Browsing by Author "Zasada, Oskar"

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    In Fear of Demythization: The (Post)human Transfigurations of Cosmic Others and the Undead in Contemporary American Horror Fiction and Film
    (2019-07-15) Zasada, Oskar
    It is postulated that when combined with certain ideological mindsets, the conceptual flexibility and accessibility offered by fictional horror entities can lead to an effective negation of these creatures’ mythological aspects and their replacement with qualities that further ideological indoctrination. With this in mind, the purpose of this dissertation is to reveal, scrutinize, and carefully evaluate the multilayered conceptual developments that regularly arise when horror archetypes get exposed to trans- and posthumanistic narrative strategies. This step is then expanded upon by contrasting posthumanistic storytelling frameworks, which, by means of their depictions, help to preserve a fictional entities’ mythical attributes, with transhumanistic portrayals that lead to the aforementioned demythization and to aggressive ideological repurposings. As is made evident, widespread pop cultural archetypes tend to have a greater degree susceptibility to transhumanistic notions. This is reflected in the structure of the entire study, which adopts a chronological approach based on the order in which three different types of horror entities experienced full-scope technoscientific refurbishings in the Western ideascape. The dissertation employs comparative analysis and interpretation as its main research methods, using them to examine texts that embody different facets of popular culture. Interpretative methods given shape by C. G. Jung’s psychoanalysis- based cultural studies and research tools formed by Gothic and horror studies are also utilized throughout the dissertation.