Pandemics, Authoritarian Populism, and Science Fiction

Medicine, Military, and Morality in American Film

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by Jeremiah Morelock

Type: Studies
Subject: Genre > Science Fiction
Keywords: science fiction, sociology, politics
Publishing date: 2023
Publisher: Routledge
Collection: Visual Modernities
1st publishing: 2021
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 146 pages
6 x 9 ½ inches (15.5 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-0-367-72057-5

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Book Presentation:
With a focus on I Am Legend and Day of the Dead—two series of film remakes of popular science fiction stories—this book addresses the social origins of the recent surge in authoritarian and populist social movements. Exploring the ways in which the themes of tribalism, confidence in medical science, and confidence in military violence changed over the years in the process of re-telling these stories in popular culture, the author identifies the shift towards a narrowing of moral scope, an embrace of military violence and a distrust of medical science with three elements of authoritarian populism: tribalism, distrust of rational elites and their institutions, and willingness for violent coercion. An engaging study of popular culture that sheds light on contemporary political attitudes, Pandemics, Authoritarian Populism, and Science Fiction will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory, and cultural studies with interests in critical theory, film studies, and science fiction.

About the Author:
Jeremiah Morelock is an instructor of sociology at Boston College, USA, and the Director of the Critical Theory Research Network. He is the editor of Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism and How to Critique Authoritarian Populism: Methodologies of the Frankfurt School.

See the publisher website: Routledge

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