Overview

Since its inception in 1992, the Sci-Fi Channel (later rebranded as SYFY) has aired more than 500 network-produced or commissioned films. Campy and prolific, the network churned out one low-budget film after another, finally finding its zenith in the 2013 release of Sharknado. With unpretentious charm and a hearty helping of commodified nostalgia, the Sharknado franchise briefly ruled the cultural consciousness and temporarily transformed SYFY's original films from cult fringe to appointment television. Naturally, the network followed up with a steady stream of sequels and spin-offs, including Lavalantula and its sequel, 2 Lava 2 Lantula! This collection of essays is the first to devote critical attention to SYFY's original film canon, both pre- and post-Sharknado. In addition to unpacking the cultural, historical and critical underpinnings of the monsters at the heart of SYFY's classic creature features, the contributors offer a variety of approaches to understanding and interrogating these films within the broader contexts of ecocriticism, monster theory, post-9/11 criticism, and neocolonialism. Providing a further entry point for future scholarship, an appendix details a thorough filmography of SYFY's original films from 1992 to 2022.

Full Product Details

Author:   Justin Wigard ,  Mitch Ploskonka
Publisher:   McFarland & Co Inc
Imprint:   McFarland & Co Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.413kg
ISBN:  

9781476683232

ISBN 10:   1476683239
Pages:   317
Publication Date:   20 April 2023
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Post-Sharknado Moment and the New ­B-Movie Mitch Ploskonka and Justin Wigard Syfy’s Creature Features and Features of Creatures We Must Keep It Alive! Formal Taxonomy and Crowdsourced Archives of the SYFY Original Films Justin Wigard “Cabras, and Yetis, and Mothman, Oh MUHGAWD!” Crafted Cryptozoology, Cartoonish Cryptids, and Flawed Forteana in SYFY Creature Features J. Rocky Colavito Parodies of Monstrosity: SYFY Creatures and the Postmodern Monster Turn Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns Genre Discourse in the Syfy New B-Movie ’Member Memories? Political Conservatism and the Degradation of Schlock Cinema Zack Kruse Small Towns and the Regional Gothic in Mothman and Wyvern Cat Ashton Shark Storms: SYFY’s Splasher and Splashstick Films Christina M. Knopf “The Imagination of Disaster” in End of the World Thomas Britt Ecocritical Responses to Syfy’s New B-Movies Covered in Giant Fish Brains: Ridiculing Environmental Racism in SYFY’s Frankenfish Christine Peffer “The volcanoes and the spiders are one”: Insect Horror and Vengeful Nature in SYFY’s ­Monster-Bug Films Alyce Soulodre and Sean Rhoads No Monster to Us: Mansquito, Vector Control, and a Looming Ecocrisis Hattie Peterson Syfy Flicks in the Humanities, in STEM, and in the Classroom “Chain of command is all you got out here”: Representations of the Military in SYFY Original Creature Features Mitch Ploskonka Clean, Limitless Energy or Catastrophic Chaos: Particle Physics as an Instrument of Destruction in the SYFY Universe Kristine Larsen Trust No One: The Construction of Science and Human Responsibility in SYFY Monster Movies Vesta T. Silva and April Silva Monster Movies and Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching SYFY’s Filmic Monsters Alissa Burger and Jack T. Tessier Appendix: The SYFY Films About the Contributors Index

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Author Information

Justin Wigard is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Distant Viewing Lab at University of Richmond, where he works and teaches in the areas of popular culture, games, comics, children's lit, and digital humanities. His work has appeared in INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, Genealogy, KULA and Cinergie—Il Cinema e le altre Arti. Mitch Ploskonka is a professor at The Ohio State University's Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, Ohio. His work can be found in Mississippi Quarterly, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, The Cormac McCarthy Journal and The Popular Culture Studies Journal.

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