From Mrs Peel to the first female Doctor Who, this book offers a timely focus on the popular phenomenon of the cult TV heroine. The enduring phenomenon of cult TV itself is carefully explored through questions of genre, the role of the audience and the external environment of technological advances and business drivers. Catriona Miller then suggests a fresh account of the psychological dimension of the phenomenon utilising Carl Jung's concepts of the transcendent function and active imagination. Her analysis of the heroines themselves considers the workings of the audio-visual text alongside narrative and character arcs, exploring the complex and contradictory ways in which the heroines are represented. Established cult TV favourites such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X Files, and Xena: Warrior Princess are examined alongside more recent shows such as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Jessica Jones and American Horror Story: Coven.

The Essential Cult TV Reader is a collection of insightful essays that examine television shows that amass engaged, active fan bases by employing an imaginative approach to programming. Once defined by limited viewership, cult TV has developed its own identity, with some shows gaining large, mainstream audiences. By exploring the defining characteristics of cult TV, The Essential Cult TV Reader traces the development of this once obscure form and explains how cult TV achieved its current status as legitimate television. The essays explore a wide range of cult programs, from early shows such as Star Trek, The Avengers, Dark Shadows, and The Twilight Zone to popular contemporary shows such as Lost, Dexter, and 24, addressing the cultural context that allowed the development of the phenomenon. The contributors investigate the obligations of cult series to their fans, the relationship of camp and cult, the effects of DVD releases and the Internet, and the globalization of cult TV. The Essential Cult TV Reader answers many of the questions surrounding the form while revealing emerging debates on its future.

As portrayals of heroic women gain ground in film, television, and other media, their depictions are breaking free of females as versions of male heroes or simple stereotypes of acutely weak or overly strong women. Although heroines continue to represent the traditional roles of mothers, goddesses, warriors, whores, witches, and priestesses, these women are no longer just damsels in distress or violent warriors. In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture,award-winning authors from a variety of disciplines examine the changing roles of heroic women across time. In this volume, editors Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor have assembled a collection of essays that broaden our understanding of how heroines are portrayed across media, offering readers new ways to understand, perceive, and think about women. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular films and television shows such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Weeds, Mad Men, and Star Trek. The representations and interpretations of these heroines are important reflections of popular culture that simultaneously empower and constrain real life women. These essays help readers gain a more complete understanding of female heroes, especially as related to race, gender, power, and culture. A companion volume to Heroines of Comic Books and Literature, this collection will appeal to academics and broader audiences that are interested in women in popular culture.

There She Goes Again interrogates the representation of ostensibly powerful women in transmedia franchises, examining how presumed feminine traits—love, empathy, altruism, diplomacy—are alternately lauded and repudiated as possibilities for effecting long-lasting social change. By questioning how these franchises reimagine their protagonists over time, the book reflects on the role that gendered exceptionalism plays in social and political action, as well as what forms of knowledge and power are presumed distinctly feminine. The franchises explored in this book illustrate the ambivalent (post)feminist representation of women protagonists as uniquely gifted in ways both gendered and seemingly ungendered, and yet inherently bound to expressions of their femininity. At heart,There She Goes Again asks under what terms and in what contexts women protagonists are imagined, envisioned, embodied, and replicated in media. Especially now, in a period of gradually increasing representation, women protagonists demonstrate the importance of considering how we should define—and whether we need—feminine forms of knowledge and power.

This work indexes books, dissertations and journal articles that mention television shows. Memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, and some popular works meant for fans are also indexed. The major focus is on service to researchers in the history of television. Listings are keyed to an annotated bibliography. Appendices include a list of websites; an index of groups or classes of people on television; and a list of programs by genre. Changes from the second edition include more than 300 new shows, airing on a wider variety of networks; 2000-plus references (more than double the second edition); and a large increase in scholarly articles. The book provides access to materials on almost 2300 shows, including groundbreaking ones like All in the Family (almost 200 entries); cult favorites like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer (200-plus entries); and a classic franchise, Star Trek (more than 400 entries for all the shows). The shows covered range from the late 1940s to 2010 (The Walking Dead). References range from 1956 to 2013.

Supporting the theory that there is no singular 'Bible', and the idea that biblical literacy is demonstrated in a multitude of ways beyond confessional interpretations of biblical texts, the contributors of this volume explore how multiple 'Bibles' coexist simultaneously in popular cultures. By interrogating popular television, music, and film, biblical retellings are identified which variously perpetuate, challenge or subvert biblical narratives and motifs. The topics discussed are gathered around three themes: depictions of sex and gender, troubling representations, and subversions of biblical authority. This volume offers new studies on retellings of biblical texts which seek to interrogate, perpetuate and challenge dominant cultural ideas of who can interpret biblical texts, what forms this might take, and the influence of biblical interpretations in our societies.

Winner of the IAJS award for best edited book of 2018! The Routledge International Handbook of Jungian Film Studies weaves together the various strands of Jungian film theory, revealing a coherent theoretical position underpinning this exciting recent area of research, while also exploring and suggesting new directions for further study. The book maps the current state of debates within Jungian orientated film studies and sets them within a more expansive academic landscape. Taken as a whole, the collection shows how different Jungian approaches can inform and interact with a broad range of disciplines, including literature, digital media studies, clinical debates and concerns. The book also explores the life of film outside cinema - what is sometimes termed ‘post-cinema’ - offering a series of articles exploring Jungian approaches to cinema and social media, computer games, mobile screens, and on-line communities. The Routledge International Handbook of Jungian Film Studies represents an essential resource for students and researchers interested in Jungian approaches to film. It will also appeal to those interested in film theory more widely, and in the application of Jung’s ideas to contemporary and popular culture.

Exploring Depth Psychology and the Female Self: Feminist Themes from Somewhere presents a Jungian take on modern feminism, offering an international assessment with a dynamic political edge which includes perspectives from both clinicians and academics. Presented in three parts, this unique collection explores how the fields of gender and politics have influenced each other, how myth and storytelling craft feminist narratives and how public discussion can amplify feminist theory. The contributions include some which are traditionally theoretical in tone, and some which are uniquely personal, but all work to encounter the female self as an active entity. The book as a whole offers a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary approach to feminism and feminist issues from contemporary voices around the world, as well as a critique of Jung’s essentialist notion of the feminine. Exploring Depth Psychology and the Female Self will offer insightful perspectives to academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, gender studies and politics. It will also be of great interest to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, and analytical psychologists.

Creating TV Formats: From Inception to Pitch takes the reader through a step-by-step process of how to generate ideas, develop story lines and characters and hook an audience, whilst staying aware of the realities of the media landscape. Beginning with a discussion about what a TV format is, each chapter then introduces a key aspect of the development process, such as looking for ideas, shaping the underlying story and thinking about participants. Practical exercises guide the reader through each stage of turning an initial idea or subject matter into a hook or insight; the importance of incorporating storytelling principles and techniques for designing and populating a story world. Examples from successful television formats such as First Dates and The Great British Bake Off are interwoven throughout the book alongside exclusive insights from the key industry professionals who brought them to the screen. From short-form digital content to longer unscripted series, this is an essential guide to discovering and developing formats for any media or television production student or early career development professional.

Feminisms, Technology and Depth Psychology explores the intersection of a variety of feminist thought with technology through the lens of depth psychology, and investigates how current approaches to technology impact female life globally – from internet use, to biotechnology, to how female creators imagine life. This thought‐provoking collection is a discussion on changing female capacities and creativity. It questions whether female oppression is becoming more easily enabled within the context of technology use, touching on topics of manipulation, ecological awareness, female decision making, and more. Part One is a three‐chapter investigation on queer history, birthing, and reproductive technologies in science fiction novels. Part Two explores images of females and technology in a variety of cultural products ranging from science fiction films to contemporary TV dramas and novels. Part Three looks at the political impact of technology on female worlds, and Part Four examines perspectives on the creative process behind writing science fiction and fantasy. Feminisms, Technology and Depth Psychology will appeal to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, and analytical psychologists. It also offers insightful perspectives to academics and students of psychology, gender studies, and politics.