ZOMBIE LITERATURE: ANALYZING THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN THROUGH POPULAR CULTURE

dc.contributor.authorStrickland, T. Hunter
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-30T09:44:04Z
dc.date.available2022-06-30T09:44:04Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractThis paper will focus on how the rise in popularity of zombie literature in the 21st century is reflective of a western cultural need to address the fear of the unknown through popular culture. Through the flesh-eating zombie, we enter a parallel world where everything familiar in our communities becomes evil. The genre reflects the fear in Western society of the neighbor who has turned against you, survival in the midst of government collapse and the monster within. Zombie fantasy literature allows society a venue to deconstruct what is known while dealing with these fears and the unbridled hate of the unthinking zombie through a collective experience using popular culture. What this fantasy subgenre allows, the author will explain, is a monster that embodies an individual human’s greatest fears. At times, the zombie reflects the fear of social breakdown; at others, the zombie reflects aging and death. The versatility of this embodiment of fear allows it to be a genre that continues to evolve. Using the writings of Mikhail Bakhtin on carnival and festive folk humor, the author will discuss how the zombie genre has provided fantasy lovers a desconstructive space to deal with fear, death, and hate in a genre that breaks down what western society has constructed for itself, and also allows readers to rebuild the future without constraint. Zombies, however, always leave room for humanity to hope for life and the future. This popular culture phenomenon goes beyond mere entertainment as it reaches into the heart of viewers and allows them to express their greatest emotions. Keywords:Bakhtin, Carnivalesque, zombies, deconstruction, laughter, fear, popular cultureen_US
dc.identifier.citationStrickland, T. H. (2019). Zombie literature: Analyzing the fear of the unknown through popular culture. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. 6(3). www.journaldialogue.org/issues/v6-issue-3/zombie-literature-analyzing-the-fear-of-the-unknown-through-popular-culture/en_US
dc.identifier.issn2378-2331
dc.identifier.urihttp://journaldialogue.org/issues/v6-issue-3/zombie-literature-analyzing-the-fear-of-the-unknown-through-popular-culture/
dc.identifier.urihttp://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/6342
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherDialogue, 6(3)en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy;Volume 6, Issue 3 — Otherness, Survival and Hope: Pedagogies in Popular Media
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectType of access: Open Accessen_US
dc.titleZOMBIE LITERATURE: ANALYZING THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN THROUGH POPULAR CULTUREen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
workflow.import.sourcescience

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