The new dominance: action-fantasy hybrids and the new superhero in 2000s action cinema

Purse, L. (2019) The new dominance: action-fantasy hybrids and the new superhero in 2000s action cinema. In: Kendrick, J. (ed.) A Companion to the Action Film:. Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, pp. 55-73. ISBN 9781119100492 doi: 10.1002/9781119100744.ch3

Abstract/Summary

Drawing on case studies including the Marvel and D.C. Cinematic Universes, and specifically Avengers: Age of Ultron (Joss Whedon, 2015) and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (Zack Snyder, 2016), this chapter will focus on action cinema’s turn towards the fantastical in the 2000s. The chapter will explore the technological, aesthetic, and economic factors that led to this turn, including the globalization of film markets and the expanding proliferation and sophistication of digital visual effects technologies. In particular, it will argue that two stylistic tendencies are particularly noticeable: the long take as action sequence, and a persistent logic of expansion that digital visual effects enable. The chapter will also set these films in broader cultural and political contexts, asking how these films reflect on recent geopolitical crises and the increasing digital mediation of our lived experience, and how they speak to related cultural concerns around representation and corporeality, conflict and community.