American popular culture in the era of terror : falling skies, dark knights rising, and collapsing cultures

The Resource American popular culture in the era of terror : falling skies, dark knights rising, and collapsing cultures
Label
American popular culture in the era of terror : falling skies, dark knights rising, and collapsing cultures
Title remainder
falling skies, dark knights rising, and collapsing cultures
Statement of responsibility
Jesse Kavadlo
Creator
Author
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Bringing together the most popular genres of the 21st century, this book argues that Americans have entered a new era of narrative dominated by the fear--and wish fulfillment--of the breakdown of authority and terror itself. Bringing together disparate and popular genres of the 21st century, American Popular Culture in the Era of Terror: Falling Skies, Dark Knights Rising, and Collapsing Cultures argues that popular culture has been preoccupied by fantasies and narratives dominated by the anxiety--and, strangely, the wish fulfillment--that comes from the breakdowns of morality, family, law and order, and storytelling itself. From aging superheroes to young adult dystopias, heroic killers to lustrous vampires, the figures of our fiction, film, and television again and again reveal and revel in the imagery of terror. Kavadlo's single-author, thesis-driven book makes the case that many of the novels and films about September 11, 2001, have been about much more than terrorism alone, while popular stories that may not seem related to September 11 are deeply connected to it. The book examines New York novels written in response to September 11 along with the anti-heroes of television and the resurgence of zombies and vampires in film and fiction to draw a correlation between Kavadlo's "Era of Terror" and the events of September 11, 2001. Geared toward college students, graduate students, and academics interested in popular culture, the book connects multiple topics to appeal to a wide audience. Features: Provides an interesting new framework in which to examine popular culture ; Examines films, television shows, and primary texts such as novels for evidence of cultural anxiety and a preoccupation with terror ; Offers insightful and original interpretations of primary texts ; Suggests possible conclusions about cultural anxiety regarding breakdowns of tradition and authority.--Publisher website
Cataloging source
DLC
Dewey number
306.2/40973090511
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
E169.Z83
LC item number
K385 2015
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography

Context

Context of American popular culture in the era of terror : falling skies, dark knights rising, and collapsing cultures

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