Titles of Interest – “Guillermo del Toro: Film as Alchemic Art”
Guillermo del Toro: Film as Alchemic Art, Keith McDonald and Roger Clark (Bloomsbury, 2014) A critical exploration of one of the most exciting, original and influential figures to emerge in contemporary film, Guillermo del Toro: Film as Alchemic Art is a major contribution to the analysis of Guillermo del Toro’s cinematic output. It offers an […]
“Nova Religio” Focus on the Paranormal
Joseph Laycock has announced the publication of a special edition of a journal that focuses on the paranormal where he served as guest editor. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 18, No. 1, August 2014 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2014.18.issue-1 Table of Contents Approaching the Paranormal JOSEPH P. LAYCOCK Abstract: This issue of […]
Fandom and Religion Conference at University of Leicester
Fandom and Religion: An international, inter-disciplinary conference University of Leicester (UK) · 28th – 30th July 2015 A conference exploring interactions between religion and popular culture. How does fandom work? Has fandom replaced or become a form of religion? This event will provide opportunity for participants to explore these and other questions about popular culture […]
Titles of Interest – “The Vampire in Science Fiction Film and Literature”
Paul Meehan is a friend of TheoFantastique who has been interviewed and contributed guest essays here previously. I am currently reading his latest book for a review in the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. The book is The Vampire in Science Fiction Film and Literature (McFarland, 2014). Vampires have been a popular subject […]
Contagious Vampires and Impotent Religion in “The Strain”
I finally had a chance to watch the first three episodes of The Strain after recording them. I am a big fan of Guillermo del Toro, including the material he produces. The television series is, of course, based on the 2009 novel by del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It incorporates some of the vampire conceptions […]
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES – Second Installment Surpasses First Film: Apes Serve as Mirror on Human Violence
DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES appeared in theaters recently and the odds were against it. More generally, the summer months have seen poor box office returns and DAWN might have continued in this vein. Specifically, the second installment in the PLANET OF THE APES series had to demonstrate that lightning could strike twice […]
Titles of Interest – Virtually Sacred: Myth and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life
Virtually Sacred: Myth and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life by Robert M. Geraci (Oxford University Press, 2014). Millions of users have taken up residence in virtual worlds, and in those worlds they find opportunities to revisit and rewrite their religious lives. Robert M. Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have […]
Guest post – Westworld: Robotic Cowboys Wreak Havoc in Michael Crichton’s Directorial Debut
From time to time a select few are given the opportunity to contribute guest posts here at TheoFantastique. This essay is by Brandon Engel, who looks back at one of the classic 1970s science fiction films. There’s something incredibly unnerving (uncanny, if you must) about non-human entities that are similar to humans in either form […]
Title of Interest – “Zombies and Sexuality: Essays on Desire and the Walking Dead”
Zombies and Sexuality: Essays on Desire and the Walking Dead, edited by Shaka McGlotten and Steve Jones (McFarland, 2014) Since the early 2000s, zombies have increasingly swarmed the landscape of popular culture, with ever more diverse representations of the undead being imagined. A growing number of zombie narratives have introduced sexual themes, endowing the living […]
Title of Interest – “Japanese and American Horror: A Comparative Study of Film, Graphic Novels, and Video Games”
Japanese and American Horror: A Comparative Study of Film, Graphic Novels, and Video Games by Katarzyna Marak (McFarland, 2014) Horror fiction is an important part of the popular culture in many modern societies. This book compares and contrasts horror narratives from two distinct cultures–American and Japanese–with a focus on the characteristic mechanisms that make them […]
