A Theological Jurisprudence of Speculative Cinema: Superheroes, Science Fictions and Fantasies of Modern Law

Sets a new trajectory for considering the intertwined relationship between theology and law through speculative cinema.

• Offers 7 close readings of Hollywood speculative fiction blockbusters as theological and jurisprudential texts: Shyamalan’s 'Unbreakable', Snyder’s 'Man of Steel', Lucas and Disney’s 'Star Wars', Nolan’s 'The Dark Knight' & 'The Dark Knight Rises', Proyas’ 'I, Robot', Nolfi’s 'The Adjustment Bureau' and Jackson’s 'The Hobbit'
• Explores key themes of law including justice, the exception, law’s violence, revolution, law’s universality, sovereignty and property as theft
• Explores key themes of theology including the nature of evil, myth and mysticism, atonement, sacrifice, compassionate acts, visions of the divine and charity as gift

Through close readings of a range of popular Hollywood speculative fiction films, Timothy Peters explores how fictional worlds, particularly those that ‘make strange’ the world of the viewer, can render visible and make explicit the otherwise opaque theologies of modern law. He illustrates that speculative cinema’s genres of estrangement provide a way for us to see and engage the theological concepts of modern law in our era of late capitalism, global empire and the crises of neoliberalism.