"Transformation And Metamorphosis In Popular Culture

This book investigates the cultural significance of transformation and metamorphosis in popular media across diverse global and historical contexts. Bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship the chapters examine how transformation is represented in a wide range of media-from poetry and animation to horror games and AI-generated music videos. With particular attention to Japanese transformation tropes and their global influence this book rethinks the symbolic and affective power of metamorphosis in shaping identity politics and popular imagination. Timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of both Kamen Rider Kuuga and Meta-Morphing this collection marks a timely intervention into ongoing discussions of embodiment and change. It is structured in six thematic sections addressing animated transformations more-than-human forms societal metamorphoses musical and sonic transformation body horror and changing identities. Featuring contributions that blend phenomenology cultural history and media analysis the text offers conceptual innovation and methodological diversity. The chapters also engage emerging topics such as AI-generated content and the intersections of transformation with race gender sexuality and disability. The collection combines rigorous scholarship with accessibility and features contributions from both leaders in their fields research and the emerging voices of early career researchers. This book is intended for scholars and postgraduate students in the Humanities and social sciences particularly those working in media cultural studies animation gender and queer theory fan studies musicology horror and AI studies. Its interdisciplinary framing and international scope will appeal to academics researching transnational popular culture as well as educators seeking to integrate themes of transformation into their teaching. The collaborative structure ensures coherence across chapters while its inclusion of historically excluded perspectives makes it a valuable contribution to global and justice-oriented scholarship. |Transformation and Metamorphosis in Popular Culture