Theorising the Contemporary Zombie
Contextual Pasts, Presents, and Futures
9781786838575
Distributed for University of Wales Press
Theorising the Contemporary Zombie
Contextual Pasts, Presents, and Futures
An exploration of what the widespread contemporary interest in stories of zombies can tell us.
Contemporary culture is undergoing a zombie invasion, with the undead present in books, movies, TV shows, and more. Contributors tease out a horde of cultural resonance through a range of international media, including the South Korean horror film Train to Busan, English-language young adult novel The Boy on the Bridge, and the 1980s Italian Gates of Hell trilogy. This book offers a series of thought-provoking examinations of the meanings and metaphors of zombies in three distinct fields: gender and sexuality, the environment, and media.
Contemporary culture is undergoing a zombie invasion, with the undead present in books, movies, TV shows, and more. Contributors tease out a horde of cultural resonance through a range of international media, including the South Korean horror film Train to Busan, English-language young adult novel The Boy on the Bridge, and the 1980s Italian Gates of Hell trilogy. This book offers a series of thought-provoking examinations of the meanings and metaphors of zombies in three distinct fields: gender and sexuality, the environment, and media.
256 pages | 4 halftones | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2022
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
Reviews
Table of Contents
Abstract i
Author Biographies ii
List of Figures iv
Introduction 1
Scott Hamilton and Conor Heffernan
I. Zombified Bodies
1. Zombies, Deviance, and the Right to Posthuman Life
Poppy Wilde (Birmingham City University) 20
2. The Apocalypse Workout: Health, Identity and Zombies
Conor Heffernan (University of Texas at Austin) 44
3. Zombie Orgies and the Fear of the Outer Limits: Examining the Relationship between Fear, Pornography and Zombies
Caroline West (Dublin City University) 68
4. Aloha-oe: Hello, Goodbye to Love and Family in Sang-ho Yeon’s Train to Busan
Harvey O’Brien (University College Dublin) 94
II. Critical Environments
5. The Stalking Dead: Ireland’s Ambiguous Revenants and the Case for a Folk-Zombie Revival
Jack Fennell (University of Limerick) 115
6. M.R. Carey’s The Boy on the Bridge: Ethics and the Apocalypse
Scott Eric Hamilton (University College Dublin) 134
7. Zombie Colony: The Heteronomy of the Greek State & The Datura of Cultural Capital
Konstantinos Kerasovitis (University of Wolverhampton) 159
8. Last Ones Left Alive: Zombies and Post-Politics
Deirdre Flynn (University College Dublin) 185
III. Undead Cultures
9. Beware the Zuvembies: Comics, Censorship, and the Ubiquity of Not-Quite-Zombies
Chera Kee (Wayne State University) 207
10. Distortions of the Video Dead: The Degradation of Reality in the Era of Zombie VHS
Peter Wright (The University of Sydney) 231
11. ‘Violence is Italian art’: Art and Adaptation in Lucio Fulci’s ‘Gates of Hell’ Trilogy
Miranda Corcoran (University College Cork) 250
12. Surviving the Shambling Signifieds: Zombies, Language, and Chaos
Andrew Ferguson (University of Maryland) 273
Bibliography 295
Index 330
Author Biographies ii
List of Figures iv
Introduction 1
Scott Hamilton and Conor Heffernan
I. Zombified Bodies
1. Zombies, Deviance, and the Right to Posthuman Life
Poppy Wilde (Birmingham City University) 20
2. The Apocalypse Workout: Health, Identity and Zombies
Conor Heffernan (University of Texas at Austin) 44
3. Zombie Orgies and the Fear of the Outer Limits: Examining the Relationship between Fear, Pornography and Zombies
Caroline West (Dublin City University) 68
4. Aloha-oe: Hello, Goodbye to Love and Family in Sang-ho Yeon’s Train to Busan
Harvey O’Brien (University College Dublin) 94
II. Critical Environments
5. The Stalking Dead: Ireland’s Ambiguous Revenants and the Case for a Folk-Zombie Revival
Jack Fennell (University of Limerick) 115
6. M.R. Carey’s The Boy on the Bridge: Ethics and the Apocalypse
Scott Eric Hamilton (University College Dublin) 134
7. Zombie Colony: The Heteronomy of the Greek State & The Datura of Cultural Capital
Konstantinos Kerasovitis (University of Wolverhampton) 159
8. Last Ones Left Alive: Zombies and Post-Politics
Deirdre Flynn (University College Dublin) 185
III. Undead Cultures
9. Beware the Zuvembies: Comics, Censorship, and the Ubiquity of Not-Quite-Zombies
Chera Kee (Wayne State University) 207
10. Distortions of the Video Dead: The Degradation of Reality in the Era of Zombie VHS
Peter Wright (The University of Sydney) 231
11. ‘Violence is Italian art’: Art and Adaptation in Lucio Fulci’s ‘Gates of Hell’ Trilogy
Miranda Corcoran (University College Cork) 250
12. Surviving the Shambling Signifieds: Zombies, Language, and Chaos
Andrew Ferguson (University of Maryland) 273
Bibliography 295
Index 330