Whitt and Perlich: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Millennial Mythmaking
In the past I had an opportunity to interview David Whitt and John Perlich with the first book they co-edited, Sith, Slayers, Stargates and Cyborgs: Modern Mythology and the New Millennium (Peter Lang Publishers, 2007). Dr. David Whitt is Associate Professor of Communication at Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Dr. John Perlich is Associate Professor of [...]
Millennial Mythmaking
One of the great things about having a website like this is discovering people engaged in the same kinds of reflections on the fantastic in pop culture that I am involved in. It gets even better when I get to develop relationships with these people, and then discuss their thinking.
This is the case with the [...]
Guillermo del Toro: Visionary Fantasy and Mythic Filmmaker
Given that my family has shifted in the last couple of years to opening Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, and that the vast majority of the gifts that I receive are related to the genres of the fantastic, I really do have a Nightmare Before Christmas. One of my gifts this year has been especially [...]
The Otherkin: Fantastic Texts, Pop Culture, and Neo-Religiosity
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 [...]
Cylons in America: Interview with Editors of New Book on the Battlestar Galactica Series
In a previous post I let readers know about a relatively recent book titled Cylons in America: Critical Studies in Battlestar Galactica (Continuum Publishing Group, 2007), which won the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association’s award for Best Edited Collection on Popular Culture for 2008. The book is edited by Tiffany Potter and C. W. [...]
Sith, Slayers, Stargates and Cyborgs: Modern Mythology in the New Millennium
The Popular Culture Association continues to be a great source for addressing fascinating aspects at the intersection between the fantastic and culture. Yesterday I received an announcement concerning a call for papers dealing with the topic of mythology and the new millennium for a volume that is viewed as a logical extension of a new [...]
Star Wars Turns 30: Reflections, and Reasons for Success
I was reminded tonight through television advertisements, and through a program broadcast live from southern California, that 30 years ago today the first Star Wars film began in U.S. theaters, and several months later it was on its way to becoming an international popular culture phenomenon. I thought I’d use the occasion to touch on [...]
1960s Counterculture, Dark Shadows, and New Mythologies
I have been reading a number of book on the historical and cultural context of the 1960s counter-culture in American, and one of the books I have found helpful and relevant to this blog’s context is Robert Ellwood’s The 60s Spiritual Awakening: American Religion Moving from Modern to Postmodern (Rutgers University Press, 1994). Ellwood includes [...]
Archetypes, Myths, and Horror
The description on this blog states that it includes an exploration of archetypes and myths as they relate to fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Before I get too far on posting on this blog it would be a good idea to explain what I mean by this. While I have reflected on various elements related [...]
