Celebrates zombie pop culture that has evolved since "Night of the Living Dead," tracing early mythological origins in African folklore and Haitian voodoo as well as modern incarnations in film, literature, and video gaming.
When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth. . . And law enforcement is ready to take them down! Since Night of the Living Dead, zombies have been a frightening fixture on the pop culture landscape, lumbering after hapless humans, slurping up brains and veins and whatever warm, fleshy matter they can clench in their rotting limbs. But what if they were real? What would happen if, tomorrow, corpses across the nation began springing up out of their graves and terrorizing the living? Employing hard science and solid police work--not to mention jaw-dropping (literally!) humor--Zombie CSU is the only guide you need to make it through alive--not undead. At last you can: • Investigate zombie crime scenes, collecting and analyzing evidence of zombie attacks, and create a "murder book." • Examine the psychology of the zombie and develop a perp profile. • Observe medical science pros as they probe felled zombies for forensic clues. • Devise a zombie apocalypse survival scorecard and more! Complete with lists of must-see zombie flicks from around the globe and tons of tips for kicking undead butt, Zombie CSU features hundreds of interviews with real zombie experts, forensics experts, detectives, filmmakers, and more. Special guest stars: Tony Todd, Brian Keene, Patricia Tallman, David Wellington, James Gunn, Robert Kirkman, Dr. Wade Davis, Robert Sacchetto, Zombie Squad, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Paffenroth, Jamie Russell, Michael "CJ" Kelly, Bruce "Andy" Bohne, and dozens more! "Fascinating! An indispensable tool for anyone contemplating tackling a festering corpse onslaught." -- Fearzone.com "Candid, eye-opening, cutting-edge, startling . . . the existence of zombies may not be so far-fetched after all." --Rue Morgue
Rock and roll's death has been forecast nearly since its birth; the country song "The Death of Rock and Roll" appeared in September 1956, showing that the music had already outraged a more conservative listening audience. Is Rock Dead? sets out to explore the varied and sometimes conflicting ways in which the death of rock has been discussed both within the discourse of popular music and American culture. If rock is dead, when did it die? Who killed it? Why do rock journalists lament its passing? Has its academic acceptance stabbed it in the back or resuscitated an otherwise lifeless corpse? Why is rock music the music that conservatives love to hate? On the other side of the coin, how have rock's biggest fans helped nail shut the coffin? Does rock feed on its own death-and-rebirth? Finally, what signs of life are there showing that rock, in fact, is surviving? Is Rock Dead? will appeal to all those who take seriously the notion that rock is a serious musical form. It will appeal to students of popular music and culture, and all those who have ever spun a 45, cranked up the radio, or strummed an air guitar.
A fascinating read for anyone from general readers to hardcore fans and scholars, this encyclopedia covers virtually every aspect of the zombie as cultural phenomenon, including film, literature, folklore, music, video games, and events. The proliferation of zombie-related fiction, film, games, events, and other media in the last decade would seem to indicate that zombies are "the new vampires" in popular culture. The editors and contributors of Encyclopedia of the Zombie: The Walking Dead in Popular Culture and Myth took on the prodigious task of covering all aspects of the phenomenon, from the less-known historical and cultural origins of the zombie myth to the significant works of film and literature as well as video games in the modern day that feature the insatiable, relentless zombie character. The encyclopedia examines a wide range of significant topics pertaining to zombies, such as zombies in the pulp magazines; the creation of the figure of the zuvembie to subvert decades of censorship by the Comics Code of Authority; Humans vs. Zombies, a popular zombie-themed game played on college campuses across the country; and annual Halloween zombie walks. Organized alphabetically to facilitate use of the encyclopedia as a research tool, it also includes entries on important scholarly works in the expanding field of zombie studies.
In the LBZ, life before zombies, Amanda Carter had come to the city of Blythe, California, to pursue her passion of photography. She settled down on the remote outskirts of the small desert city where she had easy access to many isolated historical sites, caves, and mysteries to be uncovered that made for excellent material. At that time, she could not have imagined the event that would change the world and test her instinctual survival abilities. When the media had first begun announcing reports of an infection that was turning people into zombies, Amanda was incredulous that such a thing was possible. The infection quickly spread. Cities were barricaded in an attempt to isolate the infection. But the measures put into place to protect the people were too late in coming. Societies, worldwide, collapsed and rapidly slid into chaos. Amanda Carter becomes one of the few survivors of this apocalyptic event. She must learn how to keep herself, and the others that she has teamed up with, safe.
Mike's brother Zach has always been a little weird. He spends most of his nights sneaking out to hunt for ghosts, and then reading fan fiction for his favorite TV show Paranormal whenever he has free time. But when Zach comes out as gay, and is subsequently bullied at school, Mike realizes his brother needs an ally more than anything. Though Mike knows he's also pretty strange, they form a pack with other outcasts at the school to make their time spent in high school a little better. Everything changes when Ray, a new student, shows up at the school. Mike breaks away from his brother and soon falls for Ray -- while at the same time unearthing a mystery about their small town. As teachers disappear and dead bodies pile up, Mike and Ray are left alone fighting evil, when all Mike wanted to do was fall in love.
Teaching with film is not a new approach in the social studies classroom. Different publications, such as Hollywood or History, have bridged the gap with challenges attached to using historical film and engage students through inquiry, not entertainment. To continue with the Hollywood or History strategy, this text uses television shows (sitcoms) to brings issue-centered curriculum to middle and high school classrooms. By exploring issues in specific episodes, students can learn the history behind an issue, relate it to their lives, and develop an informed decision associated with the issue. The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) framework is an integral part to the exploration of issue-centered curriculum. In each chapter, the students will work through the four dimensions and develop critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. My hope is that this text can play a small role in walking practicing teachers through the C3 framework while allowing students to learn about issues that affect society and the communities where they live.
The undead are very much alive in contemporary entertainment and lore. Indeed, vampires and zombies have garnered attention in print media, cinema, and on television. The vampire, with roots in medieval European folklore, and the zombie, with origins in Afro-Caribbean mythology, have both undergone significant transformations in global culture, proliferating as deviant representatives of the zeitgeist. As this volume demonstrates, distribution of vampires and zombies across time and space has revealed these undead figures to carry multiple meanings. Of all monsters, vampires and zombies seem to be the trendiest--the most regularly incarnate of the undead and the monsters most frequently represented in the media and pop culture. Moreover, both figures have experienced radical reinterpretations. If in the past vampires were evil, blood-sucking exploiters and zombies were brainless victims, they now have metamorphosed into kinder and gentler blood-sucking vampires and crueler, more relentless, flesh-eating zombies. Although the portrayals of both vampires and zombies can be traced back to specific regions and predate mass media, the introduction of mass distribution through film and game technologies has significantly modified their depiction over time and in new environments. Among other topics, contributors discuss zombies in Thai films, vampire novels of Mexico, and undead avatars in horror videogames. This volume--with scholars from different national and cultural backgrounds--explores the transformations that the vampire and zombie figures undergo when they travel globally and through various media and cultures.
Zombies have become an increasingly popular object of research in academic studies and, of course, in popular media. Over the past decade, they have been employed to explain mathematical equations, vortex phenomena in astrophysics, the need for improved laws, issues within higher education, and even the structure of human societies. Despite the surge of interest in the zombie as a critical metaphor, no coherent theoretical framework for studying the zombie actually exists. Addressing this current gap in the literature, Theorising the Contemporary Zombie defines zombiism as a means of theorising and examining various issues of society in any given era by immersing those social issues within the destabilising context of apocalyptic crisis; and applying this definition, the volume considers issues including gender, sexuality, family, literature, health, popular culture and extinction.