| Description |
207 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction : The god that succeeded -- Utopia achieved : the case of Watchmen -- The defense of necessity : on Jang Joon-Hwan's Save the green planet -- The saintly politics of catastrophe : Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind -- Between trauma and tragedy : from The matrix to V for vendetta. |
| Summary |
"Revolutionary narratives in recent science fiction graphic novels and films compel audiences to reflect on the politics and societal ills of the day. Through character and story, science fiction brings theory to life, giving shape to the motivations behind the action as well as to the consequences they produce. In From Utopia to Apocalypse, Peter Y. Paik shows how science fiction generates intriguing and profound insights into politics. He reveals that the fantasy of putting annihilating omnipotence to beneficial effect underlies the revolutionary projects that have defined the collective upheavals of the modern age. Paik traces how this political theology is expressed, and indeed literalized, in popular superhero fiction, examining works including Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel Watchmen, the science fiction cinema of Jang Joon-Hwan, the manga of Hayao Miyazaki, Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, and the Matrix trilogy. Superhero fantasies are usually seen as compensations for individual feelings of weakness, victimization, and vulnerability. But Paik presents these fantasies as social constructions concerned with questions of political will and the disintegration of democracy rather than with the psychology of the personal."--BOOK JACKET. |
| Subject |
Science fiction -- History and criticism.
|
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Utopias in literature.
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Apocalypse in literature.
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Politics in literature.
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Politics and literature -- History -- 20th century.
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| ISBN |
9780816650798 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
|
0816650799 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
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9780816650781 (hc : alk. paper) |
|
0816650780 (hc : alk. paper) |
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