Encountering the Impossible: The Fantastic in Hollywood Fantasy Cinema

Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology
Introduction
	What Is a Fantasy Film? Film Genre and the Problem of Classification
	What Do Fantasy Films Do? The Fantastic and Spectatorship Theory
1 What is The Fantastic?
	Phantasy: The Imagination, Hesitation, and Responding to the Impossible
	The Fantastic in Fantasy Cinema: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
2 Continuity and Cathexis: Character, Space, and Time in the Classical Hollywood Fantasy Film, 1930–1945
	The Fantastic and Character: Object Cathexis in Alice in Wonderland
	The Fantastic and Space: Phantasy and Spatial Cathexis in The Wizard of Oz
	The Fantastic and Time: Phantasy and Temporal Cathexis in It’s a Wonderful Life
	Conclusion: Cathexis in Hollywood Fantasy Films
3 The Wonder Film: Postclassical Fantasy Cinema and Phantasies of Introjection, 1946–1975
	The Fantastic and Wonder: Introjective Phantasy in Harvey
	The Fantastic and Idealization: The Wonder of Mary Poppins
	The Fantastic and Internalization: Metamorphosis in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
	Conclusion: Introjecting Wonder and the Wonder of Introjection
4 High Fantasy Blockbusters: Alternative Worlds and Phantasies of Projection, 1976–1991
	The Fantastic and Alternative Worlds: Projecting Power in Conan the Barbarian
	The Fantastic and Desire: Projecting the Unconscious in The NeverEnding Story
	The Fantastic and Infantilization: Projecting Childhood in Hook
	Conclusion: Projecting the High Fantasy Blockbuster
5 Interpreting the Fantastic: Contemporary Fantasy Cinema and Symbol Formation, 1992–2018
	The Fantastic and Interpretation: Symbol Formation in The Lord of the Rings
	The Fantastic and Poetry: Emotion and Symbol Formation in Where the Wild Things Are
	The Fantastic and Allegory: Symbol Formation and Estrangement in Fantastic Beasts
	Conclusion: Symbol Formation and the Contemporary Fantasy Film
Conclusion: The Fantastic Beyond Hollywood Fantasy Cinema?
Notes
Bibliography
Index