWith the emphasis on the global impact of comic book crusaders on screen, McSweeney offers a powerful take on the cultural and categorical stakes involved in superhero cinema that will appeal to comics fans and scholars alike. -- Blair Davis, author of
Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page and
Comic Book MoviesTerence McSweeney has written an excellent introduction to superhero cinema and the surrounding scholarship in the field.
The Contemporary Superhero Film does exactly what I’d expect in a student-friendly overview of the superhero genre. -- Iain Smith, author of
The Hollywood Meme: Transnational Adaptations in World CinemaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: Cultural Phenomenon or Cultural Catastrophe?
1 The Codes and Conventions of the Contemporary Superhero Film
2 The Mythologies of the Contemporary Superhero Film
3 Gender and Sexuality in the Contemporary Superhero Film
4 Ethnicity in the Contemporary Superhero Film
5 The Global Contemporary Superhero Film
Conclusion: “Is it me or is it getting crazier out there?”
The Future of the Contemporary Superhero Film and the Genre’s “Impossible Solutions for Insoluble Problems”
Filmography
Notes
Bibliography
Index
