Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human

Published by Fordham University Press 2011

Better Off Dead

The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human

Edited by: Deborah Christie and Sarah Juliet Lauro

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823291021

Overview
Contents

About this book

The zombie is ubiquitous in popular culture: from comic books to video games, to internet applications and homemade films, zombies are all around us. Investigating the zombie from an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on deep analytical engagement with diverse kinds of texts, Better Off Dead addresses some of the more unlikely venues where zombies are found while providing the reader with a classic overview of the zombie’s folkloric and cinematic history. What has the zombie metaphor meant in the past? Why does it continue to be so prevalent in our culture? Where others have looked at the zombie as an allegory for humanity’s inner machinations or claimed the zombie as capitalist critique, this collection seeks to provide an archaeology of the zombie—tracing its lineage from Haiti, mapping its various cultural transformations, and suggesting the post-humanist direction in which the zombie is ultimately heading. Approaching the zombie from many different points of view, the contributors look across history and across media. Though they represent various theoretical perspectives, the whole makes a cohesive argument: The zombie has not just evolved within narratives; it has evolved in a way that transforms narrative. This collection announces a new post-zombie, even before the boundaries of this rich and mysterious myth have been completely charted.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Sarah Juliet Lauro and Deborah Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
And the Dead Shall Rise
Introduction Kevin Boon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
Chapter 1 ‘‘They are not men . . . they are dead bodies!’’: From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again Chera Kee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
Chapter 2 ‘‘We are the mirror of your fears’’: Haitian Identity and Zombification Franck Degoul Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Chapter 3 Undead Radio: Zombies and the Living Dead on 1930s and 1940s Radio Drama Richard Hand Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Chapter 4 The Zombie as Other: Mortality and the Monstrous in the Post-Nuclear Age Kevin Boon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
And the Dead Shall Walk
Introduction Deborah Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
Chapter 5 A Dead New World: Richard Matheson and the Modern Zombie Deborah Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Chapter 6 Nuclear Death and Radical Hope in Dawn of the Dead and On the Beach Nick Muntean Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
Chapter 7 Lucio Fulci and the Decaying Definition of Zombie Narratives Steven Zani and Kevin Meaux Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Chapter 8 Imitations of Life: Zombies and the Suburban Gothic Bernice Murphy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
Chapter 9 All Dark Inside: Dehumanization and Zombification in Postmodern Cinema Sorcha Ní Fhlainn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
And the Dead Shall Inherit the Earth
Introduction Peter Dendle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Chapter 10 Slacker Bites Back: Shaun of the Dead Finds New Life for Deadbeats Lynn Pifer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Chapter 11 Zombie Movies and the ‘‘Millennial Generation’’ Peter Dendle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Chapter 12 ‘‘Off the page and into your brains!’’: New Millennium Zombies and the Scourge of Hopeful Apocalypses Margo Collins and Elson Bond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Chapter 13 Playing Dead: Zombies Invade Performance Art . . . and Your Neighborhood Sarah Juliet Lauro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Afterword: zombie (r)evolution Sarah Juliet Lauro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 304

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9780823291021