Numerous scholars explore the cultural and political implications of monster and horror films for the times from which they emerge. Through these analyses, we gain insight into seemingly distant pasts that are actually not that far removed from our own experiences now. Few scholars connect such implications across broader expanses of time to reveal how [...]

In The Magicians, Lev Grossman asks what if our favorite fantasies and fairy tales were real? Not only real, but calling out to us in some strange way to be a part of them. This is exactly what happens in the novel when Quentin Coldwater stumbles into a parallel world of magic and multiple universes. [...]

Filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has described the horror film genre as “one of the last of the brave genres of film.” Unfortunately, many critics and audiences reject the genre out of hand, while the growing collection of film and religion scholars have failed to give it it’s due…aside from films like The Exorcist (1973), Rosemary’s [...]

Move over Bill Compton. Step aside Edward Cullen. There’s a new sheriff…er, vampire…in town, and he’s not a conscience-addled downer either. Skinner Sweet, the preeminent bloodsucker in the American Vampire series is as vicious a vampire as you’re likely to find. The product of Scott Snyder’s imagination and fueled by the twisted vision of Stephen [...]

The dark side is alive and well in popular culture and has been for millenia. Just as fascinating as the dark side itself is our fascination with it. In The Lure of the Dark Side: Satan & Western Demonology in Popular Culture, Christopher Partridge and Eric Christianson collect a series of essays, many of which [...]

With a dissertation dominating my time for the last year, comics and graphic novels got put on the back burner. With that beast behind me, I’m slowly returning to a realm of pop culture that I have missed. In an effort to get back into the habit of reading and critically engaging with comics and [...]

“‘Mr. DeMille,’ said [Charles] Laughton, ‘I notice that all of your pictures have a religious motif. Are you yourself very religious?’” “‘Well,’ said DeMille, ‘I suppose there’s a little bit of God in DeMille and a little bit of DeMille in God’” (291). Few Hollywood biographers and historians are as insightful as Scott Eyman. Having [...]

I doubt there are many books that combine economics, theology, politics, and cultural studies as seamlessly and deeply as Bethany Moreton‘s To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise. In her book, Moreton reveals how Sam Walton and his peers shrewdly exploited economic and cultural conditions, while relying on a keen awareness [...]

I don’t read very many books about musicians and music, but even if I did, I’m sure Jay-Z’s Decoded would still rank among the best of the genre. Whether you’re a big fan of, mildly interested in, or completely turned off by rap, you should read this book. Not only is Jay-Z one of rap’s [...]

While video game criticism has yet to reach the cultural status of its film counterparts, academic writing about and research into video games, their popularity, and cultural influence is certainly getting closer, particularly with the likes of Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox’s Philosophy Through Video Games.  Check out my review after the jump.