Scream Deconstructed

Someone's taken their love of Scream one step too far... and written a book about it! Having earned the respect and accolades of critics and audiences, generated more than half a billion dollars in revenue, and inspired a gaggle of imitators, it's safe to say Scream is millions of people's favorite scary movie. While the Scream films have scared and entertained moviegoers worldwide, they've also invited us to closer examine the movies we watch: to deconstruct them. This book aims to do just that. Scream Deconstructed: An Unauthorized Analysis puts all four Scream movies under the knife to examine the meaning, themes and philosophy of the movie series that brought horror back from the dead by breaking all the rules. Take a close look into the heart of this pop culture phenomenon and what its characters - including Sidney, Gale, Dewey, and each film's killer - represent. Find out what reality, film, fantasy, and sex have to do with it all. Scream Deconstructed is sure to please any fan of Scream, horror, or film in general.

Writer, producer, and director Wes Craven has successfully tapped into the horror vein for over forty years, serving up scary, funny, cutting-edge thrillers that have become classics in the genre. His films have been both critical and commercial successes, most notably Nightmare on Elm Street, which spawned a series of sequels and made Craven (and his creation, Freddy Kruger) an international sensation. He then created a second indelible series in the horror movie trope with Scream. In Screams & Nightmares, Brian J. Robb examines Craven's entire career, from his low-budget beginnings to his most recent box office hits, from the banned thriller The Last House on the Left and the cult classic The Hills Have Eyes to the outrageous Shocker and The People Under the Stairs. Through exclusive interviews with Craven, Robb provides in-depth accounts of the making of each of the films – including the final instalments of the Scream series – Craven's foray into writing novels, and his numerous television projects.

Many critics and fans refer to the 1990s as the decade that horror forgot, with few notable entries in the genre. Yet horror went mainstream in the ’90s by speaking to the anxieties of American youth during one of the country’s most prosperous eras. No longer were films made on low budgets and dependent on devotees for success. Horror found its way onto magazine covers, fashion ads and CD soundtrack covers. “Girl power” feminism and a growing distaste for consumerism defined an audience that both embraced and rejected the commercial appeal of these films. This in-depth study examines the youth subculture and politics of the era, focusing on such films as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Idle Hands (1999) and Cherry Falls (2000).

This is a deconstruction of the published books of poetry of Derek Walcott from 1961 to 1981 to unearth, expose and analyze the discourse and worldview of Walcott of miscegenated being, the Caribbean dystopia and the existential condition of the African and Indian Diasporas in the Caribbean dystopia. Walcott segregates himself from the Caribbean dystopia as he excoriates the African and Indian Diasporas blaming them for constructing the dystopia, they are trapped in. Walcott exempts white supremacist colonial and neo-colonial imperial power relations which condemns us to dependency and underdevelopment at the level of the idea. Which he must do for Walcott insists that what separates him from the Dystopia and enables his freedom from the dystopia, his flight to the North Atlantic is his white grandfather's legacy bequeathed to him by his miscegenated father. At the level of his genome Walcott is special, exceptional in the realm of the Dystopia compelled to prove and affirm this state of being in the North Atlantic. Walcott then frames his poetry on the foundation of the binary, Manichean duality of white North Atlantic discourse. I had a white grandfather and father which makes this deconstruction a personal conversation between two conflicting discourses of miscegenated being and our place in the world.

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. When you are born, the first thing you do is scream. Be it a response to fear, anger, sadness, or happiness, the scream is a declaration of being alive. The metal vocalist cupping the microphone blares out a deafeningly harsh scream. The drill instructor screams out commands to their soldiers. And then there's the bloodcurdling screams we know from horror films. A scream has many meanings, but it is an instinctive and reflexive action that, at its core, reveals raw emotion. Investigating popular and alternative cultures, art, and science, Michael J. Seidlinger tracks the resonance of the scream across media and literature and in his own voice. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

First edition published by Broadview Press 2004.

The organization of this popular social theory reader, which pairs classical articles with contemporary theoretical and empirical studies, highlights the historical flow of social theory and demonstrates how disagreements and confrontations shape theory over time. Written in clear, down-to-earth language, the introductions to each selection link theorists to one another, illustrating how theoretical traditions are not rigidly separate but are always in conversation, addressing and challenging each other. The third edition incorporates significant changes: more readings reflecting a wide diversity of theorists, a completely revamped chapter on gender, new chapters on race and culture, and unique material on the "transitional giants" who have helped to transform classical theory into contemporary theory. As well, new contextual and biographical materials surround each reading and each chapter includes a study guide with key terms and innovative discussion questions and classroom exercises. The result is a fresh take on social theory that foregrounds a plurality of perspectives and reflects contemporary trends in the field, while still managing to be a teachable and affordable text.

The organization of this popular social theory reader, which pairs classical articles with contemporary theoretical and empirical studies, highlights the historical flow of social theory and demonstrates how disagreements and confrontations shape theory over time. Written in clear, down-to-earth language, the introductions to each selection link theorists to one another, illustrating how theoretical traditions are not rigidly separate but are always in conversation, addressing and challenging each other. Volume II: From Modern To Contemporary Theory uses key transitional theorists to illustrate how contemporary theory emerged from the past. New chapters on race, on culture, and on media, as well as a significantly reworked gender chapter deepen coverage. As well, new contextual and biographical materials surround each reading and each chapter includes a study guide with key terms and innovative discussion questions and classroom exercises. The result is a volume of readings that offers instructors flexibility in how they approach teaching, and students an affordable and accessible introduction to the most important contemporary social theorists.