It’s not the Internet; it’s television: deciphering the path for new narrative in an electronic world evaluates the changing processes and product of narrative on the Internet and in television through the revision of Jessica Gray’s pilot "Small town werewolves" and the FRINGE spec, "Three blind mice." / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1937.

This collection consists of a critical preface and five short stories. The preface considers the use of the fantastical in fiction and how it works as a tool to reach readers in comparison with realistic fiction. The stories investigate this in by following several strange characters put in everyday human situations.

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In the early decades of the twenty-first century William Shakespeare’s works and figure began to arise in Young Adult adaptations and transnarratives focusing upon the undead. These works of werewolf, vampire, and zombie fiction represented Shakespeare as a creature of the undead or as a heroic savior. I argue that the figure of Shakespeare appears as an ambivalent symbol of corrupt authority or redeeming power within these YA undead adaptations because we are unable to reconcile Shakespeare’s centrality in literary studies with our twenty-first century social, political, and moral ideals such as multiculturalism, gender equality, and race relations. Essentially, these undead adaptations manifest the figure of Shakespeare as a crisis of our own faith in the “dead white European male” model of authority. Many of the works offer a rather dim view of the author and the cultural authority that he once represented. And the image these YA narratives conjure is often that of a zombie Shakespeare who is both immortal and rotting. Or alternatively, the absolute power of a vampire Shakespeare: cold, white, male, feeding upon the blood of the living. I argue that the YA protagonists must destroy the corrupt authority figures who hold power over them to create a “new world order” in these narratives, and Shakespeare’s position as “the author of authors” serves as the prime target. Alternatively, the contrasting narratives place Shakespeare in opposition to the undead hordes that are attacking humanity. In these novels and films, the figure of Shakespeare is an iteration of viable knowledge and authority solving not only his era’s problems, but those of our own, as well. I argue that these narratives seek to renew and add to Shakespeare’s authority through a metaphor of undead hybridity. By analyzing the werewolf or zombie-hunter in both film and literature, I demonstrate that many narratives utilize Shakespeare as a hybrid of both historical/literary authority and our own modern ideals. Rather than simply wolf or slayer, the Shakespeare of these narratives is both early modern authority and twenty-first century social/political hero.

Vers l’an Mille, nous lisons les premières occurrences dans lesquelles le mot Werwolf cesse d’être un anthroponyme pour désigner un homme-loup. Peu de temps après « apparaît » le mot garou. Le Moyen Âge est donc une époque charnière pour l’histoire de ce monstre. S’il n’est, bien entendu, pas question d’affirmer que le loup-garou n’existait pas avant ces premières mentions, nous nous sommes posés la question de savoir si la généralisation d’une dénomination de la créature a contribué à fixer des constantes, au-delà de la diversité des manifestations particulières du monstre. La fixation d’un nom par l’écrit, qui existait sûrement déjà dans la tradition orale, a-t-elle mené à l’élaboration d’une dimension mythique du loup-garou ? En combinant le comparatisme, les études littéraires et les cultural studies, nous avons cherché, d’un côté, à déterminer les spécificités du corpus médiéval du loup-garou, dont les garous féminins semblent, a priori, absents. De l’autre, en adoptant une perspective diachronique, nous avons tenté de dégager une unité derrière la multiplicité que nous avons recensée des cas de loup-garou, de ce montre dévorant dont l’incarnation est problématique etinstable. / Around the year 1000 AD, the word Werwolf ceased to be used as an antroponym to describe a man-wolf. Shortly afterwards, the French word garou appeared. The Middle Ages, then, constituted a turning point in the history of this monster. While werewolves had obviously existed prior to these early references, they have prompted me to enquire as to whether the generalisation of textual naming had participated in the development of a common definition of the monster which transcended the diversity of its representations. Did the recording in pen and ink of a name which had surely existed previously in the oral tradition contribute to the elaboration of the werewolf myth ? Relying on comparatism, literature and cultural studies, this thesis first seeks to explore the specificities of mediaeval werewolf literature, in which the figure of the werewolf seems to be exclusively gendered as male. Second, while recognising the incarnations of the blood-thirsty monster as problematic and unstable, this work adopts a diachronic perspective in order to reveal the commonality which underlies the multiplicity of werewolf figures.

For centuries films have given filmmakers the ability to affect their audiences visually and emotionally. Special effects and digital effects make a fictional scene appear more realistic. In the film An American Werewolf in London, make-up artist Rick Baker revolutionized the use of practical effects when transforming David Naughton’s character into a werewolf. In 1997 when An American Werewolf in Paris was released, director Anthony Waller utilized digital effects, instead of practical effects, when transforming various characters into werewolves. These transformation scenes were not met with as much praise as its predecessor. If we were to have a better understanding of how individuals perceive practical effects and digital effects it would allow us to determine which one better conveys an emotional reaction. This thesis will demonstrate which type of special effect, practical effects or digital effects, is more effective at relaying an emotional response in a viewer.

Abstract  ”The Vampire from past to present”. This essay studies and compares the early historical Vampire as it is presented in some of the Western Europe countries, primarily Greece, but also Romania and how their descriptions of the Vampire have inspired the portrait of vampires in modern films and literature. The essay aims to answer the questions: How has the historical, traditional, European Vampire developed through the centuries into the modern Vampire of today?   Which original facts and perceptions about the Vampire from a Christian and pre-Christian point of view can be observed in the modern Vampire, as it is presented in the chosen films and furthermore, can any new ideas be observed in the films? By studying Vampire literature and poems throughout the centuries, a very interesting picture appears. Therefore lots of stories, poems and historical individuals, both real and fictional, are presented in a part of this essay. Another important fact for this essay, is that the Vampire is historically related to the Werewolf, and therefore this creature is also presented here. The conclusion is that the Vampire seem to fit in every historical context, and has managed to thrive over time. It is still presented as a mean, blood-sucking creature, even though we don´t seem to fear it any longer. It has become more of an ideal for many people; representing our longing for youth, beauty and a never-ending life, than a frightening, dangerous creature as it was presented in the early history.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Kiel, 1999.

The werewolf is a stock character in Gothic horror, exemplifying humanity's fear of 'the beast within', and a return to a bestial state of being. Central to this is the idea that the werewolf is, once transformed, without language. Using an ecoGothic approach, this thesis will offer a new approach in literary criticism regarding the werewolf. It argues that the werewolf has become a vehicle for our ambivalence towards the wolf, which itself has become a symbolic Gothic Other. Using interdisciplinary source materials, such as natural histories, fairy tales, and folklore, the notion of the 'symbolic wolf' is interrogated, particularly in relation to the dangers of the wilderness. Starting with Dracula, at the end of the nineteenth century, and finishing with an analysis of the contemporary, literary werewolf, this work explores how the relationship between humans and wolves has impacted on the representation of the werewolf in fiction. In particular, it will critique how the destruction of the werewolf is achieved through containing the creature using taxonomic knowledge, in order to objectify it, before destroying it. This precludes the possibility of the werewolf retaining subjectivity and reinforces the stereotype of the werewolf as voiceless. Following the growing awareness of environmentalism during the late twentieth century and, as humanity questions our relationship with nature, clear divides between the animal and the human seem arbitrary, and the werewolf no longer remains the monstrous object within the text. Central to this is the concept of the hybrid 'I' which this thesis exposes. The hybrid 'I' is a way of experiencing and representing being a werewolf that acknowledges the presence of the lycanthrope's voice, even if that voice is not human. Subjectivity is shown to be complex and myriad, allowing for the inclusion of human and non-human animal identities, which the werewolf embodies.