Prelims

Half Title Page

Interdisciplinary Essays on Monsters and the Monstrous

Series Title Page

Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions

Published in partnership with Progressive Connexions: https://www.progressiveconnexions.net/

Title Page

Interdisciplinary Essays on Monsters and the Monstrous: Imagining Monsters to Understand our Socio-Political and Psycho-Emotional Realities

Edited By

M. Susanne Schotanus

Progressive Connexions, Netherlands

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2022

Editorial matter and selection © 2022 M. Susanne Schotanus.

Individual chapters © 2022 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80117-028-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-027-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80117-029-1 (Epub)

About the Editor

M. Susanne Schotanus is the Director of Publications for Progressive Connexions and in that position is currently involved in the production of a range of books for the Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions series. She's one of the co-founders of the Inter-Connexions publishing house as well as a freelance editor for both fictional and academic text. Her work is marked by a passion for interdisciplinarity and knowledge production, especially on those topics that have traditionally been considered taboo.

About the Contributors

Elena Apostolaki is a PhD candidate at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, University of Cologne, Germany. Her dissertation is an interdisciplinary project that focuses on the concept of American freedom and the representation of outlaws examined through the lenses of American libertarianism using three contemporary American TV series as primary sources. Her main research interests include American popular culture, media representation (TV series and films) and cultural production with a main focus on outlaws and/or marginalized social groups, socio-political concepts and ideologies. Her upcoming publications focus on the TV series Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy and their relation to economic freedom, profit accumulation and libertarianism.

Melissa Blackie is a Juris Doctor candidate at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law, Ontario, Canada. Before beginning her legal education, she completed her Master of Arts in Social Justice and Equity Studies at Brock University, Ontario, Canada, and her Honours degree in Law and Society at York University, Ontario, Canada. While at Brock University, her major research project focused on the institutional gatekeeping mechanisms within Canada's law schools that prevent underrepresented law students from equitably accessing the legal profession. In addition to her interest in public and constitutional law, privacy law, and employment law, she has a particular interest in the prevalence of sexual violence on Canada's university campuses, and the need for intersectional approaches to consent and prevention programmes.

Gerard Gibson is a PhD Researcher at Ulster University. He has a background in the visual arts and a professional illustration portfolio for numerous publishers following an honours degree in Graphic Design. He studied Film, gaining a Master’s in Arts with Distinction from Queen's University, Belfast. He is particularly interested in crossing traditional academic and disciplinary divides to gain a more holistic understanding of the innate, but complex, forces and processes which drive and shape narrative expression in cinematic horror. His research combines practice and theory and is focused on understanding space, place and the material in film horror. He teaches, presents, exhibits and publishes. His practice works are in collections in the United Kingdom, Europe and have appeared in group shows across the United States.

Woodrow Hood, Director of Film and Media Studies at Wake Forest University, is a Director, Sound Designer and Producer. He has presented his scholarship at Oxford University, the University of Amsterdam, Columbia College in Chicago and many others. He has written for national and international journals and publications such as the London Journal of Film and Video, Cinemascope, Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law, Technoculture, Culture Unplugged and Postmodern Culture.

Megan Johnson (she/her) holds a Master's Degree in Popular Culture from Brock University. Her work focuses on feminist and queer representations in the media, with the intent of introducing more nuanced and accurate views on these often marginalised people into public discourse. In addition to her academic research, which aims to secure more safe and powerful positions for feminist and queer communities, she also works as an academic advisor. She is an Ontario Graduate Scholarship recipient and has been honoured with awards in the field of Social Sciences by Brock University.

Francesca Lopez is a PhD student in Comparative Literature at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Her background is in Communications (bachelor's) and Film (master's). She taught Communications and Media, Sociology, Advertising Communications, and Gender and Media Studies at Roma Tre University. Specialised in Gender and Media studies, her research is based on the analysis of the representation of lethal gendered violence in crime TV series, in the horror genre and in pornography with a focus on female corpses. In the last few years, she started focusing also on dissident bodies like monsters and mutants. She authored and co-authored several publications on gendered violence and its representation. Outside academia, she has experience working with NGOs, CAV (antiviolence centre) and several organisations fighting against all forms of gender violence. She is also an activist, author and writer. Actually, further her PhD, she teaches remotely Gender and Media at Roma Tre University in a master's programme (Gender and Politics).

Russ Martin (he/him) is a Writer, Editor and Scholar. He holds a Master's Degree in Popular Culture from Brock University, where his thesis work considered the impact of RuPaul's Drag Race on Toronto's drag scene. His journalism has been featured in the Toronto Star, Flare, the National Post, Xtra and The Walrus. Russ recently contributed to Canadian Theatre Review's drag-themed issue (vol. 185) and has contributed to a forthcoming volume on Drag Race from McFarland. He is an Event Producer with the Circus and its Other research project and a Producer and In-house Researcher for Toronto's online drag bar, Speakeasy TV. Russ currently teaches journalism at Ryerson University.

Chloë Isabel Olivo (she/her) is a Writer, Publicist, Communications Strategist and Reporter based in the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario, Canada. After completing her first post-graduate degree in Public Relations at Humber College in Toronto, and working as a Lifestyle Publicist in the Greater Toronto Area, she continued her education at her Undergraduate Alma Mater, Brock University. Having recently completed her Master's Degree in Popular Culture where her thesis work focused on social media marketing forming parasocial relationships with media personalities, Chloe firmly believes in the importance of utilising online platforms not only as a means of sharing personal ideologies and frameworks of discourses, but amplifying marginalised voices as well. Continuing to channel these interests post-graduation, she currently acts as an on-air personality and reporter for YourTV Cogeco, and as a freelance social media strategist for fashion, food and lifestyle based companies in both Niagara and Toronto.

Acknowledgments

No book comes together through the efforts of one person alone. As they say: it takes a village. In the case of this book, the village was a global one and various village elders have dedicated time and effort to make this volume happen.

Many of the authors first met at the inclusive, interdisciplinary conference on Monsters, organised by Progressive Connexions in December 2019, in Prague. Without the unending efforts of Seán Moran, who was the leader of this event, and the Progressive Connexions team consisting of Teresa Cutler-Broyles, Lorraine Rumson and Elif Çakmak, the first seeds of this book would not have been able to sprout. Cristina Santos helped us round out the list of contributors: drawing from her own impressive network, she found authors who could help us explore those topics related to monstrosity that made this book the well rounded and inclusive volume it is today.

But that is not where the contribution of the Progressive Connexions network to this book ends. As a pioneering inclusive network, Progressive Connexions does more than any other organisation to create spaces where interdisciplinarity can be born and thinkers on wide-ranging subjects can meet and flourish. Rob Fisher's vision of an inclusive, transdisciplinary and international web of connections not only allowed the conference to happen, but has also encouraged us to rethink the nature of interdisciplinary publishing. His insistence that this vision also find its way into the Tables of Contents of books in the Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions series – for which he is one of the series editors – inspired us to round out each section with a discussion between authors, which has lifted this book to a whole new level.

Seeds and ideas are great things but they do not make a book. That aspect of the process was taken on by Emerald's friendly, supportive and open-minded team – Ramya Murali, Kristy Woods, Sangeetha Rajan and the fantastic Katy Mathers – who saw the radical topic and unique structure of this book and said: “yes, let's do it!” In a publishing world that's becoming increasingly conservative and selective, this Emerald team is a beacon of hope for those people who envision an intellectual world without borders.

But most of the credit, of course, goes to the absolutely amazing contributors to this volume: Elena Apostolaki, Melissa Blackie, Gerard Gibson, Woodrow Hood, Megan Johnson, Francesca Lopez, Russ Martin and Chloë Olivio. Work on this book began right at the start of the COVID pandemic and despite countless barriers, emotional events and an ongoing global crisis, they have managed to deliver on their promises and more. Throughout the process, the authors in this book have shown grit, perseverance, intellectual brilliance and compassion – qualities which, though not often discussed in this context, are essential in bringing together an edited volume of this quality.