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

by Christie, Deborah; Lauro, Sarah Juliet

• ISBN13: 9780823234479
• ISBN10: 0823234479
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-09-01
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

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 collectionannounces a new post-zombie, even before the boundaries of this rich and mysterious myth have been completely charted.

Author Biography

Contributors: Elson Bond, Kevin Boon, Deborah Christie, Margo Collins, Franck Degoul, Peter Dendle, Sorcha Ni Fhlainn, Richard Hand, Chera Kee, Sarah Juliet Lauro, Kevin Meaux, Nick Muntean, Bernice Murphy, Lynn Pifer, Steven Zani

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
And the Dead Shall Rise Part introduction	p. 5
"They are not men ... they are dead bodies": From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again	p. 9
"We are the mirror of your fears": Haitian Identity and Zombification	p. 24
Undead Radio: Zombies and the Living Dead on 1930s and 1940s Radio Drama	p. 39
The Zombie as Other: Mortality and the Monstrous in the Post-Nuclear Age	p. 50
And the Dead Shall Walk Part introduction	p. 61
A Dead New World: Richard Matheson and the Modern Zombie	p. 67
Nuclear Death and Radical Hope in Dawn of the Dead and On the Beach	p. 81
Lucio Fulci and the Decaying Definition of Zombie Narratives	p. 98
Imitations of Life: Zombies and the Suburban Gothic	p. 116
All Dark Inside: Dehumanization and Zombification in Postmodern Cinema	p. 139
And the Dead Shall Inherit the Earth Part introduction	p. 159
Slacker Bites Back: Sbaun of the Dead Finds New Life for Deadbeats	p. 163
Zombie Movies and the "Millennial Generation"	p. 175
"Off the page and into your brains!": New Millennium Zombies and the Scourge of Hopeful Apocalypses	p. 187
Playing Dead: Zombies Invade Performance Art and Your Neighborhood	p. 205
Afterword: Zombie (R)evolution	p. 231
Notes	p. 237
Selected Bibliography	p. 277
List of Contributors	p. 285
Index	p. 289
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