The Paranormal and the Paranoid

The Paranormal and the Paranoid PDF Author: Aaron Gulyas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 144225114X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Toward the end of the twentieth century, science fiction television took a dark turn. Series like The X-Files, Millennium, and Dark Skies wove menacing technologies, paranormal forces, and shadowy government agencies into complex tales of corruption and cover-ups. Mind control, alien abductions, secret government laboratories, and implacable “men in black” moved from the fringes to the mainstream of American culture, making weekly appearances in living rooms everywhere. Other series that played on fears of new technologies—such as virtual reality—set the stage for unfamiliar kinds of exploitation, while Dark Angel offered glimpses of a near-future wasteland devastated by a technological catastrophe. In The Paranormal and the Paranoid: Conspiratorial Science Fiction Television, Aaron John Gulyas explores the themes that permeated and defined science fiction television at the turn of the millennium. The author traces the roots of this phenomenon in an earlier generation of series including The Invaders, Kolchak: The Night Stalker,and Project U.F.O. and examines how changes in the cultural landscape led to the proliferation of these types of shows. This book delves into the internal mythology of shows like The X-Files, resurrects now-forgotten series like Wild Palms and VR.5, and provides an important glimpse into American culture at the close of the twentieth century. While exploring the pervasive grimness of these shows, Gulyas also examines how they offer hope in the form of heroes—like agents Scully and Mulder—who relentlessly dug through the tissue of lies and distortions to find and expose the truth. The Paranormal and the Paranoid will appeal to scholars of media studies, sociology, and science fiction—not to mention fans of these programs and even conspiracy theorists.

The Paranormal and the Paranoid

The Paranormal and the Paranoid PDF Author: Aaron Gulyas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 144225114X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Get Book Here

Book Description
Toward the end of the twentieth century, science fiction television took a dark turn. Series like The X-Files, Millennium, and Dark Skies wove menacing technologies, paranormal forces, and shadowy government agencies into complex tales of corruption and cover-ups. Mind control, alien abductions, secret government laboratories, and implacable “men in black” moved from the fringes to the mainstream of American culture, making weekly appearances in living rooms everywhere. Other series that played on fears of new technologies—such as virtual reality—set the stage for unfamiliar kinds of exploitation, while Dark Angel offered glimpses of a near-future wasteland devastated by a technological catastrophe. In The Paranormal and the Paranoid: Conspiratorial Science Fiction Television, Aaron John Gulyas explores the themes that permeated and defined science fiction television at the turn of the millennium. The author traces the roots of this phenomenon in an earlier generation of series including The Invaders, Kolchak: The Night Stalker,and Project U.F.O. and examines how changes in the cultural landscape led to the proliferation of these types of shows. This book delves into the internal mythology of shows like The X-Files, resurrects now-forgotten series like Wild Palms and VR.5, and provides an important glimpse into American culture at the close of the twentieth century. While exploring the pervasive grimness of these shows, Gulyas also examines how they offer hope in the form of heroes—like agents Scully and Mulder—who relentlessly dug through the tissue of lies and distortions to find and expose the truth. The Paranormal and the Paranoid will appeal to scholars of media studies, sociology, and science fiction—not to mention fans of these programs and even conspiracy theorists.

Authors of the Impossible

Authors of the Impossible PDF Author: Jeffrey J. Kripal
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226453898
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
“Outstanding and almost certainly controversial. . . . [Kripal] has promise to revitalize and extend the reach of religious studies.” —Choice Most scholars dismiss research into the paranormal as pseudoscience, a frivolous pursuit for the paranoid or gullible. Even historians of religion, whose work naturally attends to events beyond the realm of empirical science, have shown scant interest in the subject. But the history of psychical phenomena, Jeffrey J. Kripal contends, is an untapped source of insight into the sacred and by tracing that history through the last two centuries of Western thought we can see its potential centrality to the critical study of religion. Kripal grounds his study in the work of four major figures in the history of paranormal research: psychical researcher Frederic Myers; writer and humorist Charles Fort; astronomer, computer scientist, and ufologist Jacques Vallee; and philosopher and sociologist Bertrand Méheust. Through incisive analyses of these thinkers, Kripal ushers the reader into a beguiling world somewhere between fact, fiction, and fraud. The cultural history of telepathy, teleportation, and UFOs; a ghostly love story; the occult dimensions of science fiction; cold war psychic espionage; galactic colonialism; and the intimate relationship between consciousness and culture all come together in Authors of the Impossible, a dazzling and profound look at how the paranormal bridges the sacred and the scientific. “An excellent book. . . . engaging, witty, and thoughtful.” -- Christopher Partridge, Lancaster University “[Kripal] demands nothing short of a paradigm shift in order to make sense of the odd, the anomalous, and the inexplicable.” —Catherine L. Albanese, University of California, Santa Barbara “Quietly earth-shattering.” — Victoria Nelson, author of The Secret Life of Puppets

The Chaos Conundrum

The Chaos Conundrum PDF Author: Aaron John Gulyas
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
ISBN: 0991697588
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
In "The Chaos Conundrum," historian Aaron John Gulyas examines how the paranormal has intersected and influenced our culture in myriad ways, from the conspiracy beliefs of William Cooper and Exopolitics to the challenge that the stories of Gray Barker presented to our concept of self and time. He looks at the maelstrom of personalities, agendas, impressions, data, confusion, and contradictions that can be found in the world of the weird, and demonstrates how they have become an integral part of our lives, whether in the form of flying saucers, hauntings, religious revelations, psychic abilities, or dozens of other guises. Gulyas delves into the stories of the people who have attempted to create order out of the chaos. Along the way he recounts his own journey from enthusiastic believer in the "shadow government" and their underground bases to jaded academic skeptic, and then finally to someone who thinks there might just be something to the paranormal after all... but not what we have been led to expect or believe!

Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist

Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist PDF Author: Aaron John Gulyas
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476601682
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Since the 1950s, men and women around the world have claimed to have had contact with human-like visitors from space. This book explores how the "contactee" subculture has critiqued political, social and cultural trends in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Not merely quaint relics of the 1950s Atomic Age, contactees have continued their messages of transformation into the 21st century. Regardless of whether these alleged contacts took the form of physical meetings or channeled paranormal psychic communications, or whether they actually happened at all, contactees have provided a consistently relevant source of commentary on this world and beyond.

The Trickster and the Paranormal

The Trickster and the Paranormal PDF Author: George P. Hansen
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462812899
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 566

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Book Description
Paranormal and supernatural events have been reported for millennia. They have fostered history’s most important cultural transformations (e.g., via the miracles of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed). Paranormal phenomena are frequently portrayed in the world’s greatest art and literature, as well as in popular TV shows and movies. Most adults in the U.S. believe in them. Yet they have a marginal place in modern culture. No university departments are devoted to studying psychic phenomena. In fact, a panoply of scientists now aggressively denounces them. These facts present a deeply puzzling situation. But they become coherent after pondering the trickster figure, an archaic being found worldwide in mythology and folklore. The trickster governs paradox and the irrational, but his messages are concealed. This book draws upon theories of the trickster from anthropology, folklore, sociology, semiotics, and literary criticism. It examines psychic phenomena and UFOs and explains why they are so problematical for science.

The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena

The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena PDF Author: Ron Rhodes
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
ISBN: 0736936653
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Psychics, mediums, and ghosts have become a sensation in our culture today. As a result, there are many confusing and deceptive beliefs presented. Ron Rhodes, respected and popular biblical scholar, tackles the truth about ghosts and those who say they communicate with them and answers the questions: Do ghosts in any shape or form exist? Why is there a rise in psychic phenomena today? What do psychics believe about God, Jesus, and salvation? What is Satan's role with the paranormal? How can parents protect their family from the psychic trend? This reader-friendly presentation of intriguing facts and biblical insights will help Christians know how to respond to this fascination with the ultimate truth.

Dark Intrusions

Dark Intrusions PDF Author: Louis Proud
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781933665443
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Since his late teens, Louis Proud has suffered from chronic sleep paralysis and has undergone hundreds of such episodes, many of them terrifying but ultimately transformational and eye-opening. These experiences, he believes, allow access to the "spirit realm" and could well hold the key to a whole host of paranormal phenomena, including poltergeist disturbances, out-of-body-experiences, mediumship, spirit possession, and succubi and incubi encounters. Drawing on the work of Colin Wilson, Joe Fisher, Stan Gooch, Whitley Strieber, Robert Monroe, Dion Fortune, and a number of other paranormal experts, Proud lucidly demonstrates that many sleep paralysis experiences involve genuine contact and communication with incorporeal entities, some of them parasitic and potentially dangerous. In this comprehensive, open-minded exploration of the sleep paralysis phenomenon, filled with fascinating descriptions of his own experiences, as well as those of others, no stone is left unturned as Proud attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking PDF Author: Jonathan C. Smith
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119029481
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Comprehensive and engaging, this extensively revised edition of a student and instructor favorite introduces the basics of critical thinking using the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal. Guides readers through the critical thinking process by considering different types of support (sources, logic, and scientific observation) and ruling out alternative explanations Allows students to practice and apply their new critical thinking skills on claims of extraordinary cures including energy treatments, complementary/alternative medicine and faith healing as well as four paranormal claims of consequence: astrology, spiritualism and the afterlife, parapsychology, and creationism. Couples a conversational, nontechnical narrative with student-friendly pedagogical tools, including critical thinking questions and a study guide for each chapter. Provides clear and open-minded discussions of the paranormal spectrum, belief justification surveys, the placebo effect, and the relationship between religion and critical thinking

Hollywood Online

Hollywood Online PDF Author: Ian London
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501337769
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Hollywood Online provides a historical account of motion picture websites from 1993 to 2008 and their marketing function as industrial advertisements for video and other media in the digital age. The Blair Witch Project is the most important example of online film promotion in cinema history. Over the last thirty years only a small number of major and independent distributors have converted internet-created buzz into box-office revenues with similar levels of success. Yet readings of how the film's internet campaign broke new ground in the summer of 1999 tend to minimize, overlook or ignore the significance of other online film promotions. Similarly, claims that Blair initiated a cycle of imitators have been repeated in film publications and academic studies for more than two decades. This book challenges three major narratives in studies about online film marketing: Hollywood's major studios and independents had no significant relationship to the internet in the 1990s; online film promotions only took off after 1999 because of Blair; and Hollywood cashed-in by initiating a cycle of imitators and scaling up corporate activities online. Hollywood Online tests these assumptions by exploring internet marketing up to and including the film's success online (Pre-Blair, 1993-9), then by examining the period immediately after Blair (Post-Blair, 2000-8) which broadly coincides with the rise and decline of DVD, as well as the emergence of the social media sites MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Broadening the Horror Genre

Broadening the Horror Genre PDF Author: Jamie L. McDaniel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040268978
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
This collection assembles a wide range of scholarship addressing the intersections, influences, and impacts of the horror genre’s proliferation across multiple forms of media. Covering film, television, websites, video games, tabletop and role-playing games, and social media, the volume highlights works from marginalized voices or from less scrutinized media. Building off one of Horror Studies’ traditional homes in film, the volume first features approaches to previously ignored innovations and offshoots related to cinematic and televisual horror, before moving to discuss how horror film conventions inform horror video and tabletop games and how games have started to influence film. Finally, the collection departs the world of film to examine online and non-academic multimodal/cultural discourses about horror, from popular movie reviewers to interactive online marketing and film promotions. This volume will interest scholars and students not only of Horror Studies and genre but also of film, media and television studies, digital media and video games, and transmedia studies.