Overview
- One of the first books to scrutinize the ways in which the fashionable radicalism of popular culture supplants the formulation of genuine alternatives in a neoliberal context
- Examines how popular fantastical works cast a spell on audiences to distract them from the seriousness of the issues that they face, including racism, climate change, and American imperialism
- Interrogates aesthetic as a function of cultural mood
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (8 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book analyzes how contemporary popular films with fantastic themes, including Candyman, Frozen, The Cabin in the Woods, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, cultivate neoliberal subjectivities. These films promise dramatic change, but they too often deliver more of the same. Although proponents maintain the illusion that the militant enforcement of freemarket economics will resolve racism, climate change, and imperialism, their magical thinking actually fuels the crises. Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism explores the ways in which the visual economies of Hollywood fantasy compliment this particular political economy.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism
Authors: Michael J. Blouin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53164-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-53195-7Published: 09 June 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95899-3Published: 19 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-53164-3Published: 29 June 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 245
Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations
Topics: Regional and Cultural Studies, Film History, American Cinema and TV, Media Studies, Genre, Arts