Planet Auschwitz: Holocaust Representation in Science Fiction and Horror Film and Television

Brian E. Crim

Published by Rutgers University Press 2020

Planet Auschwitz

Holocaust Representation in Science Fiction and Horror Film and Television

Brian E. Crim

https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978801646

Overview
Contents

About this book

Planet Auschwitz explores the diverse ways in which the Holocaust influences and shapes science fiction and horror film and television by focusing on notable contributions from the last fifty years. The supernatural and extraterrestrial are rich and complex spaces with which to examine important Holocaust themes - trauma, guilt, grief, ideological fervor and perversion, industrialized killing, and the dangerous afterlife of Nazism after World War II. Planet Auschwitz explores why the Holocaust continues to set the standard for horror in the modern era and asks if the Holocaust is imaginable here on Earth, at least by those who perpetrated it, why not in a galaxy far, far away? The pervasive use of Holocaust imagery and plotlines in horror and science fiction reflects both our preoccupation with its enduring trauma and our persistent need to “work through” its many legacies.

Planet Auschwitz website (https://planetauschwitz.com)

Author / Editor information

Brian E. Crim is professor of history at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia, and author of Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National Security State and Antisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914-1938.

Reviews

"The industrialized murder of the Shoah, forever associated with concentration camps during World War II, was coined with the term Planet Auschwitz as another world, but is hardly imaginable for younger generations. Brian E. Crim explains astutely how the ripple effect of the Holocaust resonates in American popular culture, especially in the genres of Science Fiction and Horror. This book studies the imagery that persists in visual media but avoids the normalization of the genocide. It keeps the study of the Holocaust alive to guarantee that the “torrent of testimony” will not perish with the last witnesses."

— Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Co-editor of New Perspectives on the War Film

"A great text....original in scale and scope."

— Jonathan C. Friedman, author of The History of Genocide in Cinema: Atrocities on Screen

"Crim contributes to the scholarship exploring how the Holocaust has filtered down and across popular culture, leaving its trace in numerous ways. His focus is on how it has influenced and shaped science fiction and horror film and television over the past half-century but particularly over the past 20 years."

— Times Higher Education

"Crim provides a valuable contribution to Holocaust scholars by having us pay attention to metaphorical representations in works of horror and science fiction."

— Central European History

Compelling and persuasively argued ... shows the extent to which Holocaust ideas and images have crept into popular horror and science fiction film and TV.

— Oren Baruch Stier, author of Holocaust Icons: Symbolizing the Shoah in History and Memory

"Planet Auschwitz: Holocaust Representation in Science Fiction and Horror Film and Television" interview with Brian Crim
https://newbooksnetwork.com/brian-crim-planet-auschwitz-holocaust-representation-in-science-fiction-and-horror-film-and-television-rutgers-up-2020/

— New Books Network - New Books in German Studies

"History professor writes about life on ‘Planet Auschwitz’"
https://www.lynchburg.edu/news/2020/04/history-professor-writes-about-life-on-planet-auschwitz/?fbclid=IwAR38ua3a_14Gehg9cY2D7Xi9JzHCfSyTFaUlARdIVemESFGuIsWId20uFQ0

— University of Lynchburg

"Crim offers an engaging interdisciplinary consideration of the Holocaust in horror and science fiction. Across chapters, this book engages with many primary film and television sources [and] supplies an excellent resource for identifying media imprinted by the legacy of the Holocaust."

— Journal of Popular Culture Review

"In this deeply researched and insightful study, Crim lucidly reveals how the Nazi genocide has left an indelible and often unsettling mark on American popular culture."

— Gavriel Rosenfeld, author of Hi Hitler! How the Nazi Past Is Being Normalized in Contemporary Culture

"His research is up-to-date and meticulous, demonstrating his long familiarity with the complexities and vicissitudes of modern German culture."

— SFRA Review

"Planet Auschwitz ends on a strong note. The book’s deceptively simple premise –reading sf and horror for Holocaust metaphor –reveals its complex layers piece by piece as it goes on, showing how film and television reflect the enduring influence of the Holocaust in the psyche of Western society."

— Science Fiction Film and Television

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 From Muselmann to The Walking Dead: Holocaust Imagery in the Zombie Genre Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
2 Silent Screams: Representing Trauma and Grief in The Pawnbroker and The Leftovers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
3 Nazi Monsters and the Return of History Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
4 The View from Hell: Demons, Antichrists, and the Persistence of Evil after the Holocaust Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
5 “A World That Works”: Astrofascism across Time and Space Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
6 “All of This Has Happened Before”: Cyborgs, Humans, and the Question of Genocide Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	255
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 279
Illustrations
- Other: 15 b&w images
Keywords: Jewish Studies; Film; Media Studies; Communications; Literary Studies; American Studies; Human Rights; History; World History; Science Fiction; Fantasy; Genres; Horror; Subjects; Themes; Historical Events; science; Supernatural; Video; Criticism; Cyborgs; Humans

eBook

Published: May 15, 2020
ISBN: 9781978801646