Avengers Assemble!: Critical Perspectives on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780231186254)

We are living in the age of the superhero and we cannot deny it. Avengers Assemble! is a vibrant and theoretically informed interrogation of one of the defining and most financially successful film franchises of the new millennium. In the first single-authored monograph on the topic of the Marvel cinematic universe, Terence McSweeney asks, "Why has the superhero genre reemerged so emphatically in recent years?" In an age where people have stopped going to the cinema as frequently as they used to, they returned to it in droves for the superhero film. What is it about these films that has resonated with audiences all around the globe? Are they just disposable pop culture artifacts or might they have something interesting to say about the fears and anxieties of the world we live in today?

Beginning with Iron Man in 2008, this study provocatively explores both the cinematic and the televisual branches of the series across ten dynamic and original chapters from a diverse range of critical perspectives which analyse their status as an embodiment of the changing industrial practices of the blockbuster film and their symbolic potency as affective cultural artifacts that are profoundly immersed in the turbulent political climate of their era.

Author: Terence McSweeney
ISBN-10: 0231186258
ISBN-13: 9780231186254
Publisher: Wallflower Press
Language: English
Published: 03/27/2018
Pages: 310
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.10w x 0.80d