scholarly journals Television vampire fandom and religion

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minja Blom
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Television Show ◽  
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
True Blood ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Popular Texts ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way

Popular culture and fandom provide a setting where people can reflect on the questions of life. A television show defines for many of its fans what it means to be human. It also discusses the way things are, and the way they should, or could, be in our reality. In this article the author shows that tele­vision shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries have made the same kind of impact on their fans. The fan writings of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries show that these popular texts, and the communities they have formed, have greatly affected the lives of fans. People have found on their TV screens stories they can get strength and hope from. The vampire shows deal with the supernatural – vampires, werewolves, and witches – and place them in our contemporary world as if they are a natural part of it. Television vampire stories revolve around topics of death, good and evil, and humanity. These stories have created massive fan communities and even life changing fan experiences. The reflections upon existential questions, and the way the shows have empowered fans, make this phenomenon important to study in the context of today’s religions reality.

Forgiveness and Political Community

Worldview ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 15-16
Author(s):  
Stanley Hauerwas
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way ◽  
Moral Limits

AbstractMr. Dobel is right—as a society we act as if the war in Vietnam was just a nasty little mistake. This not only excuses those who, for a variety of good and evil reasons, unwarrantedly perpetuated that war; but, more important, it dishonors those who conscientiously served there and those who conscientiously refused to serve there. If there is any forgiving to be done, people in those two groups must lead the way; they alone know what such forgiveness might mean.Mr. Dobel is also right in stating that Vietnam continues to lie uneasily on our national conscience. Our inability to explain why we were in Vietnam and why we stayed there indicates the moral limits of our political self-understanding. We simply lack the moral means to recognize and understand what we did there. But then it would be a mistake to single out Vietnam—have we recognized or understood any better what we did to the Indians or that we were a slave nation?

“Everyone Forgets That Knowledge is the Ultimate Weapon”: Information Seeking Practices in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Hicks ◽  
Caroline Whippey
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Television Show ◽  
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ◽  
Popular Television

This paper examines how information seeking practices are depicted in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". As popular culture reflects culturally held assumptions, this paper examines what the depiction of information seeking practices in a popular television show can tell LIS researchers and practitioners about how such practices are culturally understood.Cette communication examine comment les pratiques de recherche d’information sont dépeintes dans « Buffy contre les vampires ». Puisque la culture populaire se veut le reflet de pratiques culturelles existantes, cette communication s’intéresse à ce que les pratiques de recherche d’information montrées dans une émission de télévision populaire peut apprendre aux chercheurs et aux praticiens en BSI sur la compréhension culturelle de la pratique.

Rangda and the Goddess Durga in Bali

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-77
Author(s):  
Sarah Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Purity And Impurity ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Negative Attributes ◽  
The Way

This article examines Rangda and her role as a chthonic and mythological figure in Bali, particularly the way in which Rangda’s identity has intertwined with that of the Hindu goddess Durga— slayer of buffalo demons and other creatures that cannot be bested by Shiva or other male Hindu gods. Images and stories about Durga in Bali are significantly different from those found in Hindu contexts in India. Although she retains the strong-willed independence and decision-making capabilities prominently associated with Durga in India, in Bali the goddess Durga is primarily associated with violent and negative attributes as well as looks and behaviours that are more usually associated with Kali in India. The reconstruction of Durga in Bali, in particular the integration of Durga with the figure of the witch Rangda, reflects the local importance of the dynamic relationship between good and bad, positive and negative forces in Bali. I suggest that Balinese representations of Rangda and Durga reveal a flux and transformation between good and evil, not simply one side of a balanced binary opposition. Transformation—here defined as the persistent movement between ritual purity and impurity—is a key element in the localization of the goddess Durga in Bali.

Public Service Motivation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Public Voices ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Mastracci
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Service Motivation ◽  
Public Servants ◽  
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ◽  
The Public ◽  
American Popular Culture ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

In this paper, the author examines public service as depicted in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS). First, she shows how slaying meets the economist’s definition of a public good, using the BtVS episode “Flooded” (6.04). Second, she discusses public service motivation (PSM) to determine whether or not Buffy, a public servant, operates from a public service ethic. Relying on established measures and evidence from shooting scripts and episode transcripts, the author concludes Buffy is a public servant motivated by a public service ethic. In this way, BtVS informs scholarship on public service by broadening the concept of PSM beyond the public sector; prompting one to wonder whether it is located in a sector, an occupation, or in the individual. These conclusions allow the author to situate Buffy alongside other idealized public servants in American popular culture.

Is God Really in History?

1979 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-390
Author(s):  
Frederick Sontag
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way

For some time it seemed as if Christianity itself required us to say that ‘God is in history’. Of course, even to speak of ‘history’ is to reveal a bias for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century forms of thought. But the justification for talking about the Christian God in this way is the doctrine of the incarnation. The centre of the Christian claim is that Jesus is God's representation in history, although we need not go all the way to a full trinitarian interpretation of the relationship between God and Jesus. Thus, the issue is not so much whether God can appear or has appeared within, or entered into, human life as it is a question of what categories we use to represent this. To what degree is God related to the sphere of human events? Whatever our answer, we need periodically to re-examine the way we speak about God to be sure the forms we use have not become misleading.

Unstoppable Decay and Relentless Hope: Study of Alterity in Popular Culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
Adrien Ordonneau
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Consequences of capitalism’s crises and their manifestations in arts have deeply modified the way we can approach mental health. As Mark Fisher pointed out in 2009 with his book Capitalist Realism, neoliberalism is using mental illness as a way to keep existing. The capacity to think a way out of alienation is deeply linked with arts and popular culture. The article proposes to study the uncanny dialogue between arts and politics in relationships to people, and mental health. The theoretical framework will show how arts are trying to build a way out of alienation, since 2009. The article will illustrate this research with the study of many artistic practices, including our own. The findings will show how the ambiguous and uncanny relationships with the world is used by artists as a way out of alienation, despite the difficulties occurring with mental health in time of crisis.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE ARCHETYPE OF THE WAY ON THE FORMATION OF THE PERSONALITY IN THE NOVEL PAPER TOWNS BY JOHN GREEN

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (97) ◽  
pp. 9-28
Author(s):  
Наталія Юріївна Бондар
Keyword(s):  
Skin Color ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Holistic Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Metaphorical Extension ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
The Way

The article deals with the influence of the archetype of the way on the formation of the personality in the novel Paper Towns by John Green. The purpose of this article is to determine the originality of the image of an American teenager and to identify the influence of the archetype of the way on the formation of the personality, as well as to consider the archetype of the way as a real path of the character in the novel Paper Towns by John Green, taking into account the individual author’s interpretation. This object of research has been chosen because through it one can comprehend the specifics of the psychology of a teenager and define the artistic features that distinguish the author’s stylistics and worldview. The comprehensive research methodology has been used in the work: the synthesis of the comparative historical method, holistic analysis, elements of mythopoetic and hermeneutic methods. In the novel Paper Towns by John Green mythopoetic consciousness presupposes ontological ambivalent intentions in the archetype of the child / teenager (good and evil children). The metaphorical extension of the archetype of the child / teenager has been revealed in this article. All the images of teenagers are given in the development, on the way to growing up. The originality of the archetype of the way here lies in the fact that it merges with the concepts of Space and Chaos, confirming the idea of the unity of mankind. The metaphors themselves are also peculiar, associated with the archetype of the way: inanimate strings, gradually turning into living blades of grass, intertwined with roots with all that exists. During the search for Margo, Quentin grows up significantly, becomes more tolerant to their friends, and he learns to take responsibility for him. The image of Margo is the image of a rebel against any lack of freedom that it is inevitable in the “golden cage”. It is also revealed how Quentin is influenced by the new world opened during his trips, and his personal environment: for example, Radar opens his eyes to the fact that he does not need to demand too much from others. Both Margo is changed (from a “paper” girl – to a real one) and Ben and Radar are changed (false interests go into the background; everyone learns to expose himself to risks and troubles for the sake of friendship and human salvation). Ben and Radar are also shown in the development, in a short time they learn to understand each other and distinguish false values from true ones. These changes occur with all the teenagers, regardless of their skin color and nationality, and such an interpretation of the insignificance of formal differences is also a new word of the author.

Heart disease and gender in mass print media

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-20
Author(s):  
Juanne Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Heart Disease ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Heart Attack ◽  
Print Media ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
High Achieving ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Developed World ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way

Heart disease is a major cause of death, disease and disability in the developed world for both men and women. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that women are under-diagnosed both because they fail to visit the doctor with relevant symptoms and because doctors tend to dismiss the seriousness of women's symptoms of heart disease. This study examines the way that popular mass print media present the possible links between gender and heart disease. The findings suggest that the ‘usual candidates’ for heart disease are considered to be high achieving and active men for whom the ‘heart attack’ is sometimes seen as a ‘badge of honour’ and a symbol of their success. In contrast, women are less often seen as likely to succumb, but they are portrayed as if they are and ought to be worried about their husbands. Women's own bodies are described as so problematic as to be perhaps useless to diagnose, because they are so difficult to understand and treat.

scholarly journals American Telefantasy: An Introduction

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Halliday ◽  
Rhys Owain Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Doctor Who ◽  
Fair Share ◽  
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ◽  
Battlestar Galactica ◽  
The Walking Dead ◽  
Park Avenue ◽  
General Capacity ◽  
True Blood ◽  
Horror Story

Television schedules are rife with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. The re-launched Doctor Who and its prime-time Saturday night stablemate, Merlin spearhead the rise of contemporary British Telefantasy (Being Human, Misfits et al.).  Meanwhile, their American equivalents attract audiences of millions, extensive media attention and, since Peter Dinklage’s Emmy and Golden Globe-winning performance in Game of Thrones, widespread critical acclaim through mainstream industry awards.  Histories of “quality” television are awash with examples of American Telefantasy that have left an indelible impression on popular cultural (and even socio-political) imaginaries; Star Trek, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica all being enduringly popular examples. As American television networks prepare to launch their all-important “Fall” schedules, ushering in a new year of programming, it is evident that Telefantasy will continue to garner its fair share of TV viewers’ attention – whether due to hotly-anticipated debuts (666 Park Avenue, Arrow, The Neighbors, Revolution), finales (Fringe), provocative content (American Horror Story, True Blood, The Walking Dead, or a general capacity to entertain, bewitch or amuse (Community), Falling Skies, Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Supernatural).

scholarly journals Terminology: Aboutness, Representation, and Metasemantics

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
Herman Cappelen ◽  
Josh Dever
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
As If ◽  
The Way

This short chapter does two things. First, it shows that in fact workers in AI frequently talk as if AI systems express contents. We present the argument that the complex nature of the actions and communications of AI systems, even if they are very different from the complex behaviours of human beings, and the way they have ‘aboutness’, strongly suggest a contentful interpretation of those actions and communications. It then introduces some philosophical terminology that captures various aspects of language use, such as the ones in the title, to better make clear what one is saying—philosophically speaking—when one claims AI systems communicate, and to provide a vocabulary for the next few chapters.

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