The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday
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Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
2006
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151353213 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu11513532132021-08-03T05:28:01Z The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday Moore, Kristen H. Grim Reaper images of death popular culture Like any celebrity on the road to image production, the Grim Reaper has littered the pop culture landscape with guest appearances. He turns up in novels, comic books, children’s cartoons, romance movies, and more. Yet most serious academic attention to him—what little there is—persists in reducing his character to simplified concepts of mystery and evil. In this thesis, I seek to expand on such one-dimensional treatment of this increasingly fleshed-out character. Analysis of the figure of Death reveals he is more frequently portrayed as an “average Joe,” someone to whom we mortals can easily relate. Such characterization indicates a general loosening of society’s taboos against death. I begin with consideration of artistic representations of Death from fourteenth century depictions of the dance macabre to nineteenth century images of Death passionately embracing young women. I contextualize such artistic works within the scope of a brief summary of the history of Western attitudes toward death, primarily referring to Philippe Ariès’ foundational text Western Attitudes toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present. With an eye on the continuing influence of this history, I then move into an analysis of common themes found in twentieth century popular culture appearances of Death, in movies such as Death Takes a Holiday, Meet Joe Black, and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey; the comic book Death Jr.; and the television series Dead Like Me. We find in these examples Death engaging in behavior as a common man, acting with the desire both to feel some sort of human connection and to assert himself as a unique individual not restricted by the rules observed by those around him. By appearing with increasing frequency in popular culture, Death has insinuated himself into our daily lives, not always noticed, but present far more often than we realize. His character indicates our returning awareness of the undeniable naturalness of death, of death’s inevitable presence within and effect upon our everyday lives. 2006-06-27 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151353213 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151353213 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Grim Reaper images of death popular culture |
| spellingShingle |
Grim Reaper images of death popular culture Moore, Kristen H. The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| author |
Moore, Kristen H. |
| author_facet |
Moore, Kristen H. |
| author_sort |
Moore, Kristen H. |
| title |
The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| title_short |
The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| title_full |
The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| title_fullStr |
The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Grim Reaper, Working Stiff: The Man, the Myth, the Everyday |
| title_sort |
grim reaper, working stiff: the man, the myth, the everyday |
| publisher |
Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2006 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1151353213 |
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