Mention Shaft and most people think of Gordon Parks' seminal 1971 film starring Richard Roundtree in a leather coat, walking the streets of Manhattan to Isaac Hayes' iconic theme music.
Since the early 2000s, popular culture has experienced a "e;Zombie Renaissance,"e; beginning in film and expanding into books, television, video games, theatre productions, phone apps, collectibles and toys.
A great deal of scholarship has focused on Joss Whedon's television and film work, which includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers.
Dick Grayson--alter-ego of the original Robin of Batman comics--has gone through various changes in his 75 years as a superhero but has remained the optimistic, humorous character readers first embraced in 1940.
Billionaire industrialist, cold warrior, weapons designer, alcoholic, philanthropist, Avenger--Tony Stark, alter-ego of Marvel Comics' Iron Man, has played many roles in his five decades as a superhero.
Films produced in late 1960s and early 1970s America--along with later films focusing on that period--continue to frame our understanding of the counterculture era.
Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator turned rebel leader, endures as a near-mythic hero who fought for the oppressed against a Roman oligarchy built on the backs of slave labor.
Generally acknowledged as the preeminent gathering of baseball scholars, the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture has made significant contributions to baseball research and pedagogy.
In recent years numerous films, television series, comic books, graphic novels and video games have featured time travel narratives, with characters jumping backward, forward and laterally through time.
Away from the spotlight of the pop charts and the demands of mainstream audiences, original music is still being played and audiences continue to engage with innovative artists.
Following on author Peter Rollins' motto "e;If it isn't popular, it isn't culture,"e; this collection of new essays considers Vince Gilligan's award-winning television series Breaking Bad as a landmark of Western culture--comparable to the works of Shakespeare and Dickens in their time--that merits scholarly attention from those who would understand early the 21st century zeitgeist.
The Big Bang Theory's mix of humor, nerdy protagonists, sexy female leads and quirky characters have made the series one of CBS's most successful shows and have brought it international acclaim.
Comic book audience expectations have fluctuated dramatically through the years, and comic book creators have had to adapt to shifting reader concerns.
In more than 30 novels, several short stories, graphic novels, movies, plays and poems, Ernest Hemingway has been introduced or "e;appropriated"e; as an important fictional character.
Since the creation of the comic book, cases of legal conflict and confusion have often arisen where concepts such as public domain, unincorporated entities and moral rights are involved.
This is a book about the comics genre and language, how these were used to create Batman, and how that character's longevity is largely due to the medium's unique formal qualities.
The veterans' culture in postwar eras from World War I to the present is examined in this book, with specific attention to the historic events of each era as they influence veterans, and the literature and movies produced about veterans and by veterans.
This collection of original essays presents pedagogical tools, methods, and approaches for incorporating the figure of the vampire into the learning environment of the college classroom, in the hopes of ushering the Undead out of the coffin and into the classroom.
Created in 1941 by the psychologist William Marston, Wonder Woman would go on to have one of the longest continuous runs of published comic book adventures in the history of the industry.
Second Takes presents the history of English language cinema by focusing on cinematic remakes and on how cinema has been replaced by new forms of "e;media.
A chronological listing of the creative output and other antics of the members of the British comedy group Monty Python, both as a group and individually.
When the first season of Star Trek opened to American television viewers in 1966, the thematically insightful sci-fi story line presented audiences with the exciting vision of a bold voyage into the final frontiers of space and strange, new galactic worlds.
Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, numerous "e;atomic narratives"e;--books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, movies, and television programs--addressed the implications of the bomb.
This is a complete reference work to the history of Batman big screen works, from the 1940s serials through the campy 1960s TV show and film, and up through the series of Warner Bros.
