Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism

This book analyzes how contemporary popular films with fantastic themes, including Candyman, Frozen, The Cabin in the Woods, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, cultivate neoliberal subjectivities. These films promise dramatic change, but they too often deliver more of the same. Although proponents maintain the illusion that the militant enforcement of freemarket economics will resolve racism, climate change, and imperialism, their magical thinking actually fuels the crises. Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism explores the ways in which the visual economies of Hollywood fantasy compliment this particular political economy.

One of the first books to scrutinize the ways in which the fashionable radicalism of popular culture supplants the formulation of genuine alternatives in a neoliberal context Examines how popular fantastical works cast a spell on audiences to distract them from the seriousness of the issues that they face, including racism, climate change, and American imperialism Interrogates aesthetic as a function of cultural mood

Autorentext
Michael J. Blouin is Assistant Professor at Milligan College, USA. He maintains research interests in film studies, critical theory, transnationalism, and popular culture. Blouin's publications include Japan and the Cosmopolitan Gothic: Specters of Modernity, as well as articles in academic journals including The Journal of American Studies and Extrapolation.

Inhalt
1 Introduction: Neoliberal Fantasies.- 2 (Neo)liberalism and the Banal Apocalypse.- 3 Cinematic Enchantment and the Magic of the Market.- 4 Candyman and Neoliberal Racism.- 5 Climate Change and the Greenwashing of Hollywood Fantasies.- 6 American Horror, Global Commons, and The Cabin in the Woods.- 7 Biopolitics and Movies about Magic.- Coda: The Hunger Games, The Watchmen, and The Confused Critic.