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The Myth Of The American Superhero
''The Myth of the American Superhero'' is a scholarly non-fiction book by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence. It describes the idealized, fantasy violence so distinctive of American pop culture. The authors propose that the American heroic ideal, conveyed in formula stories of "the American monomyth," is explicitly anti-democratic and contagious. Crusading loners, attracted by guns, bombs, and the call to destroy evil, act out the premises of the myth with tragic consequences. This book argues that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski adopted the mythic convictions ritually enacted by celebrity stars such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Seagal. The book, published in July 2002, explores the relationship between our entertainment of the past century, and our national commitment to the ideals of democracy. Stories about superheroes—from the vigilante ideal launched by '' The Virginian'' novel a hundred years to the latest Spider ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Jewett
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unabomber
Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber (), is an American domestic terrorist and former mathematics professor. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide mail bombing campaign against people he believed to be advancing modern technology and the destruction of the environment. He authored ''Industrial Society and Its Future'', a 35,000-word manifesto and social critique opposing industrialization, rejecting leftism, and advocating for a nature-centered form of anarchism. A mathematics prodigy, Kaczynski attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan. In 1971, he abandoned his academic career to pursue a primitive life, moving to a remote cabin without electricity or running water near Lincoln, Montana, where he lived as a recluse while learning survival skills to become self-sufficient. After witnessing the destruction of the wilderness surrounding his cabin, he concluded that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has since been featured in films, television shows, novels, video games, and plays. Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues and gave him many supporting characters, such as Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, and Harry Osborn; romantic interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, and Venom. In his origin story, Spider-Man gets superhuman spider-powers and abilities from a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Virginian (novel)
''The Virginian'' (otherwise titled ''The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains)'' is a 1902 novel by the American author Owen Wister (1860-1938), set in Wyoming Territory during the 1880s. It describes the life of a cowboy on a cattle ranch and is considered the first true fictional western ever written, aside from short stories and pulp dime novels, though modern scholars debate this. ''The Virginian'' paved the way for many more westerns by such authors as Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour and several others. The novel was adapted from several short stories published in ''Harper's Magazine'' and the ''Saturday Evening Post'' between Nov 1893 and May 1902. Fictional character The Virginian is a ranch hand at the Sunk Creek Ranch, located outside of Medicine Bow, Wyoming. His friend Steve calls him "Jeff" presumably after Jefferson Davis, but he is always referred to as the Virginian, and no name is mentioned throughout the story. He is described as a tall, dark, slim young giant, with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal (; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, screenwriter and martial artist. A 7th-dan black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instructor in Japan and eventually ended up running his father-in-law's dojo. He later moved to Los Angeles where he had the same profession. In 1988, Seagal made his acting debut in '' Above the Law''. By 1991, he had starred in four films. In 1992, he played Navy SEAL counter-terrorist expert Casey Ryback in ''Under Siege''. During the latter half of the 1990s, Seagal starred in three more feature films and the direct-to-video film '' The Patriot''. Subsequently, his career shifted to mostly direct-to-video productions. He has since appeared in films and reality shows, including '' Steven Seagal: Lawman'', which depicted Seagal performing his duties as a reserve deputy sheriff. Seagal is a guitarist and has released two studio albums, ''Songs from the Crystal Cave'' and ''Mojo Priest'', and performed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Dollars Trilogy''" of Spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five ''Dirty Harry'' films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. An Academy Award nominee for Best Actor, Eastwood won Best Director and Best Picture for his Western film ''Unforgiven'' (1992) and his sports drama '' Million Dollar Baby'' (2004). His greatest commercial successes are the adventure comedy ''Every Which Way but Loose'' (1978) and its action comedy sequel ''Any Which Way You Can'' (1980). Other popular Eastwood films include the Westerns ''Hang 'Em H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades, and he appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in Southern California. After losing his football scholarship to the University of Southern California from a bodysurfing accident, he began working for the Fox Film Corporation. He appeared mostly in small parts, but his first leading role came in Raoul Wal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodore Kaczynski
Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber (), is an American domestic terrorist and former mathematics professor. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide mail bombing campaign against people he believed to be advancing modern technology and the destruction of the environment. He authored ''Industrial Society and Its Future'', a 35,000-word manifesto and social critique opposing industrialization, rejecting leftism, and advocating for a nature-centered form of anarchism. A mathematics prodigy, Kaczynski attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan. In 1971, he abandoned his academic career to pursue a primitive life, moving to a remote cabin without electricity or running water near Lincoln, Montana, where he lived as a recluse while learning survival skills to become self-sufficient. After witnessing the destruction of the wilderness surrounding his cabin, he concluded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The bombing was the deadliest act of terrorism in the United States prior to the September 11 attacks. It remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A Gulf War veteran, McVeigh sought revenge against the federal government for the 1993 Waco siege as well as the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident and American foreign policy. He hoped to inspire a revolution against the federal government, and defended the bombing as a legitimate tactic against what he saw as a tyrannical government. He was arrested shortly after the bombing and indicted on 160 state offenses and 11 federal offenses, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was found guilty on all counts in 1997 and sentenced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Shelton Lawrence
John Shelton Lawrence is an emeritus professor of philosophy at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, United States. His initial major publication, '' The American Monomyth'', written with Robert Jewett, was published in 1977. Career The major contribution of ''The American Monomyth'' is a re-thinking of Joseph Campbell's famous classical monomyth from his 1949 book ''The Hero With a Thousand Faces''. Campbell's monomyth described a universal narrative of the myth of the hero's journey which he claimed had disappeared in contemporary culture. Lawrence and Jewett described an American evolution of this mythological structure that reflected a deep antipathy to democratic institutions through the violent actions of a hero who remains separate from the community. This pattern varies significantly from Campbell's, that emphasizes the hero's return to the community with some kind of significant aid ("the boon") and a willingness to accept public leadership as a member of that commu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The American Monomyth
''The American Monomyth'' is a 1977 book by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence arguing for the existence and cultural importance of an 'American Monomyth', a variation on the classical monomyth as proposed by Joseph Campbell. Campbell's monomyth describes a hero's journey: a hero ventures from the normal world into a supernatural one, winning a decisive victory there and returning with a 'boon'. In contrast, Jewett and Lawrence define the American monomyth as: "A community in a harmonious paradise is threatened by evil; normal institutions fail to contend with this threat; a selfless superhero emerges to renounce temptations and carry out the redemptive task; aided by fate, his decisive victory restores the community to its paradisiacal condition; the superhero then recedes into obscurity." In their 2002 book ''The Myth of the American Superhero'' (with Lawrence as first author) and their 2003 book ''Captain America And The Crusade Against Evil: The Dilemma Of Zealous Nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Pop Culture
The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The United States has its own distinct social and cultural characteristics, such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore. The United States is ethnically diverse as a result of large-scale European immigration throughout its history, its hundreds of indigenous tribes and cultures, and through African-American slavery followed by emancipation. America is an anglophone country with a legal system derived from English common law. Origins, development, and spread The European roots of the United States originate with the English and Spanish settlers of colonial North America during British and Spanish rule. The varieties of English people, as opposed to the other peoples on the British Isles, were the overwhelming majori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
