| Kommentar |
The 21st Century has seen an unexpected and unprecedented return of the superhero. Although the superhero never disappeared from the scene altogether, comic book sales were in decline in the 1990 and, culturally, superheroes were considered as obsolete, childish spandex-wearing freaks that only nerds had any misguided interest in. Thanks in no small measure to the success of The Big Bang Theory, being a nerd has currently become rather fashionable and when the first Marvel Studios production superhero movie, Iron Man, hit theatres in 2008, it inaugurated the Marvel Cinematic Universe that still reigns supreme in the greater superhero franchise. In this seminar, we will discuss the overarching question of why the superhero has become such a pervasive cultural icon in early 21st century. We will do so by looking at varying definitions of the superhero and by analysing the distinctive feature of superhero-ism. In a second step, we will look at example from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The DC Extended Universe and the X-Men Universe to try and deduce the cultural role of these silver screen superhero manifestations for contemporary culture.
A certain familiarity with the Marevl and DC (Cinematic) Universes is highly recommended.
A reader for the course will be available at the beginning of the semester at Unser Kopierladen, Reckhammerweg. Please get a copy before the first session!
|
