Full Description
On the surface, the zombie seems the polar opposite of the human--they are the living dead; we, in essence, are the dying alive. But the zombie is also "us." Although decaying, it looks like us, dresses like us, and sometimes (if rarely) acts like us. In this volume, essays by scholars from a range of disciplines examine the zombie as a thematic presence in literature, film, video games, legal language, and philosophy, exploring topics including zombies and the environment, litigation, the afterlife, capitalism, and the erotic. Through this wide-ranging examination of the zombie phenomenon, the authors seek to discover what the zombie can teach us about being human.
Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction—They're Us: Zombies, Humans/Humans, Zombies
CORY JAMES RUSHTON and CHRISTOPHER M. MOREMAN
I. The Zombie in Humanity
Your Zombie and You: Identity, Emotion, and the Undead
CRAIG DERKSEN and DARREN HUDSON HICK
Rave from the Grave: Dark Trance and the Return of the Dead
GRAHAM ST JOHN
Porn of the Dead: Necrophilia, Feminism, and Gendering the Undead
STEVE JONES
Modern Zombie Makers: Enacting the Ancient Impulse to Control and Possess Another
SUZANNE GOODNEY LEA
"Corporate Zombies" and the Perils of "Zombie Litigation": The Walking Dead in American Judicial Writing
SHARON SUTHERLAND and SARAH SWAN
II. Zombies in the Sacred
The Living Word Among the Living Dead: Hunting for Zombies in the Pages of the Bible
MICHAEL J. GILMOUR
Religion, Blasphemy, and Tradition in the Films of Lucio Fulci
JAMES REITTER
The Mutated Spirit: The Hollywood Zombie as Psychopomp
KEIRA MCKENZIE
Dharma of the Living Dead: A Buddhist Meditation on the Zombie
CHRISTOPHER M. MOREMAN
III. Zombies into the Future
Digital Dead: Translating the Visceral and Satirical Elements of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead to Videogames
GARETH SCHOTT
How the Zombie Changed Videogames
MATTHEW J. WEISE
Undead Is the New Green: Zombies and Political Ecology
GREG POLLOCK
Plans Are Pointless; Staying Alive Is as Good as It Gets: Zombie Sociology and the Politics of Survival
SARA SUTLER-COHEN
Bibliography
Filmography
Video Games and Discography
About the Contributors
Index
