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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
It’S A Bird! It’S A Plane! No, It’S Just My I.S.: An Historical Exploration Of Superheroes And American Identity, Caroline G. Breul
It’S A Bird! It’S A Plane! No, It’S Just My I.S.: An Historical Exploration Of Superheroes And American Identity, Caroline G. Breul
Senior Independent Study Theses
This Independent Study traces the changing notions of what makes a superhero “super” throughout periods in American history. By doing three case studies on popular heroes in distinct eras, this study reveals that superhero comics have been growing steadily more overtly political, in ways that are increasingly subversive. I approach Wonder Woman in the 60s, Batman in the late 80s, and Captain America in the early 2000s, and tackle each moment individually. 60s Wonder Woman is not as stale as comic book enthusiasts suggest, and in fact reveals a progressive view of womanhood that contrasted sharply with the reigning view …
The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor
The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor
Senior Independent Study Theses
How do political practices influence mass culture? Conversely, how does mass culture influence political practice? This project addresses these questions by turning to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Imagined utopic and dystopic visions express both the hopes and anxieties of the societies producing them. Dystopias also highlight the mechanisms of power that function within particular social orders. Through readings of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I demonstrate how utopia and dystopia function and how we can respond to dystopic realities by theorizing solutions that are more conducive to the …