Gaynor, S (2021) A Braindead Nation: Black Summer and Trump's America. Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural (7). pp. 246-271.

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Abstract

America is teetering on a knife-edge of fascism, fueled by insidious social conservatism and questionable morality that has been festering for decades in the politics and culture of the United States. This article explores the deep concern expressed by Black Summer (Netflix, 2019) regarding several alarming facets of the Donald Trump era. With Trump’s rise to power ushering in a new age of right-wing radicalism, I present Black Summer as a socio-political commentary on the on-going issues regarding attitudes to immigration, race, and violence in America. I begin by discussing how Black Summer confronts the so-called ‘Family Separation’ policy, whereby the children of ‘illegal’ immigrants are separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border, and then explores the show’s multifaceted indictment of Trump’s America. It argues, then, that while Black Summer might seem to be little more than a graphically violent, guns ‘n’ guts zombie series concerned with wanton action and a high body count, it in fact makes its plentiful and pointed social and political comments as quickly as its zombies are able to reanimate.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	zombie; Trump; America; Black Summer; Netflix; School shooting; Hurricane Katrina
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) J Political Science > JA Political science (General) P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1990 Broadcasting
Divisions:	Humanities & Social Science
Publisher:	Ruth Heholt
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	05 Sep 2023 11:23
Last Modified:	05 Sep 2023 11:23
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/20812

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