Nerd Ecology Defending the Earth with Unpopular Culture [Hardcover]

Drawing on a wide range of examples from literature, comics, film, television and digital media,Nerd Ecologyis the first substantial ecocritical study of nerd culture's engagement with environmental issues. Exploring such works asStar Trek, Tolkien'sLord of the Rings,The Matrix,Joss Whedon'sBuffy the Vampire SlayerandFirefly, the fiction of Thomas Pynchon,The Hunger Games,and superhero comics such asGreen LanternandX-Men, Anthony Lioi maps out the development of nerd culture and its intersections with the most fundamental ecocritical themes. In this way Lioi finds in the narratives of unpopular culture - narratives in which marginalised individuals and communities unite to save the planet - the building blocks of a new environmental politics in tune with the concerns of contemporary ecocritical theory and practice.Anthony Lioiis Associate Professor of Liberal Arts and English and Director of the Writing and Communication Center at the Juilliard School, New York, USA.Explores nerd culture's engagement with environmental issues, fromStar TrekandLord of the Rings,to Marvel'sX-Menand Joss Whedon'sBuffy the Vampire Slayer.

Introduction
1. Nerd Ecology
2. Stellar Cosmopolitans:Star Trekand a Federation of Species
3. The Destruction of the Sky: Virtual Worlds as Refuge
4. The Great Music: Restoration as Counter-Apocalypse in the Tolkien Legendarium
5. Slayer and Signal: Joss Whedon Versus the Big Bads
6. Icons of Survival: Metahumanism as Planetary Defense
Conclusion

The nerd as a biopolitical category rejected as waste, machine, and non-reproductive deviant launches Anthony Liois insightful study of nerd cultures imaginative contributions to environmental social change and justice. This playfully written, serious take on unpopular culture will be read across popular culture studies, American studies, and ecocriticism for its inclcX