Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture

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Stephanie Boluk, Wylie Lenz
McFarland, Jul 25, 2011 - Social Science - 268 pages

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.

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Contents

Introduction
1
Zombies as Internal Fear or Threat
18
White Zombie and the Creole
27
The Origin of the Zombie in American Radio and Film
41
The EcoZombie
54
Lost BodiesLost Souls
67
Shambling Towards Mount Improbable to Be Born
77
Ztopia
90
Cyberpunk and the Living Dead
147
The End Begins
156
Zombies in a Deep Dark Ocean of History
165
Dead and Live Life
182
The EDead
194
A Brain Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
206
Rhetoric Goes Boomer
219
The National Strategy for Zombie Containment
231

Soft Murders
101
Mass Psychology and the Analysis of the Zombie
113
Gray Is the New Black
130
About the Contributors
249
Index
253
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About the author (2011)

Stephanie Boluk is an assistant professor in Cinema and Digital Media and the English Department at University of California, Davis. She lives in Oakland, California. Wylie Lenz is an assistant professor of English in the humanities and social sciences department at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, Florida.

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