Art & Art History ETDs
Publication Date
7-1-2015
Abstract
In the contemporary United States apocalypse, dystopia, and catastrophe are commonplace. Indeed, both the increasing presence of fictional apocalypse in art and popular culture and the tone of apocalypticism in U.S. political, environmental, and social rhetorics, have been noted by writers and thinkers from a wide range of fields. Scholars of neoliberalism in particular have traced this popularity to the economic and political realities of late-capitalism and the ideological contradictions embedded in the evolution of capitalism to its current, immersive iteration. What has gone undiscussed, however, is the relationship of this anxious preoccupation to a prevailing, national condition; a condition that responds to the traumatic reality of existence under American' neoliberalism. Using the framework of the apocalyptic riders and the medium of contemporary comics, this thesis demonstrates the legacy of sacred apocalypse in contemporary versions and explicates the ways in which neoliberal economic and political policy have led us back around to apocalyptic ground zero.
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Art History
Level of Degree
Masters
Department Name
UNM Department of Art and Art History
First Committee Member (Chair)
Hernandez-Duran, Ray
Second Committee Member
Worden, Daniel
Third Committee Member
Van Ginkel, Tim
Keywords
neoliberal, neoliberalism, comics, comic books, ideology, U.S., trauma
Recommended Citation
Manis, Kathryn. ""The Four Horseman of the Late Capitalist Apocalypse": U.S. Comic Books, Ideology, and Trauma in Post-9/11 Society." (2015). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/arth_etds/31
