The Aesthetic Intensity of Superheroes An autoethnographic interpretation of contemporary superhero popularity

The central claim of this dissertation is that aesthetic intensity is a characteristic that can be attributed to the superhero genre. The argument supporting this claim is that, while superheroes have always had the quality of aesthetic intensity, since z000, an increase in seriality and the spread within the superhero genre of new forms of melodrama (what I term 'superdrama') have combined to amplify the genre's potential for aesthetic intensity. My argument is situated in relation to an established and growing research methodology that is sociological and ethnographic, with clear and explicit ties to postmodern sensibilities: autoethnography. My theoretical principles are derived from this method, which legitimates personal experience as an object of analysis, a necessary step for me to take up the topic of aesthetic intensity.;After reviewing the historical development of autoethnography into a cutting-edge sociological method, I turn to second-hand statistical information that points to current superhero comic sales being near their all-time low. I interpret that trend with respect to another current phenomenon, the proliferation of superheroes into new cultural spaces such as Hollywood blockbusters and adult-aimed advertising. I argue that this proliferation is linked to the recently increased potential of the genre for aesthetic intensity, and that both of these phenomena can be traced to changes in the genre related, first, to its increasingly serial structure and, second, its increasingly melodramatic content. To support those claims I provide an interpretive, partial history of superheroes in comics, on television and in film. After charting those changes I bring the threads of this work together in the final chapter in order to support my claim that superheroes have the characteristic of aesthetic intensity by explaining the concept and providing several examples.