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This book is a collection of 13 essays centering on supernatural serials such as television programs, video games, anime, and manga, featuring teen protagonists and marketed to teen audiences. These essays provide discussions of characters in teen supernatural serials who disrupt white, cisgender social narratives, and addresses possible ways that the on-screen depictions of these characters, who may be POC or LGBTQIA+, can lead to additional discussions of more accurate representations of the Other in the media. This collection explores depictions of characters of color and/or LGBTQ characters in teen supernatural serials who were/are marginalized and examines the possible issues that these depictions can raise on a social level and, possibly, a developmental level for audience members who belong to these communities. The essays included in this collection thoroughly examine these characters and their narratives while providing nuanced examinations of how the media chooses to represent teens of color and LGBTQIA+ teens.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Bonnie Bennett, Final Girl
Deanna P. Koretsky
Chapter 2: Gender and Race in
Stranger Things: Fighting the Demogorgon One Stereotype at a Time
Amanda Putnam
Chapter 3: Debunking the Normative: Queerness
Vis-à-vis "Magic Boys" in Fantasy Anime
Ananya Saha
Chapter 4: Ghosts of Gothic's Past in the Present:
The Haunting of Bly Manor and New Approaches to Adaptation and Representation for Young Adult Audiences
Michelle Drake
Chapter 5: To Choose or Be Chosen:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Question of Inheritance
M. Soledad Caballero
Chapter 6: Shunned Spaces and Queer Spirits: The Spectral Absence of LGBTQIA2S+ in Contemporary Ghost Lore
Barry M. Cole
Chapter 7: Siblings and the Supernatural: A Compelling Analysis of the Familial Bonds Presented in
The Vampire DiariesAilish Kate Brassil
Chapter 8: Everyday Hero: The Hyper-Relatable Superheroes of the
Life is Strange franchise
Mauro Colarieti
Chapter 9: Uncanny and Doubling Horror in Childhood: Abject Disruptions in
Stranger ThingsAmy Janna LeBlanc
Chapter 10: Now Memories: Restorative Nostalgia and Anachronistic Queerness in
Stranger ThingsBlue Profitt
Chapter 11: "Just Some Guy": Musicals as an Expression of Queer Desire in
Dead End: Paranormal ParkXen Virtue
Chapter 12: "Just the Facts": Erica Sinclair and the Possibility of Black Girlhood in
Stranger ThingsRebecca Brown
Chapter 13: Bonnie 'will figure it out. She always does.': The Post-Racial, Pop Culture Mammy and
The Vampire DiariesCamille S. Alexander
About the author
Camille S. Alexander is assistant professor of English at Tuskegee University.Camille S. Alexander is assistant professor of English at Tuskegee University.Ananya Saha is PhD scholar in the Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Summary
Black Witches and Queer Ghosts is a collection of essays centering on teen supernatural serials (such as television shows, video games, anime, and manga) addressing race, gender, and sexuality.
