In 1977, the British press reports an outbreak of alleged poltergeist phenomena that occurred in the Enfield home of single mother Peggy Hodgson and her four children Janet, Margaret, Johnny and Billy. Claims of strange activity at the house continued until 1979, and the case of the Enfield poltergeist has provoked heated debate ever since….
Nicole Georges’ “Calling Dr. Laura,” Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home,” Graphic Memoir, and Something Strange About Time
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007) and Nicole Georges’ Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir (published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2013) share some important similarities: they’re both graphic memoir texts that feature family dramas, and they both use the comics form to do interesting things with time. The similarities…
Seeing Myself in Wonderland: Mental Health in American McGee’s Alice – Part Two
This is the second part of a two-part piece. In case you haven’t already, be sure to click here and read part one first in order to acquaint yourself with how my history interweaves with that of Goth Alice in Depression Wonderland. Otherwise, you’ll probably be really confused.
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Three
Content warning: this article discusses fictional portrayals of racism, including usage of racial slurs.
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part Two
Content warning: This article contains excerpts from explicitly racist material. In the first post of this series, I discussed portrayals of race and racism in British horror fiction from the earlier half of the twentieth century, particularly in the work of Sax Rohmer, Bram Stoker, Nigel Kneale, and Dennis Wheatley. In this post, I will look at…
Fascist Ghosts: Racism and the Far Right in British Horror, Part One
In its own warped way, horror fiction has always reflected whatever is happening in the world around it. The most obvious metaphor is a funhouse mirror, offering a twisted representation of its surroundings for the audience’s surprise and entertainment. Inevitably, some of horror’s attempts to portray the surrounding world will be more successful than others.
Otherworlds and Underworlds: Filthy Futures in Roadside Picnic and Neuromancer
More often than not, science fiction depicting the future on Earth conjures up spick-and-span cityscapes: gleaming streets and towers, an ordered and efficient environment, and hidden danger disguised as benign societal mechanisms. What’s seen less often are chaotic, dirty, bucket-of-bolts futures where menace lurks around every corner and people spill out, swearing, from grungy dives….
Snowy Days With Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber: Part One
Welcome to The Bloody Chamber roundtable; a collection of short stories by speculative author Angela Carter. We’ll be discussing the short stories — their themes, the craft and the feelings they’ve elicited — in a four-parted series for every season starting with cold, frosty winter. We broke up the collection and have started with wolves:…
Others, Mothers and Monsters: Body Diversity and Fatphobia in Video Games
Like many people, I’m beyond excited for the next Mass Effect game, Mass Effect: Andromeda. So excited I want to know every bit of information about the game as it (slowly) comes out. I got super excited when they finally started to release character dossiers a few weeks ago, because character information is something that…
Idle Animations – From Skyrim, With Love
Idle Animations is a recurring series in which I play games without playing them, exploring quiet, still moments, how games fill space and time, and what happens when you let a game play itself.
Who You Gonna Wear? Ghostbusters! The Fashion of Erin, Abby, Holtzman, and Patty
The costuming (the character design) of Ghostbusters announces itself graciously but doesn’t demand your attention. It takes the introduction of the third protagonist to blossom into full life. Once it does, it only gets better.
Not So Infinite Diversity: Queering Star Trek
In part one of this roundtable, WWAC contributors discuss the recent revelation that helmsman Hikaru Sulu is in a same sex relationship in the upcoming film Star Trek: Beyond, and the paucity of LGBTQA representation in Star Trek up until now. In part two of this roundtable, they will discuss which Star Trek they found their…