Abstract
For more than ten years, the undeniable success of Hollywood science fiction blockbusters has been based not only on the technological excellence of special effects, which guarantee an unprecedented visual spectacle but also on the effectiveness of their scenarios created for the general public and carried by extraordinary protagonists. With the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and then the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), we have witnessed a tidal wave of superheroes inspired or directly adapted from American comics. These heroes stand out for their remarkable physical and moral strength. In this article, we will explore this figure of the hero in 70 successful American science fiction films from the last two decades. We discuss how they illustrate the trend toward “evantropy,” a neologism for “human enhancement,” as defined by Lucas Misseri. We also consider the myth of the superhuman, which seems straight out of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory, a fictional “algorithm” that Hollywood has successfully appropriated and modernized.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Hollywood, Science-fiction, Super-heroes, Myth, Evantropia
