English Literature (ENG) |
118 Prince Lucien Campbell, 541-346-3911
English
College of Arts & Sciences
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M - Major, minor, pre-major, or concentration restrictions. If restricted by date, click on CRN to see effective dates; courses with no date are restricted through the registration deadline. Contact the academic department for additional information.
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Course Data
| ENG 607 Sem Suprhero Hist&Theo |
5.00 cr. |
| Selected seminars offered each year. Repeatable up to seven times. |
| Grading Options: |
Optional; see degree guide or catalog for degree requirements
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| Instructor: |
Saunders B  |
Office:
273 PLC
Phone:
(541) 346-0062
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Only Open to Majors:
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English
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| Course Materials |
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CRN |
Avail |
Max |
Time |
Day |
Location |
Instructor |
Notes |
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33667 |
10 |
15 |
1800-2050 |
r |
195 ANS |
Saunders B |
M |
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Academic Deadlines
| Deadline |
Last day to: |
| March 27: |
Process a complete drop (100% refund, no W recorded) |
| April 2: |
Drop this course (100% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded) |
| April 2: |
Process a complete drop (90% refund, no W recorded; after this date, W's are recorded) |
| April 3: |
Process a complete withdrawal (90% refund, W recorded) |
| April 3: |
Withdraw from this course (100% refund, W recorded) |
| April 4: |
Add this course |
| April 4: |
Last day to change to or from audit |
| April 10: |
Process a complete withdrawal (75% refund, W recorded) |
| April 10: |
Withdraw from this course (75% refund, W recorded) |
| April 17: |
Process a complete withdrawal (50% refund, W recorded) |
| April 17: |
Withdraw from this course (50% refund, W recorded) |
| April 24: |
Process a complete withdrawal (25% refund, W recorded) |
| April 24: |
Withdraw from this course (25% refund, W recorded) |
| May 15: |
Withdraw from this course (0% refund, W recorded) |
| May 15: |
Change grading option for this course |
 | You can't drop your last class using the "Add/Drop" menu in DuckWeb. Go to the “Completely Withdraw from Term/University” link to begin the complete withdrawal process. If you need assistance with a complete drop or a complete withdrawal, please contact the Office of Academic Advising, 101 Oregon Hall, 541-346-3211 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday). If you are attempting to completely withdraw after business hours, and have difficulty, please contact the Office of Academic Advising the next business day. |
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Expanded Course Description
| Once upon a time, the four-color world of the superhero was a comfortingly simple place. The super-powered beings of the 1940s and 50s were secure in their sense of righteousness and saw no contradiction in the alignment of truth and justice with the American way. But in the 1960s superheroes experienced a crisis of confidence. They became more neurotic, more driven by guilt than moral rectitude, more likely to be feared and misunderstood than admired and revered. Throughout the 1970s, things got worse. The Green Lantern was accused of racism; Spider-Man’s girlfriend was murdered; Superman wondered about his own relevance; Iron Man turned to the bottle. By the 1980s it was hard to tell the heroes from the villains; Watchmen, the single most influential superhero narrative of the late 20th century, reimagines costumed crime-fighters as weapons in the Cold War, wannabe celebrities chasing the corporate dollar, and damaged psychotics. When the comic book industry underwent one of its periodic collapses in the 1990s it looked like it was all over for the spandex set. But since the events of 9/11, superheroes have enjoyed a commercial renaissance, becoming perhaps the dominant fantasy genre of our present moment. What does all this tell us about the superhero fantasy? And what does it say about us our culture, politics, and values?
In this class we will map the path of the American superhero and consider the ways in which that journey reflects larger processes of social change. We will consider the argument that the ideology of the superhero is irredeemably capitalistic and conservative: overdetermined by a rigidly binary conception of morality, and shot through with problematic representations of gender, race, nation, and class. But we will also read some contemporary critics who argue that, on the contrary, the speculative possibilities inherent in the superhero genre have opened the door to more inclusive modes of popular fantasy. In addition, we will attempt to analyze superhero comic books as significant aesthetic achievements in themselves: expressions of a misunderstood and under-appreciated art form for which we have not yet developed an adequate critical vocabulary.
Finally, we will attempt to understand the extraordinary imaginative appeal of the costumed crime-fighter — an appeal that apparently overlaps significant distinctions of age, gender, nation, and culture, and which no amount of silliness or cynicism seems quite able to dispel.
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