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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.
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.
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.
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