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The Joker
To prepare for the role of the Joker, Heath Ledger locked himself in a London hotel room, trying to understand and become a character he saw as “an absolute sociopath, a cold-blooded, mass-murdering clown” who was not intimidated by anything and found all of life “a big joke.” In the end, Ledger’s obsession with his role contributed to his own death from drugs before The Dark Knight was released. The connections and irony are too close to ignore. The movie gives the world a curious twist on the roles of Batman and the Joker. It’s politically incorrect, and yet emotionally the Joker’s insanity becomes more endearing than Batman’s noble sacrifice. What is it? Why does this psyc...
Do You Believe in Rock and Roll?
Since its release in 1971, Don McLean's song "American Pie" has become an indelible part of U.S. culture. It has sparked countless debates about the references within the lyrics; been celebrated as a chronicle of American life from the late 1950s through the early 1970s; and has become iconic itself as it has been remade, parodied, and referenced within numerous texts and forums. This volume offers a set of new essays that focus on the cultural and historical significance of the song. Representing a variety of perspectives and fields of study, the essays address such topics as historical and literary interpretations of the song's lyrics, its musical qualities, the commentary the song offers on rock and roll history, the continuing significance of the song, and the ways in which the song has been used by various writers and artists. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
"Throw the book away"
Children's literature is an excellent way to educate children, on everything from social behavior and beliefs to attitudes toward education itself. A major aspect of children's literature is the importance of books and reading. Books represent adult authority. This book examines the role that books, reading and writing play in children's fantasy fiction, from books that act as artifacts of power (The Abhorsen Trilogy, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Harry Potter) to interactive books (The Neverending Story, Malice, Inkheart) to books with character-writers (Percy Jackson, Captain Underpants). The author finds that although books and reading often play a prominent role in fantasy for children, the majority of young protagonists gain self-sufficiency not by reading but specifically by moving beyond books and reading.
Horror Comes Home
Home, we are taught from childhood, is safe. Home is a refuge that keeps the monsters out--until it isn't. This collection of new essays focuses on genre horror movies in which the home is central to the narrative, whether as refuge, prison, menace or supernatural battleground. The contributors explore the shifting role of the home as both a source and a mitigator of the terrors of this world, and the next. Well known films are covered--including Psycho, Get Out, Insidious: The Last Key and Winchester House--along with films produced outside the U.S. by directors such as Alejandro Amenabar (The Others), Hideo Nakata (Ringu) and Guillermo Del Toro (The Orphanage), and often overlooked classics like Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger.
Exploring Picard's Galaxy
Serving as the sequel to Gene Roddenberry's original television series, Star Trek: The Next Generation pushed the boundaries of the "final frontier." At the same time, the show continued the franchise's celebrated exploration of the human experience, reflecting current social and political events. ST:TNG became immensely successful, spawning four feature films and several television spin-offs. This collection of new essays explores both the series' characters and its themes. Topics include the Federation's philosophy concerning technocracy, sexuality and biopolitics; foreign policy shifts in the Prime Directive; key characters including Jean-Luc Picard, Data, Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar; and Klingon martial arts, music, and history.
The 'Evil Child' in Literature, Film and Popular Culture
The 'evil child' has infiltrated the cultural imagination, taking on prominent roles in popular films, television shows and literature. This collection of essays from a global range of scholars examines a fascinating array of evil children and the cultural work that they perform, drawing upon sociohistorical, cinematic, and psychological approaches. The chapters explore a wide range of characters including Tom Riddle in the Harry Potter series, the possessed Regan in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, the monstrous Ben in Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child, the hostile fetuses of Rosemary’s Baby and Alien, and even the tiny terrors featured in the reality television series Supernanny. Contributors also analyse various themes and issues within film, literature and popular culture including ethics, representations of evil and critiques of society. This book was originally published as two special issues of Literature Interpretation Theory.
Neo-Gothic Narratives
Neo-Gothic Narratives defines and theorises what, exactly, qualifies as such a text, what mobilises the employment of the Gothic to speak to our own times, whether nostalgia plays a role and whether there is room for humour besides the sobriety and horror in these narratives across various media. What attracts us to the Gothic that makes us want to resurrect, reinvent, echo it? Why do we let the Gothic redefine us? Why do we let it haunt us? Does it speak to us through intertexuality, self-reflectivity, metafiction, immersion, affect? Are we reclaiming the history of women and other subalterns in the Gothic that had been denied in other forms of history? Are we revisiting the trauma of English colonisation and seeking national identity? Or are we simply tourists who enjoy cruising through the otherworld? The essays in this volume investigate both the readerly experience of Neo-Gothic narratives as well as their writerly pastiche.
Dust Off the Gold Medal
The oldest and most prestigious children’s literature award, the Newbery Medal has since 1922 been granted annually by the American Library Association to the children’s book it deems "most distinguished." Medal books enjoy an outsized influence on American children’s literature, figuring perennially on publishers’ lists, on library and bookstore shelves, and in school curricula. As such, they offer a compelling window into the history of US children’s literature and publishing, as well as into changing societal attitudes about which books are "best" for America’s schoolchildren. Yet literary scholars have disproportionately ignored the Medal winners in their research. This volum...
Biology and Manners
An essay collection that significantly expands previous scholarly writing on award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Lois McMaster Bujold, arguing for the significant contributions her works make to feminist and queer thought, disability studies and fan studies.
Barbarians at the Gate
The study of language attitudes is the investigation of beliefs expressed about the nature of language and its diverse usages, how these attitudes came to exist and persist, and how these attitudes shape social action and policy. Language attitude studies have illuminated our understanding of racial issues, social and economic stratification, cultural stereotypes, educational issues, folk linguistics, and, more recently, popular culture. This volume is an examination of four intersections in language attitudes research: Authority, Affiliation, Authenticity, and Accommodation. In each section, the contributors introduce new dimensions to the study of language attitudes while providing examples of the ways in which the study of language attitudes can continue to inform and shape our understanding of language diversity.
