Paul A. Cantor
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813177304
- eISBN:
- 9780813177311
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813177304.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter seeks to explain the popularity of grim shows like the zombie narrative The Walking Dead, which seem to delight in portraying the destruction of the world as we know it. The Walking Dead ...
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This chapter seeks to explain the popularity of grim shows like the zombie narrative The Walking Dead, which seem to delight in portraying the destruction of the world as we know it. The Walking Dead offers a variant of the American dream, because it celebrates the independence of the ordinary people who are forced to fend for themselves in the absence of the authorities and institutions that traditionally had protected and taken care of them. Several of the characters reinvent themselves, going from the meek roles they played in pre-apocalyptic times to strong people. The show reflects widespread anxieties about social and political developments after the 2008 economic downturn. Many Americans felt betrayed by the elites who had claimed to have the expertise to run the country smoothly, and the show generally casts elites in a bad light. The Walking Dead recaptures the pioneer spirit that built America in the first place—a sense of self-reliance that harks back to the American West and frontier existence.Less
This chapter seeks to explain the popularity of grim shows like the zombie narrative The Walking Dead, which seem to delight in portraying the destruction of the world as we know it. The Walking Dead offers a variant of the American dream, because it celebrates the independence of the ordinary people who are forced to fend for themselves in the absence of the authorities and institutions that traditionally had protected and taken care of them. Several of the characters reinvent themselves, going from the meek roles they played in pre-apocalyptic times to strong people. The show reflects widespread anxieties about social and political developments after the 2008 economic downturn. Many Americans felt betrayed by the elites who had claimed to have the expertise to run the country smoothly, and the show generally casts elites in a bad light. The Walking Dead recaptures the pioneer spirit that built America in the first place—a sense of self-reliance that harks back to the American West and frontier existence.
Stefania Ciocia
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846318207
- eISBN:
- 9781846317767
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846317767
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
This book is a study of Tim O'Brien, one of the most thought-provoking writers of the Vietnam War generation. It breaks away from previous readings of O'Brien's development as a trauma artist and an ...
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This book is a study of Tim O'Brien, one of the most thought-provoking writers of the Vietnam War generation. It breaks away from previous readings of O'Brien's development as a trauma artist and an outspoken chronicler of the American involvement in Vietnam: its thematic, rather than chronological, approach contextualizes O'Brien's work beyond the confines of war literature. The necessary exploration of O'Brien's recurrent engagement with the conflict in Vietnam leads to a thorough discussion of the writer's revision of key American (and western) ideas and concerns: the association between courage, heroism, and masculinity; the celebration of the pioneering spirit in the frontier narrative; the sense of superiority in the encounter with foreign civilizations; the fraught relationship between power and truth, or reality and imagination; and the attempt and the right to speak about unspeakable events. All these themes highlight O'Brien's preoccupation with the role and the ethical responsibility of the storyteller. With his clear privileging of ‘story-truth’ over ‘happening-truth’, O'Brien makes a bold, serious investment in the power of fiction, as testified by his formal experimentations, meta-narrative reflections, and sustained meditations on matters such as individual agency, moral accountability, and authenticity. Approached from this perspective, he emerges as a figure deserving to find a wider audience and demanding renewed scholarly attention for his achievements as a contemporary mythographer, an acute observer of the human condition, and a sharp critic of American culture.Less
This book is a study of Tim O'Brien, one of the most thought-provoking writers of the Vietnam War generation. It breaks away from previous readings of O'Brien's development as a trauma artist and an outspoken chronicler of the American involvement in Vietnam: its thematic, rather than chronological, approach contextualizes O'Brien's work beyond the confines of war literature. The necessary exploration of O'Brien's recurrent engagement with the conflict in Vietnam leads to a thorough discussion of the writer's revision of key American (and western) ideas and concerns: the association between courage, heroism, and masculinity; the celebration of the pioneering spirit in the frontier narrative; the sense of superiority in the encounter with foreign civilizations; the fraught relationship between power and truth, or reality and imagination; and the attempt and the right to speak about unspeakable events. All these themes highlight O'Brien's preoccupation with the role and the ethical responsibility of the storyteller. With his clear privileging of ‘story-truth’ over ‘happening-truth’, O'Brien makes a bold, serious investment in the power of fiction, as testified by his formal experimentations, meta-narrative reflections, and sustained meditations on matters such as individual agency, moral accountability, and authenticity. Approached from this perspective, he emerges as a figure deserving to find a wider audience and demanding renewed scholarly attention for his achievements as a contemporary mythographer, an acute observer of the human condition, and a sharp critic of American culture.
Sam F. Stack
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813166889
- eISBN:
- 9780813167855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813166889.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter addresses the reformist agenda of the New Deal planners and how the Arthurdale School was conceived as an integral experiment within the subsistence or, earlier, the back-to-the-land ...
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This chapter addresses the reformist agenda of the New Deal planners and how the Arthurdale School was conceived as an integral experiment within the subsistence or, earlier, the back-to-the-land movement. The chapter looks at the historical conception of the back-to-the-land movement and its origins and how it developed as a potential idea to build communities for those displaced by the Depression. During the Depression era, this concept came to be known as the subsistence homestead idea and was eventually realized through the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. Leaders in the conception of the federal homesteads included Ellwood Mead and Milburn L. Wilson. The ideal homestead embodied the American conception of pioneer spirit and the virtues believed to be found in rural or country life. The first federal subsistence homestead would be located in north central West Virginia to assist coal miners who had lost their jobs and desperately needed relief. The American Friends Service Committee led the local relief efforts in the area and assisted in the formation of the first homestead at Arthurdale. It addresses the progressive conception of using the school to restore a community life focusing on identity and a sense of place in an economically depressed region in Appalachia.Less
This chapter addresses the reformist agenda of the New Deal planners and how the Arthurdale School was conceived as an integral experiment within the subsistence or, earlier, the back-to-the-land movement. The chapter looks at the historical conception of the back-to-the-land movement and its origins and how it developed as a potential idea to build communities for those displaced by the Depression. During the Depression era, this concept came to be known as the subsistence homestead idea and was eventually realized through the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. Leaders in the conception of the federal homesteads included Ellwood Mead and Milburn L. Wilson. The ideal homestead embodied the American conception of pioneer spirit and the virtues believed to be found in rural or country life. The first federal subsistence homestead would be located in north central West Virginia to assist coal miners who had lost their jobs and desperately needed relief. The American Friends Service Committee led the local relief efforts in the area and assisted in the formation of the first homestead at Arthurdale. It addresses the progressive conception of using the school to restore a community life focusing on identity and a sense of place in an economically depressed region in Appalachia.
