Table of Contents

Foreword Margaret Weis ix

Introduction: Popular Culture as Political Theory: Plato, Aristotle, and Homer Joseph J. Foy 1

Part 1 Classical Insights and Civic Virtue

1 A Tale of Two Republics: Plato, Palpatine, and Politics Dean A. Kowalski 13

2 Aristotle's Politics and the Virtues of Springfield: Community, Education, and Friendship in The Simpsons Timothy M. Dale 29

3 "Keep Your Friends Close but Your Enemies Closer": Machiavelli and Michael Corleone Eric T. Kasper 45

Part 2 The State, the Individual, and Political Morality

4 Social Contract: Rebellion and Dissent aboard Serenity Susanne E. Foster James B. South 63

5 Dwight Schrute and Servile Ambition: Tacitus and Rousseau on the Lackey Politics of The Office Matthew D. Mendham 75

6 Who Watches the Watchmen? Kant, Mill, and Political Morality in the Shadow of Manhattan S. Evan Kreider 97

Part 3 The Limitations and Possibilities of Political Life

7 Avatar, Marx, and the Alienation of Labor Mark C. E. Peterson 115

8 Nietzschean Narratives of Hero and Herd in Walt Disney / Pixar's The Incredibles C. Heike Schotten 131

9 Muggles, Magic, and Misfits: Michel Foucault at Harry Potter's Hogwarts Jamie Warner 147

10 Feminism, Sexism, and the Small Screen: Television's Complicated Relationship with Women Denise Du Vernay 163

Part 4 The Promises and Problems of Liberal Democracy

11 From John Wayne to John McClane: The Hollywood Action Hero and the Critique of the Liberal State Carl Bergetz 183

12 J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again: Recovering a Platonic-Aristotelian Politics of Friendship in Liberal Democracy Mary M. Keys 203

13 "Just Give Them the Internet": Social Media and the Promise of Liberal Democracy Joseph J. Foy 233

Acknowledgments 251

List of Contributors 253

Index 257