Blog Post #7: Monster

Watch "Monster" by Kanye West [MONSTER, Kanye West] then read Latoya Peterson's "Black Monsters/White Corpses: Kanye's Racialized Gender Politics" and assess Peterson's reading of the video. Do you think that she's correct in suggesting that "Kanye is...upholding the ideals of white supremacy" or is she tailoring the video to meet her own expectations? Clarify and support your answer.

N.B. This video contains language and images that may disturb some people.

Blog Post #6: Psycho

In 1960, Hitchcock altered the horror genre. With Psycho, the "slasher flick" was born, but rarely has the "villain" been so complex.

Looking past the mere figure of the murderer, try to identify a monster in this film that isn't immediately obvious. What themes motivate the film? How does the film deal with these themes? How might the film be addressing the "monstrous" outside the simple, murderous cycle of the central killer? In other words, if the killer isn't the only monster in this film, what else are you meant to fear?

Blog Post #5: District 9

District 9 focuses on some of the problems associated with racism, particularly critiquing various types of dehumanization. Consider the different ways that the alien characters are dehumanized, including stereotypes, the slum refugee camp, and also the problems associated with point-of-view in the film. Consider the ways in which the film attempts to allegorize racism and to call for empathy with the experiences of those we deem different from us, but also consider the ways in which this call to empathy might be problematic.

Try a "strong response" model for your post--critique the rhetorical features of a particular part of the film, then move on to a more general critique of the ideas embedded in the film, and, if you are comfortable posting something personal in a public space, finish with a reflection.

Assess the question of solitude and the individual in I Am Legend. In what way does Robert Neville's being alone--as opposed to the small groups that populate inspired sequels like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Walking Dead, 28 Days Later, or for that matter even the cinematic version of I Am Legend--change the manner in which we understand the threat both of the "monsters" outside the house but also the monster within? Use Mathias Clasen's "Vampire Apocalypse" in your response and employ specific text from the novel.

Blog Post #3: The Walking Dead

How does the genre (comics) affect the pacing and development of this story? Think about how the comic is drawn--what choices do the authors make, and how do these choices affect your experience of the story? How does this take on zombies compare with the filmic treatments we have explored during class (Night and Dawn)? Think about both similarities and differences and pose at least one question that you think could help draw connections between The Walking Dead and other, similar, works.

Blog Post #2: True Blood

"Do you realize," Bill says to Sookie during the first episode, "that every person in this bar is staring at us?" Sookie asks "Who cares what they think," to which Bill responds that, since he plans to make Bontemps his home, he does. Respond to what is at stake in this moment. What's occurring, what is the moment standing in for allegorically? Why are people staring and what is the political import of Bill's decision to obey the authority of the public glare? Does his choice seem, at the time, to threaten or aid the causes he claims to represent? Try to incorporate the readings into your answer if they help your argument.

Blog Post #1--Nosferatu

In her work on the history of the vampire mythology, Nina Auerbach suggests that "every age embraces the vampire it needs." Consider the changes which occurred to the representation of the vampire between the Englishman Polidori's early portrait in his 1819 short story and the German Murnau's (retelling of Bram Stoker's) version just over a century later. What changes are most striking, which are more subtle? How might these representations reflect the time and place that they were produced? Choose one marked deviation of the vampire between the two works and suggest what might have motivated each artist to have presented the vampire in that way.