This collection highlights the diverse ways comics and graphic novels are used in English and literature classrooms, whether to develop critical thinking or writing skills, paired with a more traditional text, or as literature in their own right. From fictional stories to non-fiction works such as biography/memoir, history, or critical textbooks, graphic narratives provide students a new way to look at the course material and the world around them. Graphic novels have been widely and successfully incorporated into composition and creative writing classes, introductory literature surveys, and upper-level literature seminars, and present unique opportunities for engaging students' multiple literacies and critical thinking skills, as well as providing a way to connect to the terminology and theoretical framework of the larger disciplines of rhetoric, writing, and literature.

This collection highlights the diverse ways comics and graphic novels are used in English and literature classrooms, whether to develop critical thinking or writing skills, paired with a more traditional text, or as literature in their own right. From fictional stories to non-fiction works such as biography/memoir, history, or critical textbooks, graphic narratives provide students a new way to look at the course material and the world around them. Graphic novels have been widely and successfully incorporated into composition and creative writing classes, introductory literature surveys, and upper-level literature seminars, and present unique opportunities for engaging students' multiple literacies and critical thinking skills, as well as providing a way to connect to the terminology and theoretical framework of the larger disciplines of rhetoric, writing, and literature.

Drawing on critical analysis of film, the horror genre, the Gothic, and Stephen King scholarship, this book considers Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter One (2017) and IT Chapter Two (2019) on multiple levels: as film (both as individual films and through their interconnected narrative), as adaptation, and as a barometer of the horror film's popularity among fans. Key points of consideration include the significance of the fictional town of Derry as a traditionally Gothic "bad place," the role of 1980s nostalgia in these two films, the complex navigation of memory and trauma, gender representation, queer representation, and the return of the repressed. The terrifying figure of Pennywise the clown is central to this analysis, including consideration of performance, costuming, and significance within the larger landscape of the "scary clown" popular culture trope, and through comparison to Tim Curry's iconic performance in Tommy Lee Wallace's 1990 miniseries. This Devil's Advocate contextualizes Muschietti's films within the larger landscape of King's literary and popular culture influence, as well as the debate surrounding "elevated" horror and the "horror boom" of the late 2010s.

This book explores fictional representations and narrative functions of animal characters in animated and live-action film and television, examining the ways in which these representations intersect with a variety of social issues. Contributors cover a range of animal characters, from heroes to villains, across a variety of screen genres and formats, including anime, comedy, romance, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Aesthetic features of these works, along with the increased latitude that fictionalized narratives and alternative worlds provide, allow existing social issues to be brought to the forefront in order to effect change in our societies. By incorporating animal figures into media, these screen narratives have gained the ability to critique actions carried out by human beings and explore dimensions of both the human/animal connection and the intersectionality of race, culture, class, gender, and ability, ultimately teaching viewers how to become more human in our interactions with the world around us. Scholars of film studies, media studies, and animal studies will find this book of particular interest.

Dark Forces at Work examines the role of race, class, gender, religion, and the economy as they are portrayed in, and help construct, horror narratives across a range of films and eras. These larger social forces not only create the context for our cinematic horrors, but serve as connective tissue between fantasy and lived reality, as well. While several of the essays focus on “name� horror films such as IT, Get Out, Hellraiser, and Don’t Breathe, the collection also features essays focused on horror films produced in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and on American classic thrillers such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Key social issues addressed include the war on terror, poverty, the housing crisis, and the Time’s Up movement. The volume grounds its analysis in the films, rather than theory, in order to explore the ways in which institutions, identities, and ideologies work within the horror genre.

This book offers a comprehensive, academic and detailed study of the works of James Cameron, whose films include successful productions such as the first two Terminator films (1984-91), Aliens (1986), Titanic (1997), and Avatar (2009), but also lesser known films such as Piranha 2: The Spawning (1981), The Abyss (1989), and True Lies (1994), and a series of documentaries on the depths of the ocean or on the tomb of Christ. Cameron's major productions have an immense and enduring popularity throughout the globe and have attracted both public and critical attention. This volume investigates several distinct areas of Cameron's works and addresses the different approaches and topics invited by the multidimensionality of the subject itself: the philosophical, the artistic, the socio-cultural and the personal. The methodologies adopted by the contributors differ significantly from each other, thus offering the reader a variegated and compelling picture of Cameron's oeuvre. Contrary to the numerous volumes published in the past on the subject, each chapter offers specific case studies that have been previously ignored, or only partially mentioned, by other scholars.

Bringing together a multidisciplinary group of scholars from around the world, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Hell’s Under New Management presents perspectives on the television show that situates it within contemporary discourses of genre, form, historical place, ideology, and aesthetics. The essays collected by editors Cori Mathis, Stephanie A. Graves, and Melissa Tyndall illustrate that the series is not simply interesting in the context of its status as an extension of Riverdale's narrative or as a reimagining of the popular 1990s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Instead, with its unique blend of the Gothic, horror, and melodrama to approach the coming-of-age narrative, the series is a complex, enduring work and a significant part of the teen television canon. This thought-provoking essay collection provides multiple entry points into television studies for scholars and students alike.

A sprawling epic that encompasses many worlds, parallel and alternate timelines, and the echoes between these disconnects, Stephen King's Dark Tower series spans the entirety of King's career, from The Gunslinger (limited edition 1982; revised in 2003) to The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012). The series has two distinctive characteristics: its genre hybridity and its interconnection with the larger canon of King's work. The Dark Tower series engages with a number of distinct and at times dissonant genre traditions, including those of Arthurian legend, fairy tales, the fantasy epic, the Western, and horror. The Dark Tower series is also significant in its cross-references to King's other works, ranging from overt connections like characters or places to more subtle allusions, like the sigil of the Dark Tower's Crimson King appearing in the graffiti of other realities. This book examines these connections and genre influences to consider how King negotiates and transforms these elements, why they matter, and the impact they have on one another and on King's work as a whole.

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century's most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his "model" and his "God of Fiction." While scholars and readers of Poe's and Lovecraft's work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe's work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays explore how Lovecraft's fictional, critical, and poetic reception of Poe irrevocably changed how Poe's work has been understood by subsequent generations of readers and interpreters. Addressing a variety of topics ranging from the psychology of influence to racial and sexual politics, the essays in this book also consider how Lovecraft's interpretations of Poe have informed later adaptations of both writers' works in films by Roger Corman and fiction by Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This collection is an indispensable resource not only for those who are interested in Poe's and Lovecraft's work specifically, but also for readers who wish to learn more about the modern history and evolution of Gothic, horror, and weird fiction.

Unlike anything currently available, A Critical Companion to Tim Burton is a comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of all the works of one of the world's most renowned directors and artists. Written by some of the top scholars working in fields as diverse as philosophy, film and media studies, and literature, all chapters of this book illuminate for both scholars and fans alike the entire artistic career of Burton, giving attention to both his early works and his global blockbusters.

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century's most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his "model" and his "God of Fiction." While scholars and readers of Poe's and Lovecraft's work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe's work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays explore how Lovecraft's fictional, critical, and poetic reception of Poe irrevocably changed how Poe's work has been understood by subsequent generations of readers and interpreters. Addressing a variety of topics ranging from the psychology of influence to racial and sexual politics, the essays in this book also consider how Lovecraft's interpretations of Poe have informed later adaptations of both writers' works in films by Roger Corman and fiction by Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This collection is an indispensable resource not only for those who are interested in Poe's and Lovecraft's work specifically, but also for readers who wish to learn more about the modern history and evolution of Gothic, horror, and weird fiction.

Popular American fiction has now secured a routine position in the higher education classroom despite its historic status as culturally suspect. This newfound respect and inclusion have almost certainly changed the pedagogical landscape, and Teaching Tainted Lit explores that altered terrain. If the academy has historically ignored, or even sneered at, the popular, then its new accommodation within the framework of college English is noteworthy: surely the popular introduces both pleasures and problems that did not exist when faculty exclusively taught literature from anestablished "high" canon. How, then, does the assumption that the popular matters affect teaching strategies, classroom climates, and both personal and institutional notions about what it means to study literature? The essays in this collection presume that the popular is here to stay and that its instructive implications are not merely noteworthy,but richly nuanced and deeply compelling. They address a broad variety of issues concerning canonicity, literature, genre, and theclassroom, as its contributors teach everything from Stephen King and Lady Gaga to nineteenthcentury dime novels and the 1852bestseller Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is no secret that teaching popular texts fuels controversies about the value of cultural studies, the alleged relaxation of aestheticstandards, and the possible "dumbing down" of Americans. By implicitly and explicitly addressing such contentious issues, these essays invite a broader conversation about the place of thepopular not only in higher education but in the reading lives of all Americans.

Pushing Daisies was one of the most successful network television shows in recent history. This collection of 10 essays addresses the quirky, off-beat elements that made the show a popular success, as well as fodder for scholarly inquiry. Divided into three main sections, the essays address the themes of difference, placement of the series within a larger philosophical context and the role of gender on the show. A consideration of Pushing Daisies' unique style and aesthetics is a consistent source of interest across these international and interdisciplinary scholarly critiques.