Entering the Multiverse: Perspectives on Alternate Universes and Parallel Worlds

Unpacking the popularity and metaphor of the multiverse in media and popular culture, this book explores how the concept of alternate realities and parallel worlds has portaled into the mainstream.

Edited by leading media and popular culture scholar Paul Booth, this collection explores the many different manifestations of the multiverse across different genres, media, fan-created works, and cultural theory. Each chapter delves into different aspects of the multiverse, including its use as a metaphor, as a scientific reality, and as a media-industry strategy. Addressing the multiplicity of multiversal meanings through multiple perspectives and with an eye towards engagement with contemporary cultural issues, the chapters also examine various distinctions and contradictions, in order to provide a strong basis for further thinking, writing and research on the concept of the multiverse. Chapters in this collection tell the story of the multiverse in multiple realities: creative nonfiction, academic essay, poetry, video, and audio essay.

A compelling read for students, researchers and scholars of media and cultural studies, film and media culture, popular culture, comics studies, game studies, literary studies, and beyond.