Fantasy Film Post 9/11

Examining a range of fantasy films released in the past decade, Pheasant-Kelly looks at why these films are meaningful to current audiences. The imagery and themes reflecting 9/11, millennial anxieties, and environmental disasters have furthered fantasy's rise to dominance as they allow viewers to work through traumatic memories of these issues. Examining a range of popular fantasy films released in the past decade, including the Harry Potter films, Jackson's Lord of the Rings series, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies through to The Dark Knight and Avatar, this book explores the reasons for these films' incredible success. Pheasant-Kelly explores the meaningfulness of such films to current audiences while considering how technology, spectacle, and an increasing affinity for magic and mysticism have been important in promoting the turn to fantasy. The imagery and themes reflecting 9/11, new millennial anxieties, the war on terror, and environmental disasters have furthered fantasy's rise to dominance. Fantasies offer ways to subconsciously re-enact or work through traumatic memories of these issues for viewers reluctant to witness real images of death and destruction "Pheasant-Kelly's exceedingly thorough, well-crafted book opens up new ways of understanding the impact of fantasy movies. This timely, original, and significant contribution to the literature of film is a must-read."--Jack G. Shaheen, author of Guilty: Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs After 9/11 "In this path-breaking book - the first in-depth study of the post-9/11 fantasy film - Frances Pheasant-Kelly shows how the genre which continues to dominate the box office offers not simply an escape from painful realities but a complex and often dark mediation of contemporary anxieties. Through detailed and nuanced analysis of a wide range of films, Pheasant-Kelly traces how the themes, narratives and spectacular imagery of these texts capture the fearful post-9/11 zeitgeist in ways that resonate with the popular audience. Fantasy Film Post 9/11 offers compelling insights into how, in an era of political disengagement, war and terror have nevertheless become part of the fabric of Western popular culture."--Phil Hammond, Professor of Media and Communications and Head of the Centre for Media and Culture Research, London South Bank University, UK "Fantasy Film Post 9/11 should be essential reading for all those interested in contemporary popular cinema. By mapping the narratives and themes of adventure and superhero franchises, Frances Pheasant-Kelly demonstrates how these apparently most escapist of films are nevertheless products of the ideological and political climate in which they were produced and consumed. This book will change the way we think about modern Hollywood cinema."--James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of Leicester, UK Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction....Pages 1-21 Settings, Spectacle, and the Other: Picturing Disgust in Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy....Pages 23-45 Bewitching, Abject, Uncanny: Magical Spectacle in the Harry Potter Films....Pages 47-66 Pirate Politics and the Spectacle of the Other: Pirates of the Caribbean....Pages 67-86 Resurrection, Anthropomorphism, and Cold War Echoes in Adamson’s The Chronicles of Narnia; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe....Pages 87-97 The Aesthetics of Trauma: Temporality and Multidirectional Memory in Pan’s Labyrinth....Pages 99-113 Reframing the Cold War in the Twenty-First Century: Action, Nostalgia, and Nuclear Holocaust in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull....Pages 115-130 The Ecstasy of Chaos: Mediations of 9/11, Terrorism, and Traumatic Memory in The Dark Knight....Pages 131-142 Wounding, Morality, and Torture: Reflections of the War on Terror in Iron Man and Iron Man 2....Pages 143-159 Shock and Awe: Terror, Technology, and the Sublime Nature of Cameron’s Avatar....Pages 161-178 Conclusion....Pages 179-182 Back Matter....Pages 183-211 Introduction -- Settings, spectacle, and the other: picturing disgust in Jackson's The lord of the rings trilogy -- Bewitching, abject, uncanny: magical spectacle in the Harry Potter films -- Pirate politics and the spectacle of the Other: Pirates of the Caribbean -- Resurrection, anthropomorphism, and Cold War echoes in Adamson's The chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe -- The aesthetics of trauma: temporality, and multidirectional memory in Pan's labyrinth -- Reframing the Cold War in the twenty-first century: action, nostalgia and nuclear holocaust in Indiana Jones and The kingdom of the crystal skull -- The ecstasy of chaos: mediating 9/11, terrorism and trauma in The dark knight -- Wounding, morality and torture: reflections of the War on Terror in Iron man and Iron man 2 -- Shock and awe: terror, technology, and the sublime nature of Cameron's Avatar -- Conclusion