Adapting Superman

Adapting Superman
Author: John Darowski
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2021-05-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1476642397

Almost immediately after his first appearance in comic books in June 1938, Superman began to be adapted to other media. The subsequent decades have brought even more adaptations of the Man of Steel, his friends, family, and enemies in film, television, comic strip, radio, novels, video games, and even a musical. The rapid adaptation of the Man of Steel occurred before the character and storyworld were fully developed on the comic book page, allowing the adaptations an unprecedented level of freedom and adaptability. The essays in this collection provide specific insight into the practice of adapting Superman from comic books to other media and cultural contexts through a variety of methods, including social, economic, and political contexts. Authors touch on subjects such as the different international receptions to the characters, the evolution of both Clark Kent's character and Superman's powers, the importance of the radio, how the adaptations interact with issues such as racism and Cold War paranoia, and the role of fan fiction in the franchise. By applying a wide range of critical approaches to adaption and Superman, this collection offers new insights into our popular entertainment and our cultural history.

Adapting Science Fiction to Television

Adapting Science Fiction to Television
Author: Max Sexton
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2015-07-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1442252707

Before it reached television, science fiction existed on the printed page, in comic books, and on movie screens for decades. Adapting science fiction to the new medium posed substantial challenges: Small viewing screens and limited production facilities made it difficult to achieve the sense of wonder that had become the genre's hallmark. Yet, television also offered unprecedented opportunities. Its serial nature allowed for longer, more complex stories, as well as developing characters and building suspense over time. Producers of science fiction television programming learned to create adaptations that honored the source material—literature, comics, or film—while taking full advantage of television's unique aesthetic. In Adapting Science Fiction to Television: Small Screen, Expanded Universe, Max Sexton and Malcolm Cook examine how the genre evolved over time. The authors consider productions in both the UK and the United States, ranging from Walt Disney's acclaimed "Man in Space"in the 1950s to the BBC's reimagined Day of the Triffids in the 1990s. Iconic characters from Flash Gordon and Captain Nemo to Superman and Professor Quatermass all play a role in this history, along with such authors as E. M. Forster and Wernher von Braun. The real stars of this study, however, are the pioneering producers and directors who learned how to bring imagined worlds and fantastic stories into living rooms across the globe. The authors make the case that television has become more sophisticated, capable of taking on larger themes and deploying a more complex use of the image than other media. A unique reappraisal of the history and dynamics of the medium, Adapting Science Fiction Television will be of interest not only to scholars of science fiction, but to anyone interested in the early history of television, as well as the evolution of its unique capacity to tell stories.

Batman’s Villains and Villainesses

Batman’s Villains and Villainesses
Author: Justin F. Martin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2023-09-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1666930849

While much of the scholarship on superhero narratives has focused on the heroes themselves, Batman’s Villains and Villainesses: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Arkham’s Souls takes into view the depiction of the villains and their lives, arguing that they often function as proxies for larger societal and philosophical themes. Approaching Gotham’s villains from a number of disciplinary backgrounds, the essays in this collection highlight how the villains’ multifaceted backgrounds, experiences, motivations, and behaviors allow for in-depth character analysis across varying levels of social life. Through investigating their cultural and scholarly relevance across the humanities and social sciences, the volume encourages both thoughtful reflection on the relationship between individuals and their social contexts and the use of villains (inside and outside of Gotham) as subjects of pedagogical and scholarly inquiry.

Multiplicity and Cultural Representation in Transmedia Storytelling

Multiplicity and Cultural Representation in Transmedia Storytelling
Author: Natalie Underberg-Goode
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2022-12-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1000801950

This book explores the relationship between multiplicity and representation of non-European and European-American cultures, with a focus on comics and superheroes. The author employs a combination of research methodologies, including close reading of transmedia texts and interviews with transmedia storytellers and audiences, to better understand the way in which diverse cultures are employed as agents of multiplicity in transmedia narratives. The book addresses both commercial franchises such as superhero narratives, as well as smaller indie projects, in an attempt to elucidate the way in which key cultural symbols and concepts are utilized by writers, designers, and producers, and how these narrative choices affect audiences – both those who identify as members of the culture being represented and those who do not. Case studies include fan fiction based on Marvel’s Black Panther (2018), fan fiction and art created for the Moana (2016) and Mulan (2020) films, and creations by both U.S.-based and international indie comics artists and writers. This book will appeal to scholars and students of new media, narrative theory, cultural studies, sociocultural anthropology, folkloristics, English/literary studies, and popular culture, transmedia storytelling researchers, and both creators and fans of superhero comics.

Excavating the Future

Excavating the Future
Author: Shawn Malley
Publisher: Liverpool Science Fiction Text
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1786941198

A cultural study of an array of popular North American science fiction film and television texts, Excavating the Future explores the popular archaeological imagination and the political uses to which it is being employed by the U.S. state and its adversaries.

The American Blockbuster

The American Blockbuster
Author: Benjamin Crace
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2022-10-18
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN:

Providing an indispensable resource for students and general readers, this book serves as an entry point for a conversation on America's favorite pastime, focusing in on generational differences and the evolution of American identity. In an age marked by tension and division, Americans of all ages and backgrounds have turned to film to escape the pressures of everyday life. Yet, beyond escapism, popular cinema is both a mirror and microscope for our collective psyche. Examining the films that have made billions of dollars through a new lens reveals that popular culture is a vital source for understanding what it means to be an American. This book is divided into four sections, each associated with a different generation. Featuring such era-defining hits as Jaws, Back to the Future, Avatar, and The Avengers, each section presents detailed film analyses that showcase the consistency of certain American values throughout generations as well as the constant renegotiation of others. Ideal for any cinephile, The American Blockbuster demonstrates how complex and meaningful even the summer blockbuster can be.

Superheroes and Digital Perspectives

Superheroes and Digital Perspectives
Author: Sarah Young
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2024-04-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1666952206

Superheroes and Digital Perspectives: Super Data examines the intersection of the superhero genre and issues of the internet, data, and digital media to provide not only a posthuman study of the superhero, but also an examination of the ways in which the superhero acts as a lens for our interactions with technology. Contributions to this collection range from the virality of the superhero as political expression to human-nonhuman relations, social expectations, and trends in cultural products. Providing fruitful, rigorous analysis of this genre in the context of ubiquitous handheld networked technology, social media, and data harvesting techniques, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of media studies, posthuman studies, communication, and popular culture.

The Modern Superhero in Film and Television

The Modern Superhero in Film and Television
Author: Jeffrey A. Brown
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2016-11-10
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1317484517

Hollywood’s live-action superhero films currently dominate the worldwide box-office, with the characters enjoying more notoriety through their feature film and television depictions than they have ever before. This book argues that this immense popularity reveals deep cultural concerns about politics, gender, ethnicity, patriotism and consumerism after the events of 9/11. Superheroes have long been agents of hegemony, fighting for abstract ideals of justice while overall perpetuating the American status quo. Yet at the same time, the book explores how the genre has also been utilized to question and critique these dominant cultural assumptions.

Superman: Up in the Sky (2019-2019) #6

Superman: Up in the Sky (2019-2019) #6
Author: Tom King
Publisher: DC Comics
Total Pages: 28
Release: 2019-12-04
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN:

It’s the finale of Tom King and Andy Kubert’s Man of Steel epic and Superman is captured off-planet, with Earth’s remaining heroes left to fend off an alien robot invasion! If Superman can break his bonds and rise up against the diabolical mastermind who unleased the attack, he can save his adopted home, even from several galaxies away, and begin the long journey back with the little girl from Metropolis whose kidnapping initially sent him on this epic sojourn through the cosmos. Originally published in Superman Giant #15 and #16.

Superman (2018-) #8

Superman (2018-) #8
Author: Brian Michael Bendis
Publisher: DC Comics
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2019-02-13
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN:

The epic secrets of Superman continue to unfold! A few months in space with his paternal grandfather Jor-El changed Jon Kent forever. With Jon now seeking help from his father, the Man of Steel must learn about the war his son and father fought together and set right the wrongs his father may have unleashed on other worlds. See what changed Superboy in such radical ways as the Unity Saga continues.