POP! Justice Blog Carnival (Monstrous Metaphors)

Welcome to the first installment of the POP! Justice blog carnival. Our guest bloggers have all come together to talk about "Monstrous Metaphors" in honor of Halloween. You can click a link and head over to their sites, where each article is about the use of monsters as metaphors for social or internal problems.

And then, if you feel inspired, shoot us an email at [email protected] to get in on the action for next month!

First up, we have an oldie but a goodie. From Fangs for the Fantasy, here's Appropriation in Urban Fantasy Should Not Be a Plot Point. It's a great look at how a lot speculative fiction, urban fantasy espeically, has a tendency to appropriate historical events or the experiences of marginalized people to give the story more gravitas. But that seriously disrespects the people whose story is used.

Then we have On the Overuse of Zombies from gamEstrogen. Because seriously, haven't we seen enough zombie movies lately? What's up with that? GamEstrogen takes a long and hard look at precisely why we've been seeing so much zombie stuff, and why it's an idea that endures.

Horrordork and Horrordork Part 2 by Jorja Tabu are more on the personal side, looking at why she loves horror movies, even ones she knows are a little exploitative. But more than that, Tabu looks at why horror movies like Deadgirl are actually incredibly feminist, in a blood-soaked, rape-metaphor kind of way. Which is the best kind of way, of course.

Next, hop on over to TimeWantsASkeleton for Stereotypes and Monstrous Metaphors. Here you can look at all the different sorts of monsters we tend to fear, and ask yourself, why these ones? What's so scary about this? And, most importantly, why is this the thing that society wants me to fear?

Which are pretty good questions, you have to admit.

And finally, from us here at Kiss My Wonder Woman, check out It's Us. We're the Monsters. (Torchwood: Children of Earth). A look at a story where humans are the ultimate monsters, and what that says about us and the way we view ourselves. (Hint: It's not particularly comforting.)

That's it for this month in POP! Justice, but we'll be back in a month with more articles from different blogs all talking about social justice and pop culture, because those are two things well worth talking about. Plus, it's fun!

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Sweet dreams!