Comics, Scifi, Fantasy

Catalog description

Taught by GTU/CARE. Recent years have seen an explosion of comic book films and television (X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Batman, Superman), reboots of classic science fiction franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica), and definitive adaptations of beloved fantasy titles (Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games). With elements of mythos, canon, ritual community, grand narratives with cosmic-level consequences, and explorations of ethics, power, and the nature of good and evil, these genres seem to tap into the source code of religious subject matter. This course continues in the tradition of the introductory "Pop Goes Religion" course, to focus the interdisciplinary study of religion and popular culture in this fertile trinity of fantasy genres.