The Marvel Cinematic Universe--comprised of films, broadcast television and streaming series and digital shorts--has generated considerable fan engagement with its emphasis on socially relevant characters and plots. Beyond considerable box office achievements, the success of Marvel's movie studios has opened up dialogue on social, economic and political concerns that challenge established values and beliefs. This collection of new essays examines those controversial themes and the ways they represent, construct and distort American culture.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Filmography
Section I-"In order to form a more perfect union":
The Cultural Context of the Transmedia Universe
Multiliteracies of the MCU: Continuity Literacy
and the Sophisticated Reader(s) of Superheroes Media (Perry Dantzler)
"A bigger universe": Marvel Studios and Transmedia Storytelling (Liam Burke)
#ITSALLCONNECTED: Assembling the Marvel Universe (Lisa K. Perdigao)
America Assemble: The Avengers as Therapeutic Public Memory (Derek R. Sweet)
"Your ancestors called it magic": Building Coherence in the MCU Through Continuity with the Past (William L. Svitavsky)
Section II-"Establish justice": The Social Context of the Cinematic Universe
Stark Contrasts: Reinventing Iron Man for 21st Century Cinema (Sarah Zaidan)
Silly Love Songs, Gender, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron (James Rovira)
Hooked on the Wrong Kind of Feeling: Popular Music and Nostalgia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Masani McGee)
Tracing Views of Nature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Elizabeth D. Blum)
Bodies That Shatter: Violence and Spectacle in The Avengers
(Antony Mullen)
Section III-"Provide for the common defense": The Geopolitical Context of the Cinematic Universe
"You were the world's first superhero": Marvel Studio's Superheroes, Law and the Pursuit of Justice (Jason Bainbridge)
Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: Villainy and Terrorism in Thor
(Sasha-Mae Eccleston)
More Than a Shield: Security and Empire Building in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Vergil's Aeneid (Jennifer A. Rea)
Acting with Limited Oversight: S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Role of Intelligence and Intervention in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Jennifer Beckett)
"To be the shield": American Imperialism and Explosive Identity Politics in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samira Shirish Nadkarni)
Bibliography
Contributors
Index
