Articulating the Action Figure

Essays on the Toys and Their Messages

Buch | Softcover

188 Seiten

2017
McFarland & Co Inc (Verlag)
978-1-4766-6427-9 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

Action figures are more than toys or collectibles - they are statements on race, gender, class, body positivity and more. This collection of nine essays and one interview argues that action figures should be analysed in the same light as books, movies, televisions shows and other media. Through an examination of these plastic bodies, “action figure studies” can inform the next generation of toys.

Action figures are more than toys or collectibles--they are statements on race, gender, class, body positivity and more. This collection of nine new essays and one interview argues that action figures should be analyzed in the same light as books, movies, television shows and other media. Through an examination of the plastic bodies that fill our shelves and toy boxes, "Action Figure Studies" can inform the next generation of toys.

Jonathan Alexandratos is a playwright and essayist who lives, teaches, and writes in New York City. His plays, like his academic work, usually involve action figures and pop culture, and have been produced internationally.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction. Posing the Question: An Action Figure Studies

Manifesto

Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Action Figure: Part One

Daniel F. Yezbick

The (Re)Resurrection of Captain Action: Will Justice Be Done?

Thomas G. Endres

Plastic Military Mythology: Hypercommercialism and Hasbro’s

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

J. Richard Stevens

The Same Aisle: The Intersection of Resistance and Discipline

in Brony Fandom, or, Friendship Is Mythological

Tracy L. Bealer

Selling Girl Power in the 1980s: She-Ra and the Gendered

Dimensions of Action Figures

Keith Corson

“Seeing into the life of things”: Toy Story, The Lego Movie

and the Wordsworthian Imagination

Geoff Klock

Get Your Freak On: The Monstrous Seduction in Mattel’s

Monster High

Cathy Thomas

All Dolled Up: Monster High, Project MC2 and “Action” Figures

Christopher Bell

“Toys with brains”: Skylanders and the Growth of the

Toys-to-Life Market

Kimberly A. Owczarski

Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Action Figure: Part Two

Daniel F. Yezbick

“I was always Wonder Woman”: An Interview with

IAmElemental’s Julie Kerwin

Jonathan Alexandratos

About the Contributors

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	01.04.2017
Zusatzinfo	7 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
Verlagsort	Jefferson, NC
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	254 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Antiquitäten
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
ISBN-10	1-4766-6427-7 / 1476664277
ISBN-13	978-1-4766-6427-9 / 9781476664279
Zustand	Neuware