The Sleeper Agent in Post-9/11 Media

This book examines the figure of the sleeper agent as part of post-9/11 political, journalistic and fictional discourse. There is a tendency to discuss the terroristic threat after 9/11 as either a faraway enemy to be hunted down by military force or, on the other hand, as a ubiquitous, intangible threat that required constant alertness at home. The missing link between these two is the sleeper agent - the foreign enemy hiding among US citizens. By analyzing popular television shows, several US comic books, and a broad variety of Hollywood films that depict sleeper agents direct or allegorically, this book explores how a shift in perspective--from terrorist to sleeper agent--brings new insights into our understanding of post-9/11 representations of terrorism. The book's interdisciplinary focus between media studies, cultural studies, and American studies, suggests that it will find an audience in a variety of fields, including historical research, narratology, popular culture, as well as media and terrorism studies.

Author: Vanessa Ossa
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 01/02/2023
Pages: 323
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.21lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.75d
ISBN13: 9783031115158
ISBN10: 3031115155
BISAC Categories:
- Performing Arts | General
- Social Science | Popular Culture
- Comics & Graphic Novels | General

About the Author
Vanessa Ossa is Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Applied Science in Cologne, Germany. She is a former member of the Collaborative Research Center 923 "Threatened Order--Societies under Stress," in Tübingen and co-editor of, "Threat Communication and the US Order after 9/11: Medial Reflections." Her research focuses on narrative representations of post-9/11 terrorism and transmedial narratology, with a particular interest in films, fictional television, comic books, video games, and related participatory practices.