Today's media, cinema and TV screens are host to new manifestations of myth, their modes of storytelling radically transformed from those of ancient Greece. They present us with narratives of contemporary customs and belief systems: our modern-day myths. This book argues that the tools of transmedia merchandising and promotional material shape viewers' experiences of the hit television series Star Trek, to reinforce the mythology of the gargantuan franchise. Media marketing utilises the sh...

Focusing on Netflix’s child and family-orientated platform exclusive content, this book offers the first exploration of a controversial genre cycle of dark science fiction, horror, and fantasy television under Netflix’s "Family Watch Together TV" tag.Using a ground-breaking mix of methods including audience research, interface, and textual analysis, the book demonstrates how Netflix is producing dark family telefantasy content that is both reshaping child and family-friendly TV gen...

Imagining Innocence reconceptualises the interface between childhood and celebrity studies by exploring how child stars embody layered cultural meanings of childhood across history and media. The book brings together research that explores child celebrities across the entertainment ecologies of film, television, sport, music, theatre, and streaming platforms.It analyses iconic figures such as Julie Andrews, Patty Duke, Brooke Shields, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, alongside co...

Soon after film came into existence, the term epic was used to describe productions that were lengthy, spectacular, live with action, and often filmed in exotic locales with large casts and staggering budgets. The effort and extravagance needed to mount an epic film paid off handsomely at the box office, for the genre became an immediate favorite with audiences. Epic films survived the tribulations of two world wars and the Depression and have retained the basic characteristics of size and...