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Gender and the Superhero Narrative
Edited by Michael Goodrum, Tara Trescott and Philip Smith
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Book Presentation:
Contributions by Dorian L. Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola, Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich, Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott-Johnson, Philip Smith, and Maite Ucaregui
The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests.
Yet just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic shifts―both in the creation of superhero media and in their critical and reader reception―need reassessment not only of the role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives of masculinity.
Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.
About the authors:
Michael Goodrum is senior lecturer in modern history at Canterbury Christ Church University and the coconvenor of the TORCH Oxford Comics Network. He is author of Superheroes and American Self Image: From War to Watergate and Printing Terror. He is coeditor of “Firefly” Revisited: Essays on Joss Whedon’s Classic Series and Gender and the Superhero Narrative, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi.Tara Prescott-Johnson is lecturer and faculty in residence at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is author of Poetic Salvage: Reading Mina Loy; editor of Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century: Essays on the Novels, Children’s Stories, Online Writings, Comics and Other Works; and coeditor of Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman: Essays on the Comics, Poetry and Prose.Philip Smith is associate chair of liberal arts and professor of English at Savannah College of Art and Design. He is author of Reading Art Spiegelman and Shakespeare in Singapore: Performance, Education, and Culture. He is coeditor of The Struggle for Understanding: Elie Wiesel’s Literary Works and Gender and the Superhero Narrative, published by University Press of Mississippi.
Press Reviews:
This compilation provides an engaging introduction to central issues regarding how female superheroes address representations of equality, justice, and female empowerment that are absent in law and in government policies. The collection addresses the conception of the female superhero narrative that not only resists institutionalized systems of oppression (including comics production and marketing and the entertainment industry) but also asks consumers and creators to question and push our ideas and definitions of who and what comprises a superhero. -- Shilpa Davé ― Gender & Society
Highly recommended. -- A. Ellis, Northern Kentucky University ― CHOICE
See the publisher website: University Press of Mississippi
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