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Whether it's Sherlock Holmes solving crimes or Sheldon and Leonard geeking out over sci-fi, geniuses are central figures on many of television's most popular series. They are often enigmatic, displaying superhuman intellect while struggling with mundane aspects of daily life. This collection of new essays explores why TV geniuses fascinate us and how they shape our perceptions of what it means to be highly intelligent. Examining series like Criminal Minds, The Big Bang Theory, Bones, Elementary, Fringe, House, The Mentalist, Monk, Sherlock, Leverage and others, scholars from a variety of disciplines discuss how television both reflects and informs our cultural understanding of genius.
Throughout the long running BBC series Doctor Who, the Doctor has rarely been alone, traveling with both female and male "companions." The companion is essential to Doctor Who because he or she is a stand-in for the audience, providing information about the Doctor's ongoing adventures. With the casting of a female actor in the role of the Doctor in 2018, one criticism of the series was finally resolved. After the shift in gender identity, the role of the Doctor and the companion also shifted--or has it? The continued focus on romantic relations between the TARDIS occupants has led to complaints from both male and female fans, reiterating and reinforcing myriad criticisms about the portrayal of the female companions. Essays in this book consider how gender is presented in Doctor Who and how certain female companions have been able to break out of the gendered roles usually assigned to them through the classic and new series.
Throughout the long-running BBC series Doctor Who, the Doctor has rarely been alone--his companions are essential. Male or (mostly) female, alien or (mostly) human, young or old (none as old as he), the dozens of companions who have travelled with him over the past 50 years have served as sympathetic proxies for the audience. Through their adventures the companions are perfected, facing danger and thus discovering their strengths and weaknesses. Yet they all pay a price, losing their innocence and sometimes their lives. This collection of new essays examines the role of the companion as an intermediate between viewers and the Doctor. The contributors discuss who travels with the Doctor and why, how they interact, how the companions influence the narrative and how their journeys change them.
Although it has been said that there is nothing new under the sun, it is a fact that sunlight provides food for plants and animals. What is also true is that new thoughts and ideas are generated every day. This book is a result of many hours of ideas designed to enable the reader to think creatively and achieve his or her academic goals. Its focus is to educate. Studying, as its main theme, is universal. Readers may view this book as a compendium of educational material for cross-curricular learning. Whether you favor mathematics, trivia, geography, semantics, or science, there is something here for you. The book is divided into sections, which makes it easier for readers to locate information. Some of the sections include: ?Culture ?Global Connection ?Social Studies ?Technology ?The United States In addition, it features clear and useful examples, opportunities for review and practice, and information for parents to assist their children with homework and other related learning experiences.
This book will appeal to everyone who reads science fiction or thinks about science and its impact on our lives. It raises profound economic, ethical, political, sociological, and psychological questions. It explores our fears and fantasies as it examines a range of fictions, films, and TV programs that speculate about the possibilities of humans in the future. The contributions here ask central questions that have provoked the creators and readers of science fiction since Mary Shelley inaugurated the genre with her novel Frankenstein. What are the aims and limits of science and technology? What are our responsibilities toward the products of our advancing science and technology? What kinds of creatures will we produce or encounter in the future? What rights will we grant to these creatures or – more worryingly – will they grant to us? Do science and technology make us more civilized or more barbaric? How should we treat each other? Ultimately, what does it mean to be human?
With diverse contributions from scholars in English literature, psychology, and film and television studies, this collection of essays contextualizes Fringe as a postmodern investigation into what makes us human and as an examination of how technology transforms our humanity. In compiling this collection, the editors sought material as multifaceted as the series itself, devoting sections to specific areas of interest explored by both the writers of Fringe and the writers of the essays: humanity, duality, genre and viewership.
Despite the fact that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended over twenty-five years ago, there has yet to be a stand-alone assessment of the series. This collection corrects that omission, examining what made Deep Space Nine so unique within the Star Trek universe, and how that uniqueness paved the way for an altogether new, entirely different vision for Star Trek. If the Star Trek slogan has always been "to boldly go where no one has gone before," then Deep Space Nine helped to bring in a new renaissance of serialized television that has become normal practice. Furthermore, Deep Space Nine ushered in critical discussions on race, gender, and faith for the franchise, science fiction television and American lives. It relished in a vast cast of supporting characters that allowed for the investigation of psychosocial relationships--from familial issues to interpersonal and interspecies conflict to regional strife--that the previous Star Trek series largely overlooked. Essays explore how Deep Space Nine became the most richly complicated "sci-fi" series in the entire Star Trek pantheon.
The most recognizable fictional spy and one of the longest running film franchises, James Bond has inspired a host of other pop culture contributions, including Doctor Who (the Jon Pertwee era), the animated television comedy series Archer, Matt Kindt's comic book series Mind MGMT, Japan's Nakano Spy School Films, the 1960s Italian Eurospy genre, and the recent 007 Legends video game. This collection of new essays analyzes Bond's phenomenal literary and filmic influence over the past 50-plus years. The 14 essays are categorized into five parts: film, television, literature, lifestyle (emphasis on fashion and home decor), and the Bond persona reinterpreted.
Perhaps the most sophisticated and complex of shows in HBO's recent history, Deadwood has surprisingly little coverage in our current scholarship. Grounding contemporary anxieties about race and class, domesticity and American exceptionalism in its nineteenth-century setting, Deadwood revises our understanding of a formative period for the American nation through a re-examination of one of the main genres through which this national story has been transmitted: the Western. With contributions from scholars in American studies, literature, and film and television studies, The Last Western situates Deadwood in the context of both its nineteenth-century setting and its twenty-first-century audie...
During the course of its three seasons, Veronica Mars captured the attention of fans and academics alike. The 12 scholarly essays in this collection examine the show's most compelling elements. Topics covered include vintage television, the search for the mother, fatherhood, the show's connection to classical Greek paradigms, the anti-hero's journey, rape narrative and meaning, and television fandom. Collectively, these essays reveal how a teen television show--equal parts noir, romance, social realism and father-daughter drama--became a worthy subject for scholarly study.