"Let's put a smile on that face" : Trump, the psychotic clown and the history of American violence / Scott Poole -- Shilling pennywise : chump change in Trump's (trans)America / Theresa L. Geller -- Breaking out and fighting back : female resistance in the Trump-era horror film / Joshua Gulam -- An end to monstrosity : horror, queer representation, and the Trump kakistocracy / Marshall Moore -- Trauma, repression and the babadook : sexual identity in the Trump era / Fran Pheasant-Kelly -- Lock her up! : angry men and the captive woman in post-recession horror / Dawn Keetley -- "I told you not to go into that house" : Get out and horror's racial politics / Christopher Lloyd -- Securing the borders : isolation and anxiety in The witch, It comes at night, and Trump's America / Brandon Grafius -- Trump's great American family : racism, sexism and homophobia in Hotel Transylvania 2 / Simon Bacon -- South Park : Trump, technology and the uncanny / Christian Hänggi -- Get out (of the White House) : the Trump administration and YouTube horror parody as social commentary / James West -- Beware the untruths : podcast audio horror in post-truth America / Richard Hand and Danielle Hancock -- "There is no return" : Twin Peaks and the horror of pleasure / Donald L. Anderson -- "It is happening...again" : Trumpism, uncanny repetition and Twin Peaks : the return / John Riley and Martin Fradley.
Summary:
Horror films have traditionally sunk their teeth into straitened times, reflecting, expressing and validating the spirit of the epoch, and capitalising on the political and cultural climate in which they are made. This book shows how the horror genre has adapted itself to the transformation of contemporary American politics and the mutating role of traditional and new media in the era of Donald Trump's Presidency of the United States. Exploring horror's renewed potential for political engagement in a socio-political climate characterised by the angst of civil conflict, the deception of `alternative facts' and the threat of nuclear or biological conflict and global warming, Make America Hate Again examines the intersection of film, politics, and American culture and society through a bold critical analysis of popular horror (films, television shows, podcasts and online parodies), such as 10 Cloverfield Lane, American Horror Story, Don't Breathe, Get Out, Hotel Transylvania 2, Hush, It, It Comes at Night, South Park, The Babadook, The Walking Dead, The Woman, The Witch and Twin Peaks: The Return. The first major exploration of the horror genre through the lens of the Trump era, it investigates the correlations between recent, culturally meaningful horror texts, and the broader culture within which they have become gravely significant. Offering a rejuvenating, optimistic, and positive perspective on popular culture as a site of cultural politics, Make America Hate Again will appeal to scholars and students of American studies, film and media studies, and cultural studies.
Series:
The cultural politics of media and popular culture
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.