This book presents serious academic scholarship on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It differs from other works because it uses Buffy as a primary text and not as a secondary instrument to explore other concepts. In doing so, it demonstrates that popular culture studies should be approached with the same serious attention that is paid to classic philosophy and other long-established fields. Essays assemble the Buffy canon and explore how Buffy treats Shakespeare, comics, power, sisterhood, apocalyptic revisionism, folklore, feminism, redemption, patriarchy, identity and...

The Wizard of Oz has captured the imagination of the public since publication of the first of L. Frank Baum's books in 1900. Oz has shaped the way we read children's literature, view motion pictures, experience musicals, and watch in wonder as the boundaries between literature, film, and stage are crossed. Oz has captured the scholarly imagination as well. The seventeen essays in this book address these questions, which have become essential to Oz scholarship. Topics covered include literary criticism and Oz, and the roles of philosophy and social critique in the series. Together these essays...

From his first comic-book appearance in 1939 through his many incarnations on the big screen, the archetypal superhero known as The Batman has never been far from the American consciousness. The character shaped the way we read comics and graphic novels, view motion pictures, and analyze the motifs of the Hero, the Anti-Hero and the Villain. He has also captured the scholarly imagination, telling us much about our society and ourselves. These essays examine how Batman is both the canvas on which our cultural identity is painted, and the Eternal Other that informs our own journeys of...