John Lawrence and Robert Jewett's The Myth of the American Superhero
I have to give a presentation on this in class tomorrow, and I'm tired of articulating my thoughts. It's a good look at American mythology as expressed in pop culture (especially movies), for the curious.
superhero's in the title but it's about movies?
ReplyDeletecomic books are mentioned, but not discussed in great detail. basically the american superhero embodies their definition of the american monomyth, which involves a reluctant hero who, when some evil invades his town or whatever, uses violence and renounces sexuality to restore his edenic world. there's a lot of discussion of like, john wayne (and, charles bronson as an urban version), star trek and star wars, heidi and disney movies, etc. but the american monomyth does transcend media--most comics clearly follow this pattern as well.
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