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 THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SUPERHERO (Eerdmans, 2002) describes the idealized, fantasy violence so distinctive for American pop culture. The authors show that the American heroic ideal, conveyed in formula stories of "the American monomyth," is explicitly anti-democratic and contagious. Crusading loners, attracted by guns, bombs, and the call to destroy evil, act out the premises of the myth with tragic consequences. This book shows how Timothy McVey (the Oklahoma City bomber) and Theodore Kacznyski (the Unabomber) have the courage of the mythic convictions ritually enacted by celebrity stars such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Seagal. The linked page for THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SUPERHERO provides a pathway to comments, reviews, table of contents, and the publisher. This book, published in July 2002, explores the relationship between our entertainments of the past century and national commitment to the ideals of democracy. Stories about superheroes--from the vigilante ideal launched by THE VIRGINIAN novel a hundred years to the latest SPIDERMAN film or TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL TV episode--express despair about self-managed government and the hope for redemption by powerful individuals who rise above law and institutions. THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SUPERHERO discusses novels, films, television shows, videogames and the behavior of national leaders inspired by myth. WINNER: John Cawelti Award of the American Culture Association, Best Book of 2002 Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies, 2004 "A
major interpretive resource for several disciplines, including
American studies, religious studies, literature, popular culture, and
film studies, The Myth of the American Superhero covers an astonishing
array of expressions of the heroic in American culture. I have used the
authors' approach to popular expression of mythology for many years and
appreciate this richly updated (right up to the terrorist events of
September 11, 2001 and the films The Matrix and Fight Club), expanded,
and rewritten version of their volume originally titled The American
Monomyth. Monomythic expressions now include highly violent video games
and worldwide terrorism. John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett
provide a framework for critiquing a wide range of movies and
literature, including the Disneyfication of the nation and the lethal
patriotism of Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski.
The dangers of fascist elements of Star Wars are confronted as well as
the dangerous apocalypticism of the Left Behind books and films.
Ultimately, the authors are sincerely worried about the shape of
Western democracy as it is threatened by cheap resolutions of complex
political and theological issues. This book will be a major component
in my honors course on the heroic model in life, literature, and film.
As a tool for understanding the dangers of the traditional hero model,
The Myth of the American Superhero has no competition. It is the sort
of book that educates one for a lifetime."
- WILLIAM G. DOTY University of Alabama, author of Mythography (1986, 2000) John Shelton Lawrence's entry at Wikipedia. Robert Jewett's vita at the University of Heidelberg. |