Whether you judge by box office receipts, industry awards, or critical accolades, science fiction films are the most popular movies now being produced and distributed around the world. Nor is this phenomenon new. Sci-fi filmmakers and audiences have been exploring fantastic planets, forbidden zones, and lost continents ever since George Melies' 1902 film A Trip to the Moon. In this highly entertaining and knowledgeable book, film historian and pop culture expert Douglas Brode picks the one hundred greatest sci-fi films of all time. Brode's list ranges from today's blockbusters to forgotten gems, with surprises for even the most informed fans and scholars. He presents the movies in chronological order, which effectively makes this book a concise history of the sci-fi film genre. A striking (and in many cases rare) photograph accompanies each entry, for which Brode provides a numerical rating, key credits and cast members, brief plot summary, background on the film's creation, elements of the moviemaking process, analysis of the major theme(s), and trivia. He also includes fun outtakes, including his top ten lists of Fifties sci-fi movies, cult sci-fi, least necessary movie remakes, and "so bad they're great" classics-as well as the ten worst sci-fi movies ("those highly ambitious films that promised much and delivered nil"). So climb aboard spaceship Brode and journey to strange new worlds from Metropolis (1927) to Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

As one of the most influential shows of all time, Star Trek continues to engage fans around the world. But its cultural impact has grown far beyond the scope of the original seventy-nine episodes. The show spawned an unprecedented progeny, beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation, followed by three additional series of space exploration. Film versions featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and other original crew members first appeared in 1979, followed by a number of successful sequels and ultimately a reboot of the original show. From the modest ambitions of the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek gradually transformed into a true franchise, an expanded universe that continues to grow. In The Star Trek Universe: Franchising the Final Frontier, Douglas and Shea T. Brode have collected several essays that examine the many incarnations that have arisen since the original program concluded its run in 1969. Every aspect of media into which Star Trek has penetrated is covered in this collection: the four television shows, literature, toys, games, and the big screen reboot of the original series featuring the Enterprise and her crew. Essays address a number of elements, particularly how the franchise has had an impact on gaming, fandom, and even technology. Other essays consider how race, gender, and sexuality have been addressed by the various shows and films. After a half century of boldly exploring topical issues that concern all of humanity, Star Trek warrants serious attention-now more than ever. Looking beyond the entertainment value of its many versions, The Star Trek Universe-a companion volume to Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek-offers provocative essays that will engage scholars of gender studies, race studies, religion, history, and popular culture, not to mention the show's legions of fans around the planet.

When it premiered on NBC in September 1966, Star Trek was described by its creator, Gene Roddenberry, as "Wagon Train to the stars." Featuring a racially diverse cast, trips to exotic planets, and encounters with an array of alien beings who could be either friendly or hostile, the program opened up new vistas for television. Along with The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, Star Trek represented one of the small screen's rare ventures into science fiction during the 1960s. Although the original series was a modest success during its three-year run, its afterlife has been nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. To celebrate the show's debut fifty years later, it's time to reexamine one of the most influential programs in history. In Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Original Cast Adventures, Douglas and Shea T. Brode present a collection of essays about the series and its various incarnations over the years. Contributors discuss not only the 1960s show but also its off-shoots, ranging from novels and graphic novels to toys and video games, as well as the films featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew. Essays address the show's religious implications, romantic elements, and its role in the globalization of American culture. Other essays draw parallels between the series and the Vietnam War, compare Star Trek II to Milton's Paradise Lost, posit Roddenberry as an auteur, and consider William Shatner as a romantic object. With its far-reaching and provocative essays, this collection offers new insights into one of the most significant shows ever produced. Besides television and film studies, Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek-a companion volume to The Star Trek Universe-will be of interest to scholars of religion, history, gender studies, queer studies, and popular culture, not to mention the show's legions of fans.

Focusing on twenty-first century Western films, including all major releases since the turn of the century, the essays in this volume cover a broad range of aesthetic and thematic aspects explored in these films, including gender and race. As diverse contributors focus on the individual subgenres of the traditional Western (the gunfighter, the Cavalry vs. Native American conflict, the role of women in Westerns, etc.), they share an understanding of the twenty-first century Western may be understood as a genre in itself. They argue that the films discussed here reimagine certain aspects of the more conventional Western and often reverse the ideology contained within them while employing certain forms and cliches that have become synonymous internationally with Westerns. The result is a contemporary sensibility that might be referred to as the postmodern Western.

In his latest iconoclastic work, Douglas Brode--the only academic author/scholar who dares to defend Disney entertainment--argues that "Uncle Walt's" output of films, television shows, theme parks, and spin-off items promoted diversity decades before such a concept gained popular currency in the 1990s. Fully understood, It's a Small World--one of the most popular attractions at the Disney theme parks--encapsulates Disney's prophetic vision of an appealingly varied world, each race respecting the uniqueness of all the others while simultaneously celebrating a common human core. In this pioneering volume, Brode makes a compelling case that Disney's consistently positive presentation of "difference"--whether it be race, gender, sexual orientation, ideology, or spirituality--provided the key paradigm for an eventual emergence of multiculturalism in our society.

Using examples from dozens of films and TV programs, Brode demonstrates that Disney entertainment has consistently portrayed Native Americans, African Americans, women, gays, individual acceptance of one's sexual orientation, and alternatives to Judeo-Christian religious values in a highly positive light. Assuming a contrarian stance, Brode refutes the overwhelming body of "serious" criticism that dismisses Disney entertainment as racist and sexist. Instead, he reveals through close textual analysis how Disney introduced audiences to such politically correct principles as mainstream feminism. In so doing, Brode challenges the popular perception of Disney fare as a bland diet of programming that people around the world either uncritically deem acceptable for their children or angrily revile as reactionary pabulum for themasses.

Providing a long overdue and thoroughly detailed alternative, Brode makes a highly convincing argument that with an unwavering commitment to racial diversity and sexual difference, coupled with a vast global popularity, Disney entertainment enabled those successive generations of impressionable youth who experienced it to create today's aura of multiculturalism and our politically correct value system.

As properties of DC comics continue to sprout over the years, narratives that were once kept sacrosanct now spill over into one another, synergizing into one bona fide creative Universe. Intended for both professional pop culture researchers and general interest readers, this collection of essays covers DC Universe multimedia, including graphic novels, video games, movies and TV shows. Each essay is written by a recognized pop culture expert offering a distinct perspective on a wide variety of topics. Even though many of the entries address important social themes like gender and racism, the book is not limited to these topics. Also included are more lighthearted essays for full verisimilitude, including analyses of long forgotten or seemingly marginal aspects of the DC Extended Universe, as well as in-depth and original interpretations of the most beloved characters and their relationships to one another. Highly accessible and approachable, this work provides previously unavailable in-roads that create a richer comprehension of the ever-expanding DC Universe.

Whether on the big screen or small, films featuring the American Civil War are among the most classic and controversial in motion picture history. From D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915) to Free State of Jones (2016), the war has provided the setting, ideologies, and character archetypes for cinematic narratives of morality, race, gender, and nation, as well as serving as historical education for a century of Americans. In The American Civil War on Film and TV: Blue and Gray in Black and White and Color, Douglas Brode, Shea T. Brode, and Cynthia J. Miller bring together nineteen essays by a diverse array of scholars across the disciplines to explore these issues. The essays included here span a wide range of films, from the silent era to the present day, including Buster Keaton's The General (1926), Red Badge of Courage (1951), Glory (1989), Gettysburg (1993), and Cold Mountain (2003), as well as television mini-series The Blue and The Gray (1982) and John Jakes' acclaimed North and South trilogy (1985-86). As an accessible volume to dedicated to a critical conversation about the Civil War on film, The American Civil War on Film and TV will appeal to not only to scholars of film, military history, American history, and cultural history, but to fans of war films and period films, as well.

With stakes in film, television, theme parks, and merchandising, Disney continues to be one of the most dominant forces of popular culture around the globe. Films produced by the studio are usually blockbusters in nearly every country where they are released. However, despite their box office success, these films often generate as much disdain as admiration. While appreciated for their visual aesthetics, many of these same films are criticized for their cultural insensitivity or lack of historical fidelity. In Debating Disney: Pedagogical Perspectives on Commercial Cinema, Douglas Brode and Shea T. Brode have assembled a collection of essays that examine Disney's output from the 1930s through the present day. Each chapter in this volume represents the conflicting viewpoints of contributors who look at Disney culture from a variety of perspectives. Covering both animated and live-action films as well as television programs, these essays discuss how the studio handles social issues such as race, gender, and culture, as well as its depictions of science and history. Though some of the essays in this volume are critical of individual films or television shows, they also acknowledge the studio's capacity to engage audiences with the quality of their work. These essays encourage readers to draw their own conclusions about Disney productions, allowing them to consider the studio as the hero-as much as the villain-in the cultural deliberation. Debating Disney will be of interest to scholars and students of film as well as those with an interest in popular culture.

In 1937, the first full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney was released. Based on a fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was an instant success and set the stage for more film adaptations over the next several decades. From animated features like and Bambi to live action films such as Mary Poppins, Disney repeatedly turned to literary sources for inspiration-a tradition the Disney studios continues well into the twenty-first century. In It's the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics, Douglas Brode and Shea T. Brode have collected essays that consider the relationship between a Disney film and the source material from which it was drawn. Analytic yet accessible, these essays provide a wide-ranging study of the term "The Disney Version" and what it conveys to viewers. Among the works discussed in this volume are Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Tarzan, and Winnie the Pooh. In these intriguing essays, contributors to this volume offer close textual analyses of both the original work and of the Disney counterpart. Featuring articles that consider both positive and negative elements that can be found in the studio's output, It's the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics will be of interest to scholars and students of film, as well as the diehard Disney fan.

Sex, Drugs, & Rock 'n' Roll analyzes the cultural, political, and social revolution that took place in the U.S. (and in time the world) after World War II, crystalizing between 1955 and 1970. During this era, the concept of the American teenager first came into being, significantly altering the relationship between young people and adults. As the entertainment industries came to realize that a youth market existed, providers of music and movies began to create products specifically for them. While Big Beat music and exploitation films may have initially been targeted for a marginalized audience, during the following decade and a half, such offerings gradually become mainstream, even as the first generation of American teenagers came of age. As a result the so-called youth culture overtook and consumed the primary American culture, as records and films once considered revolutionary transformed into a nostalgia movement, and much of what had been thought of as radical came to be perceived as conservative in a drastically altered social context. In this book Douglas Brode offers the first full analysis of how an American youth culture evolved.

Almost as long as cinema has existed, vampires have appeared on screen. Symbolizing an unholy union between sex and death, the vampire-male or female-has represented the libido, a "repressed force" that consumed its victims. Early iconic representations of male vampires were seen in Nosferatu (1922) and Dracula (1931), but not until Dracula's Daughter in 1936 did a female "sex vampire" assume the lead. Other female vampires followed, perhaps most provocatively in the Hammer films of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Later incarnations, in such films as Near Dark (1987) and From Dusk till Dawn (1996), offered modern takes on this now iconic figure. In Dracula's Daughters: The Female Vampire on Film, Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka have assembled a varied collection of essays that explore this cinematic type that simultaneously frightens and seduces viewers. These essays address a number of issues raised by the female vampire film, such as violence perpetrated on and by women; reactions to the genre from feminists, antifeminists, and postfeminists; the implications of female vampire films for audiences both gay and straight; and how films reflected the period during which they were created. Other topics include female vampire films in relationship to vampire fiction, particularly by women such as Anne Rice; the relationship of the vampire myth to sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS; issues of race and misogyny; and the unique phenomenon of teen vampires in young adult books and films such as Twilight. Featuring more than thirty photos spanning several decades, this collection offers a compelling assessment of an archetypal figure-an enduring representation of dark desires-that continues to captivate audiences. This book will appeal not only to scholars and students but also to any lover of transgressive cinema.

While political liberals celebrated the end of “cowboy politics” with the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, political conservatives in the Tea Party and other like-minded groups still vociferously support “cowboy” values such as small government, low taxes, free-market capitalism, and the right to bear arms. Yet, as Douglas Brode argues in this paradigm-shifting book, these supposedly cowboy or “Old West” values hail not so much from the actual American frontier of the nineteenth century as from Hollywood’s portrayal of it in the twentieth century. And a close reading of Western films and TV shows reveals a much more complex picture than the romanticized, simplistic vision espoused by the conservative right. Examining dozens of Westerns, including Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Red River, 3:10 to Yuma (old and new), The Wild Ones, High Noon, My Darling Clementine, The Alamo, and No Country for Old Men, Brode demonstrates that the genre (with notable exceptions that he fully covers) was the product of Hollywood liberals who used it to project a progressive agenda on issues such as gun control, environmental protection, respect for non-Christian belief systems, and community cohesion versus rugged individualism. Challenging us to rethink everything we thought we knew about the genre, Brode argues that the Western stands for precisely the opposite of what most people today—whether they love it or hate it—believe to be the essential premise of “the only truly, authentically, and uniquely American narrative form.”

In 1977, Star Wars blazed across the screen to become one of the highest grossing and most beloved movies of all time, spawning an unprecedented merchandising phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels and three prequels, all of which became blockbusters. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, and magazines devoted to the films added to the mythology of George Lucas s creation. Despite the impact of the franchise on popular culture, however, discussion of the films from a scholarly perspective has not kept pace with the films. In Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars: An Anthology, Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka have assembled a provocative collection of essays exploring some of the more intriguing aspects of the Star Wars phenomenon. Contributors to the volume tackle such hot topics as race and racism in the Star Wars galaxy, Judeo-Christian and Eastern religious themes, homosexual romance, and philosophical and political implications both earthbound and otherworldly. These essays interpret the Star Wars universe from a variety of perspectives including feminist and Freudian offering insights from writers who bring a new passion to the subject. A companion volume to Myth, Media, and Culture in Star Wars, Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars is an authoritative anthology incorporating scholarly analysis with engaging insights. It will engross readers, both fans and scholars alike."