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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

12-2016

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

English: Rhetoric and Writing: M.A.

Department

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

First Advisor

James Heiman

Second Advisor

Matthew Barton

Third Advisor

Jennifer Tuder

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

Posthumanism, Superheroes, Television, Fantasy Theme Analysis

Abstract

Since 9/11, superheroes have become a popular medium for storytelling, so much so that popular culture is inundated with the narratives. More recently, the superhero narrative has moved from cinema to television, which allows for the narratives to address more pressing cultural concerns in a more immediate fashion. Furthermore, millions of viewers perpetuate the televised narratives because they resonate with the values and stories in the shows. Through Fantasy Theme Analysis, this project examines the audience values within the Arrow’s superhero fantasy and the influence of posthumanism on the show’s superhero fantasy.

Comments/Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge a number of individuals whose support made this thesis possible. Firstly, I would like to thank my chair person, Dr. James Heiman, for meeting with me weekly as I narrowed down my research topic and focused my analysis. I would also like to acknowledge my committee members, Dr. Matthew Barton and Dr. Jennifer Tuder, whose insights added substantially to my thesis in regards to lens and analysis. I would further like to thank the support I received from Dr. Carol Mohrbacher and my coworkers at the Write Place; I cannot count the number of times I discussed my thesis with my coworkers and came away with more certainty or a different perspective. Additionally, the support from my family has been tremendous. My brother, Andrew, has particularly helped in this project by discussing the artifact with me and poking holes in my analysis.

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