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This book explores zombies, vampires, and witches in contemporary popular culture from a feminist perspective, analyzing a range of novels, television series, and films. Though some popular texts (from
Harry Potter to
Twilight) still use historically inherited conventions, many millennial texts (like
True Blood,
Maleficent, and
The Walking Dead) utilize feminist-friendly monster-figures to critique regressive patriarchal ideologies, champion female monstrosity and female agency, and/or envision alternative socio-cultural formations. This book contributes to discussions in feminism, popular culture, gender and sexuality studies, cultural studies, film studies, and contemporary literature.
List of contents
Introduction: Feminism, The Many-Headed Monster
Heidi Breuer and Natalie Wilson Part 1: Zombies 1. Zombies in Context
Breuer and Wilson 2. Re-Composing Zombie Politics: Evolved Zombies and Female Saviors
Wilson 3. Asexuality and the Zombie Apocalypse: The Sexual Politics of the Undead
Breuer Part 2: Vampires 4. Vampires in Context
Breuer and Wilson 5. Viral Vampires: The Zombification of Vampires in the Millennial Era
Wilson 6. Don't Die for Love! Challenging the Romantic Ideal of Intimate Partner Violence in Vampire Narratives
Breuer Part 3: Witches 7. Witches in Context
Breuer and Wilson 8. Is Maternity Still Compulsory?: Popular Witches of Millennial T.V. and Film
Breuer 9. Wicked Good: Witchy Women and the Reclamation of Female Agency
Wilson Conclusion: Feminism Goes Viral
Breuer and Wilson
About the author
Heidi Breuer is Associate Professor of Literature and Writing at California State University, San Marcos, USA.
Natalie Wilson is Lecturer in Literature and Writing at California State University, San Marcos, USA.
Summary
This book explores three monstrous figures prominent in contemporary popular culture—zombies, vampires, and witches—from a feminist perspective, visiting a range of novels, television series, and films from the 1990s-2010s. Though some popular mainstream texts (from Harry Potter to Twilight) still participate in historically inherited conventions, feminist analysis reveals that many millennial texts utilize monster-figures to critique regressive patriarchal ideologies and/or champion female monstrosity and (human) female agency. Rather than using zombies, vampires, and witches to conserve the status quo, millennial monsters and human heroes, especially female ones, are often deployed to envision a more feminist, egalitarian future with less violence and more social justice. In a culture in which post-feminist voices contend that feminists have achieved their aims and are thus no longer needed, this book argues instead that there still is a dire need for critical, active feminism. Monsters, creatures both incredibly potent and popular, can serve as conduits through which to lay bare existing problems and reveal possible ways forward. Popular texts like True Blood, Frozen, Maleficent, World War Z, and The Walking Dead use powerful female monsters and heroes not only to resist those forces that wish to maintain the status quo, but also to envision alternative socio-cultural formations. This book will contribute to essential discussions in feminism, popular culture, gender and sexuality studies, cultural studies, film studies, and contemporary literature.
