Description
Book SynopsisIn The Transmedia Construction of the Black Panther: Long Live the King, Bryan J. Carr explores and analyzes the evolution of the Black Panther character since his inception in the 1960s across comics, film, television, video games, and music. The Black Panther, Carr argues, is the sum of the creative works of countless individuals across various media that have each contributed to the legacy of the first mainstream Black superhero, all happening against a backdrop of social and cultural upheaval, global political struggle for equality, and the long shadow of colonizing Western attitudes. The Panther’s existence is a complex one that not only illustrates in microcosm those same struggles in the historically white superhero space, but also offers a perfect case study for media trends of representation then and now. Carr addresses a number of questions: Does the Black Panther really represent a powerful counter-narrative to long-standing regressive attitudes toward Black identity and Africa? Who were the key contributors to our understanding of the character? And finally, how can we use the character to understand the complexities of our modern consolidated media systems? Scholars of media studies, film and television studies, comics studies, cultural studies, critical race studies, and African studies will find this book particularly useful.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction: A King of Many Faces
Chapter 2: Context of the King: Africa, the Media, Blackness, and Hegemony
Chapter 3: The Panther in the Silver Age: The King Arrives
Chapter 4: The Panther in the 1970s: Whitewashing and New Jungle Action
Chapter 5: The Panther in the 1980s-90s: A King for a New Age and a New Audience
Chapter 6: The Panther in the 00s-10s: A Rise to Prominence and Growing Pains
Chapter 7: The Panther Today: Meditations on Kinghood
Chapter 8: A King in Many Forms: Black Panther in TV, Games, and Elsewhere
Chapter 9: A King Goes Hollywood: Black Panther and the MCU
Chapter 10: What Makes a King?: The Transmedia Mythmaking of Black Panther
Bibliography
About the Author
