Capitán Latinoamérica: Affect, Bodies, and Circulations in the Superhero Genre

Venkatesh, Vinodh

doi:10.1353/hcs.2016.0051

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Here we do not draw firm lines between representation and affect, as they are experienced simultaneously; 'Affective experience and meaning are neither parallel nor separable, but firmly intertwined' (Plantinga 2009, 3). Previous work on superhero cinema identified the affective politics of superheroes as an absence in the literature thus far (Dittmer 2011;Venkatesh 2016). Indeed, a common claim regarding the superhero genre is that it is successful to the extent that it is able to give readers/viewers a sympathetic feeling of what it would be like to have bodily capacities well beyond their 'real' ones.…”

Section: The Popular Geopolitics Of Refugeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Figure of the Refugee in Superhero Cinema

AlAwadhi

Dittmer

2020

Geopolitics

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In this paper we argue that superhero cinema offers an opportunity to think through the narratives and affects of the refugee crisis, which are distinct from, but related to, the relatively well-attended-to tropes of journalism. To do so we adopt both the ethical stance of feminist political geography and the analytic methods of popular geopolitics. Our analysis focuses on two films from the burgeoning Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Captain Marvel (2019). Both films are not 'refugee films' per se, but they illustrate the ways in which the ongoing 'refugee crisis' is being dealt with in mainstream, corporate Hollywood blockbusters. The two films are considered both in their narrative and affective engineering, as part of an effort to understand the ways in which political subjects might be shaped by the act of viewing. Our analysis uncovers three themes: 1) mobility as power, 2) the aesthetic of modernity, and 3) refugee bodies. We conclude that studies like this can contribute to a broader understanding of the role of whiteness and securitisation in the portrayal of refugees in the Global North.

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Section: The Popular Geopolitics Of Refugeesmentioning

confidence: 99%