Embodying Contagion: The Viropolitics of Horror and Desire in Contemporary Discourse

by Sandra Becker (Editor), Megen De Bruin-Molé (Editor), Sara Polak (Editor)

Overview

From Outbreak to The Walking Dead, apocalyptic narratives of infection, contagion, and a global pandemic are an inescapable part of twenty-first-century popular culture. Yet, these fears and fantasies are too virulent to be simply quarantined within fictional texts; vocabulary and metaphors from outbreak narratives have now infiltrated how news media, policymakers, and the general public view the real world and the people within it. In an age where fact and fiction seem increasingly difficult to separate, contagious bodies (and the discourses that contain them) continually blur established boundaries between real and unreal, legitimacy and frivolity, science, and the supernatural. Where previous scholarly work has examined the spread of epidemic realities in horror fiction, the essays in this collection also consider how epidemic fantasies and fears influence reality. Bringing scholarship from cultural and media studies into conversation with scholarship from the medical humanities and social sciences, Embodying Contagion aims to give readers a fuller picture of the viropolitics of contagious bodies in contemporary global culture.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786836908
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Series:	University of Wales Press Horror Studies Series
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Sandra Becker is a PhD candidate in American Studies at the University of Groningen. Megen de Bruin-Molé is lecturer in Digital Media Practice at the University of Southampton. Sara Polak is assistant professor in American Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Notes on Contributors ix

Preface Priscilla Wald xiii

Embodying the Fantasies and Realities of Contagion Megen de Bruin-Molé Sara Polak 1

Part 1 Epidemic Fantasies in Reality 15

1 The Krokodil Drug Menace, Cross-Genre Body Horror and the Zombie Apocalypse Peter Burger 17

2 'Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic' and the Ebola Scare How the CDC's Use of Zombie Pop Culture Helped Fan a Nationalist Outbreak Narrative Sara Polak 41

3 The Zika Virus, Ebola Contagion Narratives and US Obsessions with Securitising Neglected Infectious Diseases Madison A. Krall Marouf Hasian Jr Yvonne Karyn Clark 61

4 An Affectionate Epidemic How Disability Goes Viral on Social Media Angela M. Smith 85

5 'Fatties Cause Global Warming' The Strange Entanglement of Obesity and Climate Change Francis Ray White 109

Part 2 Epidemic Realities in Fantasy 129

6 'Time is of the Essence, Doctor' Twenty-First-Century (Post-)Apocalyptic Fiction, White Fatherhood and Ami-Intellectual Tendencies in FX's 'The Strain Sandra Becker 131

7 Killable Hordes, Chronic Others and 'Mindful' Consumers Rehabilitating the Zombie in Twenty-First-Century Popular Culture Megen de Bruin-Molé 159

8 Networks, Desire and Risk Management in Gay Contagion Fiction Mica Hilson 181

9 "This Long Disease, My Life' AIDS Activism and Contagious Bodies in Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart and. The Destiny of Me Astrid Haas 199

10 The Epidemic of History Contagion of the Past in the Era of the Never-Ending Present Elana Gomel 219

Epilogue 235

'Contagion Contagion' Viral Metaphors, Lockdown and Suffering Economies in the COVID-19 Pandemic Sandra Becker 237

Bibliography 251

Index 287