Surveying disaster films from a Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, this book explores the disaster film genre from its initial appearance in 1933 (The Grapes of Wrath, 1933) to its present-day form (Don't Look Up!, 2021), laying bare the ideological unconscious at work within the genre.The Disaster Film as Social Practice examines environmental science, history, film and literature in its interdisciplinary analysis of the disaster film genre. It explores the interplay, and the dichotomy, of "restorative" and "reflective" disaster narratives. An analysis of cinema's role in symbolizing and managing collective anxiety around disaster and death narratives examines how disaster films, through their narrative structures and symbolic elements, contribute to the public's understanding and emotional processing of real-world threats, and how cinematic narratives shape and are shaped by public and private ideological discourses, reflecting deeper psychological and environmental truths. Finally, the book offers an overview of how the transformation of the disaster film genre over time tells a history through imagining the worst. Providing a nuanced understanding of the disaster film genre and its significance in contemporary culture and thought, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of film studies, cultural studies, media studies, and environmental studies.

The Disaster Film as Social Practice (Routledge Advances in Film Studies)

Humor & Entertainment

Zornado, Joseph

Reilly, Sara

Movies

Routledge

The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice

Product Description 
This book analyzes the cinematic superhero as social practice. The study’s critical context brings together psychoanalysis and restorative and reflective nostalgia as a way of understanding the ideological function of superhero fantasy. It explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic breakthrough with Superman (1978). The authors then focus on Spider-Man as reflective response to Superman’s restorative nostalgia, and read MCU’s overarching narrative from Iron Man to End Game in terms of the concurrent social, political, and environmental conditions as a world in crisis. Zornado and Reilly take up Wonder Woman and Black Panther as self-conscious attempts to reflect on gender and race in restorative superhero fantasy, and explore Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as a meditation on the need for authoritarian fascism. The book concludes with Logan, Wonder Woman 1984, and Amazon Prime’s The Boys as distinctly reflective fantasy narratives critical of the superhero fantasy phenomenon. 
 Review 
“A welcome ideological approach to the superhero story that is engrossing and persuasive in analyzing those fantasies as cultural practice. The chapters don’t shy away from expanding definitions or a medium’s influence as they articulate the changes and consequences of fantasy-as-ideology. A current and relevant collection of thoughtful and challenging essays that belong in any collection of comics and film/media studies. An essential addition to the academic discourse – with provocative and persuasively argued essays that examine familiar stories in unfamiliar ways.” (Richard L. Graham, Media Librarian, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) 
 From the Back Cover 
This book analyzes the cinematic superhero as social practice. The study’s critical context brings together psychoanalysis and restorative and reflective nostalgia as a way of understanding the ideological function of superhero fantasy. It explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic breakthrough with Superman (1978). The authors then focus on Spider-Man as reflective response to Superman’s restorative nostalgia, and read MCU’s overarching narrative from Iron Man to End Game in terms of the concurrent social, political, and environmental conditions as a world in crisis. Zornado and Reilly take up Wonder Woman and Black Panther as self-conscious attempts to reflect on gender and race in restorative superhero fantasy, and explore Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy as a meditation on the need for authoritarian fascism. The book concludes with Logan, Wonder Woman 1984, and Amazon Prime’s The Boys as distinctly reflective fantasy narratives critical of the superhero fantasy phenomenon.\nJoseph Zornado is Professor of English at Rhode Island College, USA, and author of numerous essays and books, including Disney and the Dialectic of Desire: Fantasy as Social Practice (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017) and Critical Thinking: Developing the Intellectual Tools for Social Justice (2019). 
Sara Reilly is Adjunct Instructor and Academic Advisor at Rhode Island College, USA. She teaches first-year writing and college success. 
 About the Author 
Joseph Zornado is Professor of English at Rhode Island College, USA, and author of numerous essays and books, including Disney and the Dialectic of Desire: Fantasy as Social Practice (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017) and Critical Thinking: Developing the Intellectual Tools for Social Justice (2019). 
Sara Reilly is Adjunct Instructor and Academic Advisor at Rhode Island College, USA. She teaches first-year writing and college success.

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

This book analyzes the cinematic superhero as social practice. The study's critical context brings together psychoanalysis and restorative and reflective nostalgia as a way of understanding the ideological function of superhero fantasy. It explores the origins of cinematic superhero fantasy from antecedents in myth and religion, to twentieth-century comic book, to the cinematic breakthrough with Superman (1978). The authors then focus on Spider-Man as reflective response to Superman's restorative nostalgia, and read MCU's overarching narrative from Iron Man to End Game in terms of the concurrent social, political, and environmental conditions as a world in crisis. Zornado and Reilly take up Wonder Woman and Black Panther as self-conscious attempts to reflect on gender and race in restorative superhero fantasy, and explore Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy as a meditation on the need for authoritarian fascism. The book concludes with Logan, Wonder Woman 1984, and Amazon Prime's The Boys as distinctly reflective fantasy narratives critical of the superhero fantasy phenomenon.

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Books by Reilly, Sara

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Reilly, Sara. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Disaster Film as Social Practice (Routledge Advances in Film Studies)

The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice

The Cinematic Superhero as Social Practice