What is a Superhero? How Myth Can be a Metacode. (18th February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: MacKendrick, Kenneth
• Is Part Of: Bulletin for the study of religion. Volume 44:Number 1(2015:Feb.)
• Page Start: 19
• Page End: 25
• Publication Date: 2015-02-18
• Subjects: superheroes -- marvel comics -- imagination -- myth-making; Religion -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 200.5
• DOI: 10.1558/bsor.v44i1.26860
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1863

Abstract

Abstract : The essay argues that Marvel's Civil War is an interesting narrative concerning the superhero metacode at work. After a brief overview of the crossover event, its allegorical qualities will be discussed followed by a supplemental reading focusing on how superheroes, as agents of pretend play, come to be socialized, coded, and distributed across shared social networks.