Superheroes, Movies, and the State: How the U. S. Government Shapes Cinematic Universes

Tricia Jenkins and Tom Secker deliver a highly original exploration of how the government-entertainment complex has influenced the world’s most popular movie genre—superhero films. Superheroes, Movies, and the State sets a new standard for exploring the government-Hollywood relationship as it persuasively documents the critical role different government agencies have played in shaping characters, stories, and even the ideas behind the hottest entertainment products. Jenkins and Secker cover a wide range of US government and quasi-governmental agencies who act to influence the content of superhero movies, including the Department of Defense, the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange and, to a lesser extent, the FBI and the CIA. "Despite continued warnings of "superhero fatigue," Marvel and DC's current cinematic universes (the MCU and DCEU) have dominated the last two decades of popular culture and continue to obliterate box-office records. Where other scholars have focused solely on superhero films' global popularity, reflections of American imperialism, cultural legacy, or treatment of minority groups, Jenkins and Secker examine these films' production-side relationships with the American Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, the Science and Entertainment Exchange (SEEX), and other government agencies that have aided (or withdrawn from) their creation and promotion. This government-entertainment complex, they argue, uses superhero films as non-traditional propaganda: the state does not directly generate or force the creation of these movies, but instead leverages its unique resources to encourage positive images and messaging. Positive portrayals of the state differ from movie to movie, and military and scientific agencies emphasize different "American values," but their methods are similar and their efforts can coincide. By using documents obtained from government entertainment liaison offices through years of FOIA requests (including script notes, production correspondence, and marketing materials), as well as personal interviews with both producers and government liaisons, Jenkins and Secker illustrate how and why state agencies invest in the production of superhero films, how their support -- or lack thereof -- influences those films' final narratives, and how both studios' past films and current story arcs offer opportunities to diversify their future productions"-- Provided by publisher Introduction. Holy Box Office, Batman: Understanding the Rise of the Superhero Genre and Its Ties to the Government-Entertainment Complex Chapter One. “If You Get Killed, Walk It Off”: Promoting Clean Wars and US Benevolence Chapter Two. “I Told You, I Don’t Want to Join Your Super-Secret Boy Band”: Superheroes and the Anti-Establishment Narrative Chapter Three. “Hi. I’m from the Military. Space Is the Next Frontier”: NASA, Space Force, and the Future of the Galaxy Chapter Four. You Can’t Just Fall Off a Planet: Assembling the Science and Entertainment Exchange Chapter Five. All New, but Not That Different? Diversity, Politics, and the Superhero Conclusion. The American Way, The Boys, and the Wrong Message?