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Written during the Meiji Period, the pivotal period in the history of Modern Japan, its unique work offers a fascinating view of Japanese women and girls at the turn of the century. As the author writes in her preface 'While Japan as a whole has been closely studied, and while much and varied information has been gathered about the country and its people, one half of the population has been left entirely unnoticed, passed over with brief mention, or altogether misunderstood. It is of this neglected half that I have written, in the hope that the whole fabric of Japanese social life will be bett

Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction Simon Bacon and Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon -- 2. 1408 and the Structure of Haunting Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock -- 3. Toxic Nostalgia in Contemporary Gothic Horror Brandon R. Grafius -- 4. Toxic Nostalgia in the Wake of the Postmodern Turn Matthias Stephan -- 5. Deepfake Sockpuppets: The Toxic "Realities" of a Weaponised Internet — Katy Wareham-Morris -- 6. The Nostalgia of Setting, Sex and Sound in the Wicker Men Films Lauren Rosewarne -- 7. The American Dream and American Nightmare: The Toxic Pursuit of Nostalgia and Happiness Presented in Poltergeist (1982) and Poltergeist (2015) Rob Mclaughlin -- 8. "You're Too Focused on Where You've Been":Uncanny Nostalgia in Mary Poppins Returns Daniel Kasper -- 9. Pulling Our Strings: The Gothic Nostalgia of Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria J. Simpson -- 10. "I Just Wanted to Preserve It Just as It is": Gothic Nostalgia in The Watcher Abel Fenwick -- 11. Prevention is Better Than Cure: Anachronistic Therapists and Toxic Wellness Catherine Pugh -- 12.Patriarchy Then and Now — with a Twist: The Postmodern Horror of Alex Garland's Men M. Keith Booker and Isra Daraiseh -- 13. "But now, yeah, I'm thinking I'm back": The All-consuming Gothic Nostalgia in the John Wick Franchise Simon Bacon -- 14. Gothic Nostalgia in Louise Welsh's The Cutting Room and The Second Cut Martyn Colebrook -- 15. Toxic Ableism and Gothic Nostalgia in Fanfiction about Mermaids Martine Mussies -- 16. Of Greed and the Undead Past: Rahi Anil Barve's Tumbbad as an Exercise in Toxic Nostalgia Aparajita Hazra -- 17. Soviet Nostalgia in the Vampire Trilogy A Tale of the Soviet Vampire by Aleksandr Slepakov (2014-18) Patrycja Pichnicka-Trivedi -- 18. "Oh no. Not again!": Toxic Nostalgia and Antisemetic Recursive Memory in Ghost Stories -- Vicky Brewster -- 19. Extremist Nostalgia: Mike Ma's Novellas as 21st Century Far-Right Gothic Helen Young -- Notes on Contributors.

Part I: Folklore From Europe and the Americas -- Part II: The Vampire and 19th Century Gothic -- Part III: The Female Vampire in 19th Century Literature -- Part IV: The Vampire on Film to WWII -- Part V: The Vampire on Film Post-WWII -- Part VI: The 20th Century Literary Vampire -- Part VII: Science Fiction Vampires -- Part VIII: European Vampires -- Part IX: Vampires From Asia -- Part X: Vampires of the Americas -- Part XI: Middle East, Africa and Australasia -- Part XII: The Vampire and Identity -- Part XIII: Queer Vampires and Sexploitation -- Part XIV: Female Vampires in the 20th Century and Beyond -- Part XV: Vampires in Children's Media -- Part XVI: Transmedia Vampires -- Part XVII: Living the Vampire: Tourism, Fandom, and Lifestyles -- Part XVIII: Vampires and Being in the World -- Part XIX: Vampire Franchises -- Part XX: The Post Human Vampire.

1. Introduction -- 2. The Historical Context -- 3. Land and People -- 4. Social Structure and Social Policy -- 5. Politics and Government -- 6. The Economy -- 7. Rights, Freedoms, and Civil Society -- 8. Culture and Media -- 9. Russia and the World -- 10. Conclusion.

"Heroic Girls looks at the recent proliferation of young girl heroes in many recent mainstream films and books. These contemporary 'final' girls do not just survive but rather suggest that in doing so they have fundamentally changed something about themselves and or the world around them seeing them become the 'First Girls' of this altered reality. The collection brings together a wide range of perspectives and cultural viewpoints that describe many recent narratives which explore the idea of a Final Girl and her "after-story". The essays are divided into four sections, beginning with more theoretical approaches; cross-cultural examples; the ways in which fictional narratives bear strong relation to real world circumstances; examples that more strongly depict themes of resistance, survival, and individual agency; and, finally, those that describe something more fundamental and transformative. Films and television shows covered in the collection include: The Girl with All the Gifts, The Witcher, The Hunger Games, Star Wars, The Fear Street and Pans Labyrinth. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of Film Studies, Gender Studies and Media Studies"--

What is toxic? Connoting many forms of negativity, denial or disillusion, 'toxic' cultures are part of living in the twenty-first century. Including topics such as cancel culture, environmental denialism, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and more, this companion serves an important intervention into the conversation.

"This Transmedia Cultures Companion will show that Transmedia, and indeed Transmedia storytelling are fundamental to the human experience of being in the world and to creating the stories of who we are both as individuals and communities. Transmedia then is not just about the Star Wars or Harry Potter franchises or narratives that are exclusive to platforms and devices under the umbrella of New Media, but is anything that creates a believable, navigable space. As such this Companion will take a holistic approach broadening out the areas of everyday life that are implicated and entangled within Transmedia Cultures and world-building and the levels of engagement/immersion that they, purposely or otherwise, create. Of great importance within this are the ways in which Transmedia can facilitate or censor non-normative and individual identities both online or in terms of physical or economical access to technology. This volume then will not so much complicate the topic of Transmedia Cultures but reveal the ever increasing levels of entanglement it has within our real-lives and with those we experience in other more imaginative or creative ones bringing into focus exactly what is at stake in the 'worlds' we choose to call our own"--

"The fat body has increasingly become a site for a confrontation of different ideologies about lifestyle, as it is increasingly stigmatized and concerns about the obesity 'epidemic' create headlines in the newspapers. Weight-loss industries are booming, and the rise in faith-based dieting among Protestant evangelical women in the US evidences a growing relationship between Christian devotion and the pursuit of female thinness. What exactly though is the relationship between Christianity and secular commercial diet plans? Bacon draws on qualitative research conducted inside one UK secular commercial weight loss group to show how Christian religious forms and theological discourses inform contemporary weight-loss narratives. Notions of sin and salvation resurface in secular guise, but in ways that repeat well-established theological meanings. Theological tropes help produce and sustain a set of contradictions and tensions about weight loss which conform the women's bodies to patriarchal norms while simultaneously providing opportunities for women's self-development. Taking into account these tensions, Bacon asks what a specifically feminist theological response to weight loss might look like. If notions of sin and salvation service hegemonic discourses about fat, how might they be rethought to challenge fat phobia and the frenetic pursuit of thinness? While naming as 'sin' principles and practices which diminish women's appetites and bodies, this book gives theological expression to the conviction of many women in the group, that food and the body can be important sites of power, wisdom and transformation"--

What are Monsters? Monsters serve as a warning about something amiss in our surroundings. This collection of original and accessible essays looks at a variety of contemporary monsters from literature, film, television, music and the internet in their respective cultural contexts. Texts range from District 9 to Cleverman to Lady Gaga.

Terrorist groups with a shared enemy or ideology have ample reason to work together, even if they are primarily pursuing different causes. Although partnering with another terrorist organization has the potential to bolster operational effectiveness, efficiency, and prestige, international alliances may expose partners to infiltration, security breaches, or additional counterterrorism attention. Alliances between such organizations, which are suspicious and secretive by nature, must also overcome significant barriers to trust—the exposure to risk must be balanced by the promise of increased lethality, resiliency, and longevity. In Why Terrorist Groups Form International Alliances, Tricia Bacon argues that although it may seem natural for terrorist groups to ally, groups actually face substantial hurdles when attempting to ally and, when alliances do form, they are not evenly distributed across pairs. Instead, she demonstrates that when terrorist groups seek allies to obtain new skills, knowledge, or capacities for resource acquisition and mobilization, only a few groups have the ability to provide needed training, safe haven, infrastructure, or cachet. Consequently, these select few emerge as preferable partners and become hubs around which other groups cluster. According to Bacon, shared enemies and common ideologies do not cause alliances to form but create affinity to bind partners and guide partner selection. Bacon examines partnerships formed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Al-Qaida, and Egyptian jihadist groups, among others, in a series of case studies spanning the dawn of international terrorism in the 1960s to the present. Why Terrorist Groups Form International Alliances advances our understanding of the motivations of terrorist alliances and offers insights useful to counterterrorism efforts to disrupt these dangerous relationships.

Title Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Chapter One: Going inside Russian politics -- Chapter Two: How did Russia's politics get like this? -- Chapter Three: Russia's ruling regime -- Chapter Four: Russian politics beyond the regime -- Chapter Five: Politics beyond Moscow -- Chapter Six: Public opinion -- Chapter Seven: Russian civilisation -- Chapter Eight: Russia in the world -- Chapter Nine: Looking to the future -- Selected Bibliography -- Index -- Copyright