Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 246
•
Trim: 6¾ x 9¼
978-1-78348-492-8 • Hardback • August 2016 • $163.00 • (£127.00)
978-1-78348-493-5 • Paperback • July 2016 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
978-1-78348-494-2 • eBook • July 2016 • $53.00 • (£41.00)
Dan Hassler-Forest is Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Utrecht University.
Acknowledgments / 1. Imaginary Empires: Transmedia World-building and Global Capitalism / 2. World-building and Convergence Culture: From Imperialism to Empire / 3. Fantastical Capitalism and Post-ideological World-building / 4. Revolutionary Storyworlds and Post-democratic Capitalism / 5. Beyond Capitalism: Posthuman Storyworlds / 6. “Post”-script / Bibliography / Index
As Europe’s leading critic on transmedia culture, Dan Hassler-Forest’s Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics guides us through the landscapes of contemporary film, television, and video. From Tolkien to Afro-futurism, from Raymond Williams to Hardt and Negri, Hassler-Forest delivers a set of sharp commentaries on the hazards of capitalist mythologies and pitfalls of post-capitalist desires in these alternative lifeworlds.
— Stephen Shapiro, professor of English and comparative literary studies, University of Warwick
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics explores the intersection between world-building as practiced in speculative fiction and the desire to imagine (or constrain) alternatives to contemporary capitalism. He writes knowingly, affectionately, yet critically, about franchises as diverse as Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Hunger Games, and The Walking Dead, mapping the ways each embodies contradictions at the heart of neoliberal capitalism -- contradictions that surface in terms of their formal properties as transmedia franchises, their commercial contexts, and the consumer practices they inspire.
— Henry Jenkins, Provost's Professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts, and Education at the University of Southern California, Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics offers a wide ranging analysis of transmedia storyworlds and fan culture, covering branding, ‘Quality TV’, the HBO effect, political revolution, race and gender … [The book] is certainly an interesting and worthwhile read.
— Participations: The International Journal of Audience and Reception Studies
It is highly recommended
for scholars of early science fiction, as well as for those wondering about the
historical breeding ground for the US’s contemporary cultural and political
morass
— Science Fiction Studies, Vol 46
Offers a balanced critical analysis of transmedia world-building from the perspective of radical political theory.
Explains Marxist and post-Marxist critical theory using clear and widely recognizable case studies including Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Spartacus and Disney.
Offers a Marxist critique of the culture industry and its political economy with an emphasis on the anti-capitalist elements contained within these fantastic storyworlds.