Trauma in American Popular Culture and Cult Texts, 1980-2020 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783031132865)

This book examines trauma in late twentieth- and twenty-first century American popular culture. Trauma has become a central paradigm for reading contemporary American culture. Since the early 1980s, an extensive range of genres increasingly feature traumatised protagonists and traumatic events. From traumatised superheroes in Hollywood blockbusters to apocalyptic-themed television series, trauma narratives abound.
Although trauma is predominantly associated with high culture, this project shows how popular culture has become the most productive and innovative area of trauma representation in America. Examining film, television, animation, video games and cult texts, this book develops a series of original paradigms through which to understand trauma in popular culture. These include: popular trauma texts' engagement with postmodern perspectives, formal techniques termed 'competitive narration', 'polynarration' and 'sceptical scriptotherapy', and perpetrator trauma in metafictional games.

Author: Sean Travers
ISBN-10: 3031132866
ISBN-13: 9783031132865
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 10/14/2022
Pages: 257
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.63d