Dining with madmen : fat, food, and the environment in 1980s horror / Thomas Fahy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fahy, Thomas Richard, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Horror films--United States--History and criticism.

Horror films.

United States.

Food in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Social aspects.

Motion pictures.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

ix, 239 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2019]

Summary:

"In Dining with Madmen: Fat, Food, and the Environment in 1980s Horror, author Thomas Fahy explores America's preoccupation with body weight, processed foods, and pollution through the lens of horror. Conspicuous consumption may have communicated success in the eighties, but only if it did not become visible on the body. American society had come to view fatness as a horrifying transformation--it exposed the potential harm of junk food, gave life to the promises of workout and diet culture, and represented the country's worst consumer impulses, inviting questions about the personal and environmental consequences of excess. While changing into a vampire or a zombie often represented widespread fears about addiction and overeating, it also played into concerns about pollution. Ozone depletion, acid rain, and toxic waste already demonstrated the irrevocable harm being done to the planet. The horror genre--from A Nightmare on Elm Street to American Psycho--responded by presenting this damage as an urgent problem, and, through the sudden violence of killers, vampires, and zombies, it depicted the consequences of inaction as terrifying. Whether through Hannibal Lecter's cannibalism, a vampire's thirst for blood in The Queen of the Damned and The Lost Boys, or an overwhelming number of zombies in George Romero's Day of the Dead, 1980s horror uses out-of-control hunger to capture deep-seated concerns about the physical and material consequences of unchecked consumption. Its presentation of American appetites resonated powerfully for audiences preoccupied with body size, food choices, and pollution." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Dining with madmen

Disturbing appetites : fat, fitness, and fine dining. Thinner ; Geek love ; The silence of the lambs ; American psycho

A sharp, sweet tooth : junk food, addiction, and vampires. The lost boys ; Near dark ; Once bitten ; My best friend is a vampire ; A return to Salem's lot ; Fright night and Fright night part 2 ; The queen of the damned ; The hunger

Eat your heart out : zombies, overpopulation, and the environment. Night of the living dead ; Dawn of the dead ; Day of the dead ; The return of the living dead and The return of the living dead part II ; Toxic zombies ; Surf II ; Redneck zombies ; Book of the dead ; Motel Hell

"Enough is never enough" : junk food, dieting, and environmental harm in The stuff. The stuff.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-225), filmography (pages 227-229) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Fahy, Thomas Richard, author. Dining with madmen

ISBN:

9781496821539

149682153X

9781496821546

1496821548

OCLC:

1051779109