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Supernatural Youth: The Rise of the Teen Hero in Literature and Popular Culture
Supernatural The Rise of the Teen Hero in Literature and Popular Culture , edited by Jes Battis, addresses the role of adolescence in fantastic media, adventure stories, cinema, and television aimed at youth. The goal of this volume is to analyze the ways in which young heroic protagonists are presented in such popular literary and visual texts. Supernatural Youth surveys a variety of sources whose young protagonists are placed in heroic positions, whether by magic, technology, prophecy, or other forces beyond their control. Series examined include Harry Potter , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Veronica Mars , and Sabrina the Teenage Witch .
Supernatural Youth , edited by Jes Battis, is essential for educators who work in the fields of English, media studies, women's studies, LGBT studies, and sociology, as well as undergraduate students who are interested in popular culture.
Supernatural Youth , edited by Jes Battis, is essential for educators who work in the fields of English, media studies, women's studies, LGBT studies, and sociology, as well as undergraduate students who are interested in popular culture.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
Jes Battis
18 books175 followersJes Battis (they/them) is the author of THE WINTER KNIGHT (April 2023), the OCCULT SPECIAL INVESTIGATOR series, and the PARALLEL PARKS series. Jes writes in the areas of urban fantasy, horror, and mystery/thriller. They also teach literature and creative writing in the Canadian prairies.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 4, 2022
I actually loved this sentence from Jes Battis in the Introduction where he says: "... I realize that every teen who survives this world at all is a hero." (p. 14)
April 4, 2015
Any edited collection has high and low points and this one is no exception. Some of the essays I'd give five stars, others I'd give one. The two five-stars were Haberkorn and Reinhardt's "Magic, Adolescence and Education on Terry Pratchett's Discworld" and David Kociemba's "Why Xander Matters: The Extraordinary Ordinary in Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
The Pratchett essay, which is both entertaining and scholarly, focuses on young witch Tiffany Aching, and does a delightful job drawing its analogy between magical training and the "work of adolescence" which of course is to learn how to be an adult. Reading it was a little bittersweet since Pratchett, who has been a favorite author of mine for years, died recently. Interestingly, the authors point out that Tiffany Aching is the only one of Pratchett's characters whose life, growth and education span multiple books -- and it was recently announced that Pratchett's last title, to be published posthumously, will be the fifth Tiffany Aching book.
Kociemba's paper on Xander is excellent as well, delving into the function of Xander as the only non-superpowered member of the Scooby Gang (he refers to himself in one episode as "fray-adjacent"). Part of the essay is an able and thorough refutation of Lorna Jowett's criticism of the character as passive, weak and feminized, "a new man because he can't be a real man." Kociemba points out that this is a highly simplistic and one-dimensional view of the character; instead, he says, Xander offers a complicated and fluid model of masculinity that shifts from comedy to melodrama to action, and which "undermines the tendency of heroic narratives to suggest that only those with power matter."
Moorman's essay on Willow's sexuality ("Kinda Gay") is interesting in that it broadens its scope beyond the internal events of Buffy to include how the writers and producers thought about Willow's relationships with Oz and then Tara, and why they made the character a lesbian rather than bisexual, which would arguably have been more accurate given her strong feelings for Xander and Oz prior to becoming involved with Tara and, later, Kennedy. (This essay I'd give 4 stars.)
The weakest in the collection is probably Neighbors' "Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks, Oh My! The Teen Wizard as Social Outcast." At 4-1/2 pages (excluding notes) it's the shortest in the book and has little if anything new or original to say.
Other fictional milieus covered in the book include Veronica Mars, Harry Potter, Diane Duane's Young Wizards series (the essay examines the apparent incompatibility between magic and sex), Hex, Sabrina, Tamora Pierce, and Holly Black's Valiant (I haven't read this series but the essay certainly piqued my interest).
The Pratchett essay, which is both entertaining and scholarly, focuses on young witch Tiffany Aching, and does a delightful job drawing its analogy between magical training and the "work of adolescence" which of course is to learn how to be an adult. Reading it was a little bittersweet since Pratchett, who has been a favorite author of mine for years, died recently. Interestingly, the authors point out that Tiffany Aching is the only one of Pratchett's characters whose life, growth and education span multiple books -- and it was recently announced that Pratchett's last title, to be published posthumously, will be the fifth Tiffany Aching book.
Kociemba's paper on Xander is excellent as well, delving into the function of Xander as the only non-superpowered member of the Scooby Gang (he refers to himself in one episode as "fray-adjacent"). Part of the essay is an able and thorough refutation of Lorna Jowett's criticism of the character as passive, weak and feminized, "a new man because he can't be a real man." Kociemba points out that this is a highly simplistic and one-dimensional view of the character; instead, he says, Xander offers a complicated and fluid model of masculinity that shifts from comedy to melodrama to action, and which "undermines the tendency of heroic narratives to suggest that only those with power matter."
Moorman's essay on Willow's sexuality ("Kinda Gay") is interesting in that it broadens its scope beyond the internal events of Buffy to include how the writers and producers thought about Willow's relationships with Oz and then Tara, and why they made the character a lesbian rather than bisexual, which would arguably have been more accurate given her strong feelings for Xander and Oz prior to becoming involved with Tara and, later, Kennedy. (This essay I'd give 4 stars.)
The weakest in the collection is probably Neighbors' "Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks, Oh My! The Teen Wizard as Social Outcast." At 4-1/2 pages (excluding notes) it's the shortest in the book and has little if anything new or original to say.
Other fictional milieus covered in the book include Veronica Mars, Harry Potter, Diane Duane's Young Wizards series (the essay examines the apparent incompatibility between magic and sex), Hex, Sabrina, Tamora Pierce, and Holly Black's Valiant (I haven't read this series but the essay certainly piqued my interest).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews