Category Archives: cultural studies

Freddy Krueger, Popular Culture, and Cute Monsters Once More

May 9th, 2011 | Posted in cultural studies, horror, toys

In a previous post I took part in a group effort from the League of Tana Tea Drinkers on the phenomenon of “cute” monsters in horror. In this series of posts the contributors tried to address why we take horrific items and produce less than frightening aspects of them for our enjoyment. I would like […]

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Invisible Universe: A History of Blackness in Speculative Fiction

April 21st, 2011 | Posted in cultural studies, documentary, fantasy, horror, race, science fiction

How have African Americans been represented in, played a part in, and contributed to speculative fiction? How have we come from depictions of African Americans in speculative fiction (defined broadly to include horror) in black exploitation horror like Blacula to more positive representations in the action-horror film Blade? These interesting questions and others are explored […]

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LOTTD Reflections: Cute Monsters and Horror

February 22nd, 2011 | Posted in cultural studies, horror, toys

Recently Curt Percell of the Groovy Age of Horror blog suggested to those of us in the League of Tana Tea Drinkers (LOTTD) that we tackle a question: “What Do Cute Versions of Monsters Tell Us About Horror?” It’s an interesting question to explore, and some of my fellow LOTTD members and I will try […]

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TheoFantastique Podcast 1:1 – Interview with Ian Conrich on “Horror Zone”

November 2nd, 2010 | Posted in cultural studies, horror, podcast

It was my privilege to read select chapters from the new book Horror Zone: The Cultural Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema (I. B. Tauris, 2010), edited by Ian Conrich. It was an enjoyable read, not only because the contributors are well informed about their subject matter, but also because of the refreshingly different perspective contributors […]

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David Skal “Monster Show” Graduate Seminar at Trinity College Dublin

October 26th, 2010 | Posted in cultural studies, David J. Skal, horror, The Monster Show

Every once in a while I come across great academic courses related to horror and my latest find is one presented by horror historian David J. Skal. He is presenting a graduate seminar at Trinity College Dublin based upon his book The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (Faber & Faber, 2001). Here is […]

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Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films

July 28th, 2010 | Posted in cultural studies, Joseph Campbell, myths, science fiction, Star Wars

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. With it came a lot of television programming related to the Star Wars series of films, and one included commentary from the editors and contributors to Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films: Essays on the Two Trilogies (Critical Explorations in Science […]

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