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Television presenters are key to the sociability of the medium, speaking directly to viewers as intermediaries between audiences and those who are interviewed, perform or compete on screen. As targets of both great affection and derision from viewers and the subjects of radio, internet, magazine and newspaper coverage, many have careers that have lasted almost as long as post-war television itself. Nevertheless, as a profession, television presenting has received little scholarly attention. Personality Presenters explores the role of the television presenter, analysing the distinct skills possessed by different categories of host and the expectations and difficulties that exist with regard t...
Multiculturalism, and its representation, has long presented challenges for the medium of comics. This book presents a wide ranging survey of the ways in which comics have dealt with the diversity of creators and characters and the (lack of) visibility for characters who don’t conform to particular cultural stereotypes. Contributors engage with ethnicity and other cultural forms from Israel, Romania, North America, South Africa, Germany, Spain, U.S. Latino and Canada and consider the ways in which comics are able to represent multiculturalism through a focus on the formal elements of the medium. Discussion themes include education, countercultures, monstrosity, the quotidian, the notion of the ‘other," anthropomorphism, and colonialism. Taking a truly international perspective, the book brings into dialogue a broad range of comics traditions.
Joss Whedon has created numerous TV series, movies, comics and one sing-along-blog, all of which focus on societal problems in the metaphorical guise of monsters-of-the-week and over-arching big-bads. The present work examines structural violence through interdimensional law firm Wolfram & Hart's legal representation of evil. We explore the limits of consent through the Rossum Corporation's coercion and manipulation. We rehearse the struggle to find meaningful freedom from the crew of Serenity. This book traces a theme of anarchist theory through the multiple strings of the Whedonverse--all of his works show how ordinary heroes can unite for the love of humanity to save the world from hierarchy and paternalism.
As a response to real or imagined subordination, popular culture reflects the everyday experience of ordinary people and has the capacity to subvert the hegemonic order. Drawing on central theoretical approaches in the field of critical disability studies, this book examines disability across a number of internationally recognised texts and objects. While acknowledging that disability features in popular culture in ways that reinforce stereotypes and stigmatise, Disability and Popular Culture celebrates and complicates the increasing visibility of disability in popular culture, showing how popular culture can focus passion, create community and express defiance in the context of disability and social change.
This open-access essay collection brings together a range of viewpoints on gender from a diverse group of international scholars based in Finland, Belgium, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. The focus is, in particular, on gender performativity and non-binary or non-normative gender. The essays examine the ways in which gender can be depicted, perceived, and understood in Japanese popular culture. The work will be of interest to scholars working in gender studies, Asian studies, and popular culture. It will also act as a source text for higher education courses in Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Once dismissed as a fading genre with little to say to contemporary audiences, the giant monster movie roared back to life in the new millennium. In one of modern cinema's most surprising turnarounds, a wave of 21st-century kaiju films has delivered exciting and thought-provoking viewing to global audiences. In a variety of works that range from action-packed CGI spectacles to more personal, introspective productions commenting on real-world issues of the day, the new millennium has witnessed some of the most intriguing films in any genre, including movies from such acclaimed directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Bong Joon-ho and Peter Jackson. This book takes a sober, multidimensional look at the new class of giant monster movies. It examines the making of these films and their sometimes-obscure meanings. It also covers efforts to reinvent storied kaiju characters from the past, including Godzilla and King Kong, and to transform the genre with movies such as Cloverfield, The Mist, Colossal, and Pacific Rim that feature all-new creatures.
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.
Comic book audience expectations have fluctuated dramatically through the years, and comic book creators have had to adapt to shifting reader concerns. One of Marvel Comic's most popular franchises for five decades, the Avengers have always been reflective of their times, having adapted to an evolving readership to remain relevant. This collection of fresh essays by popular culture scholars examines Avengers story lines such as the Korvac Saga, Civil War, and Secret Invasion, and scrutinizes key characters including the Black Panther and Hank Pym. Essays explore how real-world events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11 influenced popular entertainment in America.
Includes international essays on possibly the most important aspect of the aesthetics and narratives of comics - urban topography and environment.
This is a book about jurisprudence—or legal philosophy. The legal philosophical texts under consideration are—to say the least—unorthodox. Tolkien, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Million Dollar Baby, and other cultural products are all referenced as exemplary instances of what the author calls lex populi—“people’s” or “pop law.” There, more than anywhere else, will one find the leading issues of legal philosophy. These issues, however, are heavily coded, for few of these pop cultural texts announce themselves as expressly legal. Nonetheless, Lex Populi reads these texts “jurisprudentially,” that is, with an eye to their hidden legal philosophical meanings, enabling connections such as: Tolkien’s Ring as Kelsen’s grundnorm; vampire slaying as legal language’s semiosis; Hogwarts as substantively unjust; and a seriously injured young woman as termination’s rights-bearer. In so doing, Lex Populi attempts not only a jurisprudential reading of popular culture, but a popular rereading of jurisprudence, removing it from the legal experts in order to restore it to the public at large: a lex populi by and for the people.