Download or read book Rhetoric of Modern Death in American Living Dead Films written by Outi Hakola and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zombies, vampires and mummies are frequent stars of American horror films. But what does their cinematic omnipresence, and audiences' hunger for such films, tell us about American views of death? In this book, Outi Hakola investigates the ways in which American living dead films have addressed death through different narrative and rhetorical solutions during the twentieth century. She focuses on films from the 1930s, including Dracula, The Mummy and White Zombie, films of the 1950s and 1960s such as Night of the Living Dead and The Return of Dracula, as well as more recent fare like Bram Stoke.
Download or read book Exploring the Horror of Supernatural Fiction written by Miranda Corcoran and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-02 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detailing the adventures of a supernatural clan of vampires, witches, and assorted monstrosities, Ray Bradbury’s Elliott family stories are a unique component of his extensive literary output. Written between 1946 and 1994, Bradbury eventually quilted the stories together into a novel, From the Dust Returned (2001), making it a creative project that spanned his adult life. Not only do the stories focus on a single familial unit, engaging with overlapping twentieth-century themes of family, identity and belonging, they were also unique in their time, interrogating post-war American ideologies of domestic unity while reinventing and softening gothic horror for the Baby Boomer generation. Centred around diverse interpretations of the Elliott Family stories, this collection of critical essays recovers the Elliotts for academic purposes by exploring how they form a collective gothic mythos while ranging across distinct themes. Essays included discuss the diverse ways in which the Elliott stories pose questions about difference and Otherness in America; engage with issues of gender, sexuality, and adolescence; and interrogate complex discourses surrounding history, identity, community, and the fantasy of family.
Download or read book Zombie Culture written by Shawn McIntosh and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2008-02-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have zombies resonated so pervasively in the popular imagination and in media, especially films? Why have they proved to be one of the most versatile and popular monster types in the growing video game industry? What makes zombies such widespread symbols of horror and dread, and how have portrayals of zombies in movies changed and evolved to fit contemporary fears, anxieties, and social issues? Zombies have held a unique place in film and popular culture throughout most of the 20th century. Rare in that this enduring monster type originated in non-European folk culture rather than the Gothic tradition from which monsters like vampires and werewolves have emerged, zombies have in many ways superseded these Gothic monsters in popular entertainment and the public imagination and have increasingly been used in discussions ranging from the philosophy of mind to computer lingo to the business press. Zombie Culture brings together scholars from a variety of fields, including cinema studies, popular culture, and video game studies, who have examined the living dead through a variety of lenses. By looking at how portrayals of zombies have evolved from their folkloric roots and entered popular culture, readers will gain deeper insights into what zombies mean in terms of the public psyche, how they represent societal fears, and how their evolving portrayals continue to reflect underlying beliefs of The Other, contagion, and death.
Download or read book American Cities in Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction written by Robert Yeates and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visions of the American city in post-apocalyptic ruin permeate literary and popular fiction, across print, visual, audio and digital media. American Cities in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction explores the prevalence of these representations in American culture, drawing from a wide range of primary and critical works from the early-twentieth century to today. Beginning with science fiction in literary magazines, before taking in radio dramas, film, video games and expansive transmedia franchises, Robert Yeates argues that post-apocalyptic representations of the American city are uniquely suited for explorations of contemporary urban issues. Examining how the post-apocalyptic American city has been repeatedly adapted and repurposed to new and developing media over the last century, this book reveals that the content and form of such texts work together to create vivid and immersive fictional spaces in ways that would otherwise not be possible. Chapters present media-specific analyses of these texts, situating them within their historical contexts and the broader history of representations of urban ruins in American fiction. Original in its scope and cross-media approach, American Cities in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction both illuminates little-studied texts and provides provocative new readings of familiar works such as Blade Runner and The Walking Dead, placing them within the larger historical context of imaginings of the American city in ruins.
Download or read book Cowboy Hamlets and zombie Romeos written by Kinga Földváry and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.
Download or read book The Walking Dead written by Chelsea Megan Lee and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death's presence on the Renaissance stage, and in Renaissance life, has been noticed and remarked upon by scholars in the past. The role of death in the early modern period was in flux due to major changes in religious and social life. During this time, the relationship between the living and dead was put into question, and the way the culture handled preparing for death began to change in significant, if subtle, ways. Renaissance drama became a stage for exploring and confronting the presence of death in life. King Lear and Hamlet remain two of Shakespeare's most enduring meditations on death, though the interpretations of the deaths and the meaning gleaned from the texts varies. My project involves presenting an alternative reading of the deaths that can only be found when one reads the performances in relation to primary documents of the time that deal with similar preparations for death. By reading Hamlet in relation to execution rhetoric and King Lear in relation to will-writing in the early modern period, we can begin to understand the value of their deaths in accordance with the societies they represent. Ultimately, Hamlet succeeds in satisfying the demands of an execution and creates a death that serves both himself and his community. On the other hand, Lear fails to adequately prepare for death and compose a considerate will, which leaves his kingdom in ruins. Both are monarchs whose bodies represent the states they leave behind, but only one manages to satisfy a monumentality that maintains the stability of his kingdom.
Download or read book Conceptualising Public Health written by Johannes Kananen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Germanic and Nordic languages, the term for ‘public health’ literally translates to ‘people’s health’, for example Volksgesundheit in German, folkhälsa in Swedish and kansanterveys in Finnish. Covering a period stretching from the late nineteenth century to the present day, this book discusses how understandings and meanings of public health have developed in their political and social context, identifying ruptures and redefinitions in its conceptualisation. It analyses the multifaceted and interactive rhetorical play through which key concepts have been used as political tools, on the one hand, and shaped the understanding and operating environment of public health, on the other. Focusing on the blurred boundaries between the social and the medico-scientific realms, from social hygiene to population policy, Conceptualising Public Health explores the sometimes contradictory and paradoxical normative aims associated with the promotion of public health. Providing examples from Northern Europe and the Nordic countries, whilst situating them in a larger European and international context, it addresses questions such as: How have public health concepts been used in government and associated administrative practices from the early twentieth century up to the present? How has health citizenship been constructed over time? How has the collective entity of ‘the people’ been associated with and reflected in public health concepts? Drawn from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, the authors collected here each examine a particular way of understanding public health and assess how key actors or phenomena have challenged, altered or confirmed past and present meanings of the concept. Conceptualising Public Health is of interest to students and scholars of health and welfare state development from diverse backgrounds, including public health, sociology of health and illness, and social policy as well as medical, conceptual and intellectual history.
Download or read book Gospel of the Living Dead written by Kim Paffenroth and published by Baylor University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume connects American social and religious views with the classic American movie genre of the zombie horror film. This study proves that George Romero's films go beyond the surface experience of repulsion to probe deeper questions of human nature and purpose, often giving a chilling and darkly humorous critique of modern, secular America.
Download or read book Generation Zombie written by Stephanie Boluk and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-07-25 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing from their early roots in Caribbean voodoo to their popularity today, zombies are epidemic. Their presence is pervasive, whether they are found in video games, street signs, hard drives, or even international politics. These eighteen original essays by an interdisciplinary group of scholars examine how the zombie has evolved over time, its continually evolving manifestations in popular culture, and the unpredictable effects the zombie has had on late modernity. Topics covered include representations of zombies in films, the zombie as environmental critique, its role in mass psychology and how issues of race, class and gender are expressed through zombie narratives. Collectively, the work enhances our understanding of the popularity and purposes of horror in the modern era. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book Gospel of the Living Dead written by Paffenroth and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-15 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2006 Bram Stoker Award, Gospel of the Living Dead connects American social and religious views with the classic American movie genre of the zombie horror film. For nearly forty years, the films of George A. Romero have presented viewers with hellish visions of our world overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. This study proves that Romero's films, like apocalyptic literature or Dante's Commedia, go beyond the surface experience of repulsion to probe deeper questions of human nature and purpose, often giving a chilling and darkly humorous critique of modern, secular America. --Craig Detweiler, Biola University "Publishers Weekly"
Download or read book Night of the Living Dead written by Joe Kane and published by Citadel Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a behind-the-scenes look at George A. Romero's classic horror movie with never-before-seen photographs, special effects secrets, and interviews with the cast and crew.
Download or read book Beyond the Living Dead written by Bruce Peabody and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-09-13 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1968, George Romero's film Night of the Living Dead premiered, launching a growing preoccupation with zombies within mass and literary fiction, film, television, and video games. Romero's creativity and enduring influence make him a worthy object of inquiry in his own right, and his long career helps us take stock of the shifting interest in zombies since the 1960s. Examining his work promotes a better understanding of the current state of the zombie and where it is going amidst the political and social turmoil of the twenty-first century. These new essays document, interpret, and explain the meaning of the still-budding Romero legacy, drawing cross-disciplinary perspectives from such fields as literature, political science, philosophy, and comparative film studies. Essays consider some of the sources of Romero's inspiration (including comics, science fiction, and Westerns), chart his influence as a storyteller and a social critic, and consider the legacy he leaves for viewers, artists, and those studying the living dead.
Download or read book American Horrors written by Gregory Albert Waller and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the release of Rosemary's Baby in 1968, the American horror film has become one of the most diverse, commercially successful, widely discussed, and culturally significant film genres. Drawing on a wide range of critical methods---from close textual readings and structuralist genre criticism to psychoanalytical, feminist, and ideological analyses---the authors examine individual films, directors, and subgenres. In this collection of twelve essays, Gregory Waller balances detailed studies of both popular films (Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, and Halloween) and particularly problematic films (Don't Look Now and Eyes of Laura Mars) with discussions of such central thematic preoccupations as the genre's representation of violence and female victims, its reflexivity and playfulness, and its ongoing redefinition of the monstrous and the normal. In addition, American Horrors includes a filmography of movies and telefilms and an annotated bibliography of books and articles about horror since 1968.
Download or read book Death Discipline and the Dead written by Leslie Raybuck Malland and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beyond the Living Dead written by Bruce Peabody and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1968, George Romero's film Night of the Living Dead premiered, launching a growing preoccupation with zombies within mass and literary fiction, film, television, and video games. Romero's creativity and enduring influence make him a worthy object of inquiry in his own right, and his long career helps us take stock of the shifting interest in zombies since the 1960s. Examining his work promotes a better understanding of the current state of the zombie and where it is going amidst the political and social turmoil of the twenty-first century. These new essays document, interpret, and explain the meaning of the still-budding Romero legacy, drawing cross-disciplinary perspectives from such fields as literature, political science, philosophy, and comparative film studies. Essays consider some of the sources of Romero's inspiration (including comics, science fiction, and Westerns), chart his influence as a storyteller and a social critic, and consider the legacy he leaves for viewers, artists, and those studying the living dead.
Download or read book Lexicon of the Living Dead written by Leslie A. Russell Ashby and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Undead and Theology written by Kim Paffenroth and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2012-09-21 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The academy and pop culture alike recognize the great symbolic and teaching value of the undead, whether vampires, zombies, or other undead or living-dead creatures. This has been explored variously from critiques of consumerism and racism, through explorations of gender and sexuality, to consideration of the breakdown of the nuclear family. Most academic examinations of the undead have been undertaken from the perspectives of philosophy and political theory, but another important avenue of exploration comes through theology. Through the vampire, the zombie, the Golem, and Cenobites, contributors address a variety of theological issues by way of critical reflection on the divine and the sacred in popular culture through film, television, graphic novels, and literature.
