George Romero, 1940-2017 Rest in peace, Mr. Romero. I’ll never get to tell you this in person, but you played a major part in my mental-emotional life, with your Living Dead world helping to explain the non-cinematic “real” world to me in more ways than one. The paper in my Dark Awakenings collection about the…
Tag: zombies
Teeming Links – April 25, 2014
We’re entering an age of energy impoverishment. Richard Heinberg explains: “It’s hard to overstate just how serious a threat our energy crisis is to every aspect of our current way of life. But the problem is hidden from view by oil and natural gas production numbers that look and feel just fine. . . ….
Vampies, zombies, and sacred horror
Here’s a fairly awesome audio feast spiritual about the deep connection between religion and supernatural horror: Sacred Horror: Zombie Resurrections and Vampire Souls It’s an hour-long episode of the radio program Encounter that was broadcast just three days ago by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Encounter “invites listeners to explore the connections between religion and…
Zombie horror and global revolution
During the present lead-up to the release of the widely anticipated World War Z movie in June 2013, and amidst the ongoing waves of political and socioeconomic unrest convulsing the real world, there’s much to think about, meditate on, and be thoroughly shaken by in this blog post from anthropologist Gastón Gordillo of the University…
Recommended Reading 11
This week’s reading covers: social, political, economic, and cultural craziness and breakdown in America and Europe; a dystopian view of smartphones; an official CDC denial of a zombie holocaust in the wake of horrific incidents flooding the American media; the possible action of quantum effects in the macro-world; a cogent criticism of scientistic materialism in…
The zombie as “a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era”
Here’s a bold and interesting reading of the zombie as a monster that is at root “a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era”: UA doctoral student Kyle W. Bishop argues that while the zombie has become a hugely popular cinematic device, the creature is a remnant of an imperialistic and racist era. ….Bishop, who…
The Rise of “Zombie Walks”: Is the human race finally embracing its true identity?
So have you heard of zombie walks, ladies and gentlemen? I’m talking about those increasingly ubiquitous events where groups of respectable everyday folk get in touch with their inner zombie by dressing up in costumes and makeup as the named monster in its modern mass entertainment incarnation — that is, as reanimated, flesh-eating corpses who…
Interview: The spirituality of George Romero’s zombie movies
I’ve just been interviewed by TheoFantastique, the excellent website devoted to examining the religious resonances of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. In “Spirituality in Romero’s Living Dead Films” (Dec. 3), TheoFantastique’s proprietor, John Morehead, quizzes me about my academic paper “Loathsome Objects: George Romero’s Living Dead Films as Contemplative Tools,” which appears in my forthcoming…
Zombies, Digital Media, and Cultural Preservation in the New Dark Age
“How secure is our civilization’s accumulated knowledge?” That’s the question posed in a recent essay by Richard Heinberg, one of the most consistently brilliant, reasonable, and nuanced writers about the ecological and cultural-civilizational ramifications of peak fossil fuels and economic calamity. In “Our evanescent culture and the awesome duty of librarians,” he offers a detailed…
Religious Horror: the burgeoning cultural moment
What an interesting cultural moment it is for somebody like me, who holds an obsessive interest in religion, horror, and the interface between them. For example, it’s widely recognized that zombies have become the monsters of the moment in contemporary horror entertainment. Zombie-themed movies have been flooding movie theatres for the past five or six…