Category Archives: cultures

Titles of Interest – Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: The Cultural Link Between the Human and the Inhuman

June 28th, 2019 | Posted in cultural studies, cultures, film, monster theory, monsters, monstrous, Titles of Interest

Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: The Cultural Link Between the Human and the Inhuman Edited by Lisa Wenger Bro, Crystal O’Leary-Davidson, and Mary Ann Gareis Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018 Monsters are a part of every society, and ours is no exception. They are deeply embedded in our history, our mythos, and our culture. However, […]

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Mythicworlds: Straddling the way between sci-fi conventions and transformational festivals?

June 25th, 2017 | Posted in conventions, cosplay, cultures, faeries, fantasy, folklore, myths

I’m finishing the editing of a manuscript for McFarland that explores aspects of fantastic fan cultures in relation to the sacred. I am waiting for one more chapter to be submitted and then the manuscript goes off for peer review. In addition to editing and writing he Introduction I am contributing a chapter that contrasts […]

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Titles of Interest – Beyond the Monstrous: Reading from the Cultural Imaginary

August 2nd, 2015 | Posted in cultural studies, cultures, monsters, monstrous, Titles of Interest

Beyond the Monstrous: Reading from the Cultural Imaginary (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013), edited by Janice Zehentbauer and Eva Gledhill Twenty-first century’s fascination with monsters in popular culture is not new. Throughout history, many of the world’s cultures have created beings they deem ‘other’ and ‘monstrous,’ beings which, many scholars agree, ultimately reveal humans’ own fears about […]

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Why Does the West Love Science Fiction?: Sci-Fi, Culture, and Disenchantment

June 16th, 2013 | Posted in cultural studies, cultures, fantasy, science fiction, wonder

Given the immense popularity and box office success of science fiction and fantasy films in the West it might be natural to assume that these genres are also very popular in non-Western cultures. But that is not the case. A recent essay by Christine Folch in The Atlantic titled “Why the West Loves Sci-Fi and […]

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La Santa Muerte: Mexico’s Saint of Sacred Death

November 5th, 2012 | Posted in cultures, death, Dia de los Muertos, Guillermo del Toro, Halloween

This morning I was catching up on various essays at Religion Dispatches and I came across one that especially caught my attention. It was titled “Death Couture: Not for Halloween Only,” with the byline “De-exoticizing Mexico’s patron saint of death,” by Stephen Andes. This fascinating essay describes La Santa Muerte, translated as “Holy Death” or […]

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GOLEM: Journal of Religion and Monsters

July 5th, 2009 | Posted in cultures, Golem, monsters

Readers of TheoFantastique are encouraged to browse through the links included here. They are listed under two categories, the first being Enjoying the Fantastic that includes a number of websites that fans will enjoy. The second category is Exploring the Fantastic. This category is for those who want to go more deeply in understanding why […]

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Monster Theory: Culture, Monstrousness and Ourselves

September 19th, 2008 | Posted in cultures, monster theory, monsters

As I searched Amazon.com for reading materials related to the fantastic to add to my wishlist the description of Monster Theory: Reading Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 1996) struck me as intriguing: “Explores concepts of monstrosity in Western civilization from Beowulf to Jurassic Park. “We live in a time of monsters. Monsters provide a key […]

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The Otherkin: Fantastic Texts, Pop Culture, and Neo-Religiosity

September 17th, 2008 | Posted in Adam Possamai, cultures, fantasy, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Jediism, Matrixism, myths, Neo-Paganism, occulture, Otherkin, pop culture

At times the lines between fact and fiction are blurred when it comes to the fantastic in popular culture and identification with the various characters and creatures that inhabit it. At times the lines are not so much blurred as they are dissolved. Christopher Partridge speaks of “fact-fiction reversals” that exist, and that as a result […]

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“The problem with horror movies is…”: Reflections on our cultural context

August 18th, 2008 | Posted in 1960s, aliens, Body, cultures, independent horror films, postmodernism, science fiction, social dynamics

The League of Tana Tea Drinks (LOTT D) elite group of blogging horrorheads is putting together another unity blog, and one of the topics for discussion involved an invitation to complete the following sentence: “The problem with today’s horror movies is…” Contributors were given the opportunity to finish this sentence in keeping with its negative connotation, or take another […]

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Gilmore: Anthropology and Monsters in Cultural Imagination

April 20th, 2008 | Posted in anthropology, cultures, David Gilmore, monsters

In a previous post I mentioned the work of Dr. David Gilmore, an anthropologist who teaches at Stony Brook University. He is the author of Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), an interesting book that provides an anthropological perspective on monsters in various cultures. Dr. […]

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