Popular Culture

Paper dolls might seem the height of simplicity--quaint but simple toys, nothing more. But through the centuries paper figures have reflected re...

Prior to the collapse of communism, Romanian historical movies were political, encouraging nationalistic feelings and devotion to the state. Vla...

Like other forms of fan fiction, slash fictioncentered on same sex relationships between fictional charactersis a powerful cultural dialogue. Thoug...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe--comprised of films, broadcast television and streaming series and digital shorts--has generated considerable fan ...

Across generations and genres, comics have imagined different views of the future, from unattainable utopias to worrisome dystopias. These presagin...

The cultural fantasy of twins imagines them as physically and behaviorally identical. Media portrayals consistently offer the spectacle of twins...

Wolverine. Logan. Weapon X. By any name, Marvel Comic's savage, brooding antihero is, in his own words, the best at what he does--killing with g...

Vampire narratives are generally thought of as adult or young adult fare, yet there is a long history of their appearance in books, film and ot...

While many American superheroes have multiple powers and complex gadgets, the Flash is simply fast. This simplicity makes his character easily c...

Beginning early in the 1980s, a dance music revolution swept across Europe and Britain, merging rock, new wave, disco and worldbeat sounds. The ...

This critical study of video games since 9/11 shows how a distinct genre emerged following the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Comparison...

When The Book is Dead was first published in 2007, smartphones, ebooks and social media were yet to take over, and Borders bookstores still dominat...

Doc Savage is the prototype of the modern fictional superhero. The character exploded onto the scene in 1933, with the Great Depression and the ...

Furry fandom--an adult social group interested in anthropomorphic animals in art, literature and culture--has grown since the 1980s to include a...

On the surface, the zombie seems the polar opposite of the human--they are the living dead; we, in essence, are the dying alive. But the zombie ...

The convergence of rock music, counterculture politics and avant-garde aesthetics in the late 1960s underscored the careers of the Beatles, Frank Z...

During the African American cultural resurgence of the 1920s and 1930s, professional athletes shared the spotlight with artists and intellectual...

The epidemic of the living dead is stronger than ever in today's pop-culture, but history is rife with tales of the undead: the dark spells and inc...

What didn't you like about the 1990s--the peace or the prosperity? Setting aside nostalgia for the end of the 20th century, this book takes a ca...

This collection of essays explores contemporary reflections on interactions between gender and culture. The 11 contributions focus on varied dimens...

In this follow-up to the first volume of Everyday Analysis articles, Why are Animals Funny?, the EDA Collective tracks through an ABC of modern phe...

An exploration of the artistic and cultural influences that shaped writer and illustrator Edward GoreyThe illustrator, designer, and writer Edward ...

Fictional war narratives often employ haunted battlefields, super-soldiers, time travel, the undead and other imaginative elements of science fi...

This exciting exploration of Stephen Kings digital writing maneuvers and electronic ventures on online platforms and e-readers unravels the authors...