Description

This book explores fictional representations and narrative functions of animal characters in animated and live-action film and television, examining the ways in which these representations intersect with a variety of social issues. Contributors cover a range of animal characters, from heroes to villains, across a variety of screen genres and formats, including anime, comedy, romance, horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Aesthetic features of these works, along with the increased latitude that fictionalized narratives and alternative worlds provide, allow existing social issues to be brought to the forefront in order to effect change in our societies. By incorporating animal figures into media, these screen narratives have gained the ability to critique actions carried out by human beings and explore dimensions of both the human/animal connection and the intersectionality of race, culture, class, gender, and ability, ultimately teaching viewers how to become more human in our interactions with the world around us. Scholars of film studies, media studies, and animal studies will find this book of particular interest.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction: Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler

Part I. Animal Characters: Racial, Ethnic, and Social Contexts
Chapter 1: “Beneath the Surface Lies the Future”: Narrative, Characterization, and the Natural World with seaQuest DSV's Darwin
Alissa Burger
Chapter 2: Ducks, Ducks and More Ducks: Comedy and Social Class in Animated TV
David Hipple
Chapter 3:“Don't Just Fly, Soar”: Reading Disability in Disney's Animation Dumbo (1941) and Live-Action Remake Dumbo (2019)
Jessica Gibson
Chapter 4: Making the Invisible Visible: Displaced and Marginalized Animal Characters in Samuel Fuller's White Dog and Kornél Mundruczó's White God
Heather Rolufs and Karin Beeler

Part II. Animals and Narrative Functions: Monsters/Victims/Heroes
Chapter 5: Worse than their Bite: Dogs and Horror
Catherine Pugh
Chapter 6: The Bad Habits of Rabbits: An Ecocritical Examination of Rabbits as Antagonists in Film
MK Pinder
Chapter 7 : Of Animals and Aliens: Identifying with the Non-Human Other in Guar

Product details

Published 14 Sep 2022
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 238
ISBN 9781666904826
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Karin Beeler

Anthology Editor

Stan Beeler

Contributor

Georgia Aitaki

Contributor

Jessica Bay

Contributor

Karin Beeler

Contributor

Stan Beeler

Contributor

Alissa Burger

Contributor

Jessica Gibson

Contributor

David Hipple

Contributor

Katsuya Izumi

Contributor

Jonathan Osborn

Contributor

MK Pinder

Contributor

Catherine Pugh

Contributor

Heather Rolufs

Contributor

Monica Sousa

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

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