Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead

by Christopher M. Moreman (Editor), Cory James Rushton (Editor)

Overview

On the surface, the zombie seems the polar opposite of the human—they are the living dead; we, in essence, are the dying alive. But the zombie is also "us." Although decaying, it looks like us, dresses like us, and sometimes (if rarely) acts like us. In this volume, essays by scholars from a range of disciplines examine the zombie as a thematic presence in literature, film, video games, legal language, and philosophy, exploring topics including zombies and the environment, litigation, the afterlife, capitalism, and the erotic. Through this wide-ranging examination of the zombie phenomenon, the authors seek to discover what the zombie can teach us about being human.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786459124
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	10/05/2011
Series:	Contributions to Zombie Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Christopher M. Moreman is a professor and chair of the department of philosophy and religious studies at California State University, East Bay. He has published widely on topics relating to death, dying, and popular culture. Cory James Rushton is an associate professor of English at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Introduction—They’re Us: Zombies, Humans/Humans, Zombies
CORY JAMES RUSHTON and CHRISTOPHER M. MOREMAN     

I. The Zombie in Humanity
Your Zombie and You: Identity, Emotion, and the Undead
CRAIG DERKSEN and DARREN HUDSON HICK     
Rave from the Grave: Dark Trance and the Return of the Dead
GRAHAM ST JOHN     
Porn of the Dead: Necrophilia, Feminism, and Gendering the Undead
STEVE JONES     
Modern Zombie Makers: Enacting the Ancient Impulse to Control and Possess Another
SUZANNE GOODNEY LEA     
“Corporate Zombies” and the Perils of “Zombie Litigation”: The Walking Dead in American Judicial Writing
SHARON SUTHERLAND and SARAH SWAN     

II. Zombies in the Sacred
The Living Word Among the Living Dead: Hunting for Zombies in the Pages of the Bible
MICHAEL J. GILMOUR     
Religion, Blasphemy, and Tradition in the Films of Lucio Fulci
JAMES REITTER     
The Mutated Spirit: The Hollywood Zombie as Psychopomp
KEIRA MCKENZIE     
Dharma of the Living Dead: A Buddhist Meditation on the Zombie
CHRISTOPHER M. MOREMAN     

III. Zombies into the Future
Digital Dead: Translating the Visceral and Satirical Elements of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead to Videogames
GARETH SCHOTT     
How the Zombie Changed Videogames
MATTHEW J. WEISE     
Undead Is the New Green: Zombies and Political Ecology
GREG POLLOCK     
Plans Are Pointless; Staying Alive Is as Good as It Gets: Zombie Sociology and the Politics of Survival
SARA SUTLER-COHEN     

Bibliography     
Filmography     
Video Games and Discography     
About the Contributors     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

very informative”—Critical Mass; “plenty of excellent, well-thought-out and entertaining reading”—Scarlet.

From the Publisher

"plenty of excellent, well-thought-out and entertaining reading"

Scarlet

very informative

Critical Mass