Hollywood franchises and global capitalism: Dan Hassler-Forest on the relationship between science fiction, fantasy, and politics in American popular culture.
Hollywood blockbusters are by no means just innocent entertainment; on the contrary, they are full of politics and ideologies. For his PhD thesis, Dan Hassler Forest studied the genre of superhero movies to demonstrate that there is a strong relationship between post-9/11 American politics and the contemporary superhero movie phenomenon.
In his latest research, Dan extends his research to examine how the genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy – From Star Trek to Game of Thrones – could give us new ways of thinking about politics and popular culture and help us look beyond capitalism.
Dr. Dan Hassler Forest is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Utrecht University. He is also a ‘Ukulele-playing anti-capitalist, pop-culture fanatic and notorious talking head’; see Twitter. He studies the complex interplay between politics, ideology, and entertainment, and is the author of several books, including Capitalist Superheroes (2012), investigating the 21st-century superhero's underlying political agenda. His latest book Science Fiction, Fantasy and Politics appears this August.
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