Matthew Brake

Fifteen Million Merits depicts a reality remarkably similar to our own, in which technology has developed to the point where we could, in principle, work less, and reproduce the basic goods and services needed to survive into the future without arduous effort. Nevertheless, we cycle endlessly, towards nothing, and the only motivation keeping our feet rigidly attached to our peddles is vacuous entertainment in the form of pornography, video games, cruel comedy, and the improbable prospect of becoming a celebrity. Each of these lurid topics is explored in this chapter, with a special focus on the philosophers Marx, Marcuse, Adorno, and Lukacs. Finally, the issue as to whether or not resisting entertainment‐capitalist is possible is raised and addressed, albeit with pessimism.

The Doctor Strange offers a unique opportunity to explore the question: how can people say that something exists if it can't be detected in the physical world. As a physician and a man of science, Doctor Stephen Strange has a strictly materialist worldview. Before Kamar‐Taj, Strange sought his cure through the only means he could understand: medicine and science. Medicine and science always push the boundaries of what people can know about the human body and the universe, constantly discovering new methods and drugs through research and experimentation. The Doctor Strange provides an opportunity to consider the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard writes that “it is also the ultimate passion of the understanding to will the collision” with the unknown. Kierkegaard describes two different kinds of teachers in the Philosophical Fragments: Socratic teacher and the god as teacher. The Ancient One seems to be a combination of the Socratic teacher and the god as teacher.

Final Crisis was an event comic produced by DC Comics in 2008 and written by Grant Morrison. In the story, the villain Darkseid takes over the minds of a majority of the Earth's population, including many of its superheroes. Wonder Woman is a notable exception. When one digs into the history of Wonder Woman, though, it isn't difficult to see from where Morrison is coming. This chapter examines a term Zizek uses alongside his discussion of fetishes, the "symptom". In everyday use, it is easy to confuse what Zizek calls a symptom. If Morrison finds the concept of Wonder Woman to be bogus in light of the kinky sexuality associated with her origin, one could see his portrayal of Wonder Woman in Final Crisis as an attempt to bring to light the repressed truth underneath the surface of her image as a feminist icon.

When it first came out in theatres, Deadpool became one of the highest grossing rated-R movies of all time. With its violence and fourth wall-breaking humor, Deadpool energized the superhero genre at a time when all the major studios were simply trying to copy the Marvel Studios brand. But does this blood-soaked movie filled with dick jokes provide more than mere escapist entertainment? In this chapter, I will argue that Deadpool offers insight into the role that humor can play in causes of liberation in a threefold way: liberation of the self, liberation from systems of oppression, and liberation for the superhero movie genre itself.

Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke is one of the most popular Batman comic stories, and it is considered one of the greatest Joker stories of all time. The story finds the Joker kidnapping Commissioner Jim Gordon and psychologically torturing him. He does so in order to prove that the world is an absurd and unjust place, and in response to the injustices of the world, one should reject reason and order in favor of irrationality, chaos, and madness. The graphic novel asks readers to consider whether or not the Joker is right – that the only way to live in an absurd world is to be absurd and “go mad” – and whether people like Batman and Gordon are in denial, not only about the world, but about their own ability to remain rational in an absurd world.