Myth in the Modern World

David Whitt is a professor of communication studies at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He teaches mass media, persuasion, communication in the professions, and has taught courses on Star Trek, comic books, and the Irish rock group U2. John Perlich is an associate professor of communication studies at Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minnesota. His teaching specialties include communication theory, mixed research methods, public speaking (presentation-based courses), and interpersonal communication.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments viIntroduction 1Part 1: Envisioning Heroes and Evolving FrontiersBreaking Bad and Blending Boundaries: Revisioning the Myths of Masculinity and the Superhero (Lisa Weckerle) 720th Century Boys: Blending Eastern and Western Storytelling (Michael W. Marek and ­Pin-hsiang Natalie Wu) 33A Change of Scenery: The Southern, the Western and the Evolution of the Frontier Myth in Justified (Aaron Duncan) 61Part 2: Right or Left of CenterThe Mythology of Suffering and Redemption in the Discourse of Al Qaeda (Jason A. Edwards) 83Mothers and Monsters: The Return of the Great Goddess in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (Sharon Dee Goertz) 102Myth and ­Meaning-Making in Showtime’s The L Word (Judy Battaglia) 123The Day Environmentalism Stood Still: Film, Myth and the Ecological Jeremiad (Richard D. Besel) 148Part 3: Reality BitesFields of Dreams and Gods of the Gridiron: The Trinity of Myth, Sport and the Hero (Karen L. Hartman) 165Reclaiming the Wolf Myth in the Shadow of the Twilight Films: The Quileute People’s Exhibit (Lindsay R. Calhoun and Keaton Maddox) 185The Ultimate Hunger Games: Adam Richman as Comic Hercules in Man v. Food (David Whitt) 207About the Contributors 227Index 229