Air Travel Fiction and Film: Cloud People (Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture)

__Air Travel Fiction and Film: Cloud People__ explores how, over the past four decades, fiction and film have transformed our perceptions and representations of contemporary air travel. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of international cultural productions, and elucidates the paradigms and narratives that constitute our current imaginary of air mobility. Erica Durante advances the hypothesis that fiction and film have converted the Airworld—the world of airplanes and airport infrastructures—into a pivotal anthropological place that is endowed with social significance and identity, suggesting that the assimilation of the sky into our cultural imaginary and lifestyle has metamorphosed human society into “Cloud People.” In its examination of the representations of air travel as an epicenter of today’s world, the book not only illustrates a novel perspective on contemporary fiction, but fills an important gap in the study of globalization within literary and film studies. Foreword 7 Being in the Clouds 7 Foreword [Original Spanish Version] 10 Estar en las nubes 10 Preface 13 Praise for Air Travel Fiction and Film 18 Contents 20 List of Figures 22 1 Introduction 24 1 Skyward 24 2 From Aeromobilities to Airportness 27 3 From Airborne to Air-born: Cloud People 30 4 The Airworld as a Methodology 33 References 37 2 The Airworld as an In-between Space 42 1 Urban Center Versus Airport Periphery 42 2 The Traveler and the Absent City 44 3 Globalizing the Local 51 4 Crossing(s) from the Micro-world to the Meta-world 55 5 The Telephone as a Cable Between the City and the Airworld 66 References 71 3 Time Out of Control 74 1 The Ever-Present and Unrelenting Burden of Time 74 2 Crystallized Waiting Time 86 3 The Compressed Time of Jet Lag 98 References 108 4 Luxury in the Sky with More Than Diamonds 111 1 Luxury as an Air Travel Brand 111 2 Semiotics of Luxury 124 3 Fashion and the Eroticization of the Air Cabin Crew 133 References 145 5 Cloud People: Identities and Paradoxes 150 1 Airworld Personnel 151 2 The Fluid Passenger 156 3 The Vulnerable Passenger 166 References 177 6 Connections, Disconnections, and Reconnections 181 1 Airborne Families and Relationships 181 2 Chance Encounters and Existential Turning Points 188 3 Love Out of the Blue 198 References 208 7 Coda: Flying Over 212 References 215 Index 217 Air Travel Fiction and Film: Cloud People explores how, over the past four decades, fiction and film have transformed our perceptions and representations of contemporary air travel. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of international cultural productions, and elucidates the paradigms and narratives that constitute our current imaginary of air mobility. Erica Durante advances the hypothesis that fiction and film have converted the Airworld - the world of airplanes and airport infrastructures - into a pivotal anthropological place that is endowed with social significance and identity, suggesting that the assimilation of the sky into our cultural imaginary and lifestyle has metamorphosed human society into "Cloud People". In its examination of the representations of air travel as an epicenter of today's world, the book not only illustrates a novel perspective on contemporary fiction, but fills an important gap in the study of globalization within literary and film studies Front Matter ....Pages i-xxvi Introduction (Erica Durante)....Pages 1-18 The Airworld as an In-between Space (Erica Durante)....Pages 19-50 Time Out of Control (Erica Durante)....Pages 51-87 Luxury in the Sky with More Than Diamonds (Erica Durante)....Pages 89-127 Cloud People: Identities and Paradoxes (Erica Durante)....Pages 129-159 Connections, Disconnections, and Reconnections (Erica Durante)....Pages 161-191 Coda: Flying Over (Erica Durante)....Pages 193-197 Back Matter ....Pages 199-204