In the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, death has become an all too familiar feature of the early 2020s. The 21st century has in fact produced a singular historical moment with its unique intersection of popular politics, environmental extremes, globalisation and technological innovation, which has correspondingly created distinctive expressions of death, as well.
This companion reveals our visions of death in the 21st century and what they say about us and the times we live in. Organised into sections on the war on terror, technology, climate change, extremism and global pandemics, the short, reader-friendly essays in this volume highlight crucial encounters with death in the contemporary period.
The 21st century has produced a singular historical moment that has created distinctive expressions of death. This companion shows what kinds of visions of death we have and what they say about us and the times we live in. Topics such as climate change, the war terror, pandemics and more are explored.
Contents: Gemma Files: Image Intervention I: The Dying of the Light W.
Scott Poole: Foreword: The Faces of Death (John Alan Schwartz, 1978) Simon
Bacon and Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon: Introduction The War on Terror: Evil and
the Inevitability of Death Laura R. Kremmel: Image Intervention II: Skull
17 Jack McCormack-Clark: 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002) Death as
Insatiable Terror Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr: The Final Destination Films
(Various, 200011) Death as Violent Inevitability Dave Jeffery: Death
(Eric Kripke, 200520) The Changing Face of Death Anna Lüscher: The Harry
Potter Series (Various, 200111) Death Positivity Phil Fitzsimmons: The
Sleepless (Nuzo Onoh, 2016) Living Alongside Death Technology:
Medicalisation, Ambivalence and Violence Gemma Files: Image Intervention
III: Unlocking the Truth Rebecca Booth: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (André
Ųvredal, 2016) Death as the Dissected Female Cadaver ucja Lange: Proof
(Rob Bragin, 201515) Science as Death Stephanie Weber: The Midnight
Library (Matt Haig, 2020) Death and Infinite Lives Katarzyna Ancuta:
Death Note (Various, 200317) Death as Information Carl Wilson: Death
Stranding (Kojima Productions, 2019) Death as Interconnectivity Tom Ue:
Ready Player Two (Ernest Cline, 2020) Pixelated Death Climate Change:
Environments and the Environmental Gemma Files: Image Intervention IV: The
King of Nature Tracy Fahey and Jennifer Moran Stritch: Death Café
(Limerick, 2015Present) Death in Life Mark Fryers: Ghosts (Nick
Broomfield, 2006) The Sea as Death Kristy Strange: Geostorm (Dean Devlin,
2017) Death as the Eye of the Storm Ildikó Limpįr: Mexican Gothic (Silvia
Moreno-Garcia, 2020) Death as Mycological Rebirth Extremism: Partisanship
and Identity Politics Laura R. Kremmel: Image Intervention V: Skull 4
James T. McCrea: The Unite the Right Rally and Its Aftermath (201720) The
Skull Nicola Young: The Purge Series (Various, 201221) Mass Shootings
and Endless Death Rachael Grant: American Horror Story: Asylum (Brad
Falchuck and Ryan Murphy, 201213) Angel of Death Robert Mclaughlin:
Mistress Death in the Marvel Universe (Various, 1973Present) For the Love
of Death Maria Giakaniki: Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino, 2018) Female Death
Octavia Cade: Deathface Ginny (Kelly Sue DeConnick, 201420) Death and
#MeToo Bethan Michael-Fox and Renske Visser: Mrs Death Misses Death (Salena
Godden, 2021) Death as a Black Woman Global Pandemics: Contagion, Mental
Health and Dementia Gemma Files: Image Intervention VI: The Source Cath
Davies: Coco (Lee Unkrich, 2017) Death as Decomposition Simon Bacon: The
Thing (Matthijs van Heijningen Jr, 2011) The Microbe as Death Debaditya
Mukhopadhyay: Ludo (Anurag Basu, 2020) Death as New Normal Heidi Kosonen:
13 Reasons Why (Brian Yorkey, 201720) Death as Controversial Suicide Rae
Hargrave: Land of the Lustrous (Takahiko Kygoku, 201717) Death as Loss of
Memory Catherine Pugh: Unus Annus (Mark Fischbach and Ethan Nestor,
201920) Death as Deletion Lisa Morton: Afterword: The Tomorrow of Death
Dia de los Muertos Gemma Files: Image Intervention VII: The Guardian.
Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. In her research, she has explored representations of ageing and old age, as well as the notions of memory and nostalgia within literary gerontology. She is the editor of Autumnal Faces (2017) and «Experiencd Age knows what for Youth is fit»? (2019) and author of «And Yet I Remember» (2019).
Simon Bacon has written and edited over 30 books, including The Anthropocene and the Undead (2022), Nosferatu in the 21st Century (2023), 1000 Vampires on Screen Vols 1 & 2 (2023) and The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire (2024). He is the Series Editor for Genre Fiction and Film Companions and Vampire Studies: New Perspectives on the Undead with Peter Lang.
