Doctor Who: Walking in Eternity

I'm presenting at Doctor Who: Walking in Eternity, the 50th Anniversary conference exploring the impact of this iconic science fiction franchise.  I'm drawn to Doctor Who as an extension of my research into superheroes. As you probably know, the superhero is a uniquely U.S. contribution to the comic medium. Created in 1938, comics as a medium were well established around the world, but the superhero genre was something new.  Created at a time of U.S. global ascendency, the genre evolved and expanded rapidly.  

As John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett argue in The Myth of the American Superhero the American mono myth derives from “tales of redemption” that secularise Judaeo-Christian dramas of community redemption that have arisen in the United States. For U.S. audiences, Doctor Who could be understood as a hero whose adventures and outlook corresponded to the struggle of communal redemption associated with the superhero tradition, but related to the British worldview.  Of course, Doctor Who can serve as window on many subjects.
 

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