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Humanity has obviously survived the Mayan apocalypse predicted for 21st December 2012, but when we look at (particularly American) popular culture, doomsday doesn’t seem to be so far off. According to recent trends in television, film and popular literature, werewolves, zombies, vampires and ghouls will soon be storming our cities, while alien invasions and asteroids threaten us from the skies. Where popular culture once presented perfect images of the American Dream (just think of The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, etc.), it is now teeming with end-of-the-world prophecies. The American Dream seems to have turned into a nightmare: Entire civilizations are reduced to nothing but rubble and a small number of survivors is forced to live a primitive existence, always awaiting monstrous powers to destroy whatever is left. Other scenarios show teenagers fighting to the death for entertainment or serving as ‘guinea pigs’ in sociological experiments.
In this seminar we will focus on the “post-apocalypse trend” in popular culture by looking at a number of key cultural artefacts like scenes from movies and TV shows, passages from graphic novels, and excerpts from novels. Our analysis will be based on a variety of theoretical approaches and will include but not be limited to aspects such as “the other”, gender, ethnicity, religion, and genre.
The theoretical texts for this course as well as excerpts from selected other writings will be made available in form of a reader. This will be available from the copyshop on Reckhammerweg (Schug & Real) from mid-October onwards. Please also get hold of the following novel: Margaret Atwood – Oryx and Crake (ISBN: 978-0349004068). |
