PRODUCING the AMERICAN ZOMBIE FILM: a SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING of the GENESIS and EVOLUTION of a GENRE a Dissertation Presente
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PRODUCING THE AMERICAN ZOMBIE FILM: A SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF A GENRE A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School University of Missouri In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by TODD PLATTS Dr. Wayne Brekhus, Dissertation Supervisor May 2013 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled PRODUCING THE AMERICAN ZOMBIE FILM: A SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF A GENRE Presented by Todd Platts A candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy And hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. ____________________________________ Professor Wayne Brekhus ____________________________________ Professor David Brunsma ____________________________________ Professor John Galliher ____________________________________ Professor Anand Prahlad Acknowledgments I thank the members of my committee for their fantastic guidance and patience throughout this project. I appreciate your willingness in allowing me to tackle a topic not traditionally pursued by sociologists. To Wayne I express my utmost gratitude not just in serving as my mentor, but for providing an intellectual platform in your classes that allowed me to explore the sociological purchase of zombies from a variety of perspectives – some of which led to dead ends; more importantly, however, some of which resulted in conference presentations, a research grant, and two publications. Beyond the classroom environment, I am humbled by your willingness to always to listen to my ideas and put everything aside in helping me traverse whatever structural or personal hurdles were put in the way (and there were many). To Dave your constant encouragement and enthusiasm for the project helped me through numerous difficult times. Not to work-in a zombie pun, but your contagious excitement and faith in my scholarship was and often still is greater than my own – I cannot thank you enough. To John you have always been one the kindest and nicest persons I have ever known (not to mention one of the best scholars). Your calm reassurance and fantastic listening ability guided me through many moments of self-doubt and provided me perspective and hope in dealing with personal frustrations I experienced from a variety of fronts. To Prahlad I cannot thank you enough for entertaining a dissertation on a sociological study of zombie cinema. It is not often that sociologists and film scholars intermingle – I hope that is about to change. Your insights have helped make my scholarship better versed. ii While my committee deserves many thanks, other faculty members deserve special mention as well. I thank Jaber (Jay) Gubrium for his friendly skepticism. Your constant question of “what makes zombies sociological” pushed me to formulate clearer and more concise answers, answers that ultimately found their way into a publication “Locating Zombies in the Sociology of Popular Culture.” All scholars should face tough questions, regardless of topic. I thank Jay for his tough questions. I also thank Amit Prasad who, like Wayne, facilitated an intellectual environment that afforded me another opportunity to explore different intellectual avenues on a sociologically unusual topic. I still hope to transform one of those projects into a publication. Mary Jo Neitz gets credit for being the first faculty member to permit me to write about the sociology of zombies, all the thanks in the world Mary Jo. I extend thanks to the entirety of the department including: Ed Brent, Eric Brown, Joan Hermsen, Victoria Johnson, Clarence Lo, and Tola Pearce. While not singled out for special thanks, you were no less significant in my intellectual development. While at the University of Missouri I also had the great fortune of meeting many supportive peers. I specifically thank Priya Dua and Jennifer Correa for their supportive friendship. Thank you both very much. Finally, I thank immediate family, my parents and brother, without you NONE of this would be possible. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... ii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Abstract ............................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Toward a Sociology of (Zombie) Film ............................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research Traditions: Reflection, Production, and Endogenous Approaches to Culture............................................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Sensitizing Concepts: Transition Capacity, Opportunity Space, and Endogenous Genre Ecology .............................................................................................................. 10 1.4 A Note on Sources, Data, Analysis, and Dates ..................................................... 15 1.5 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 18 1.6 Chapter Overviews................................................................................................ 18 Chapter 2 : Notes Toward a Sociological Methodology for (Zombie) Film .................... 22 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 22 2.2 The Production-of-Culture Perspective ................................................................ 23 2.3 Technology ........................................................................................................... 26 2.4 Law and Regulation .............................................................................................. 27 2.5 Industry Structure.................................................................................................. 30 iv 2.6 Organizational Structure ....................................................................................... 32 2.7 Occupational Careers ............................................................................................ 34 2.8 Market ................................................................................................................... 36 2.9 Sensitizing the Production of Culture ................................................................... 37 2.10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 39 Chapter 3 : Sorting Out the Viscera: Theories of Genre and Zombie Cinema ................. 41 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Defining Genre...................................................................................................... 43 3.3 Zombie Cinema as Genre ...................................................................................... 46 3.4 Genre and the Film Industries ............................................................................... 49 3.5 Genre Volatility .................................................................................................... 51 3.6 Generic Hybridity ................................................................................................. 54 3.7 Short-Term Economic Strategies .......................................................................... 57 3.8 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 58 Chapter 4 : “Unusual Times Demand Unusual Pictures”: The Industrial Genesis and Development of Zombie Cinema ...................................................................................... 60 4.1 Monster of The Magic Island? Introduction ......................................................... 60 4.2 Origins of the Zombie Idea in Western Popular Culture ...................................... 62 4.3 The Emergence of Zombie Cinema: White Zombie (Opportunity Space) ............ 65 v 4.4 Engineering Cinematic Zombies........................................................................... 70 4.5 Release, Reception, and Studio Response (Transition Capacity) ......................... 77 4.6 Revolt of the Zombies and Legal and Production Code Administration Setbacks 79 4.7 The Zombies’ Early Endogenous Genre Ecology ................................................ 81 4.8 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 84 Chapter 5 : “It May Be Too Many Cooks Spoiled the Broth Scripturally”: Hollywood Hybridity and Poverty Row Purity ................................................................................... 86 5.1 Introduction: “Two Pages in the Book of Movie Horrors Got Stuck Together” .. 86 5.2 Boris Karloff “Must be Getting Pretty Tired of Having to be the Guinea Pig for All These Outlandish Experiments”: The Studios’ “Zombie Films”............................ 89 5.3 Poverty Row: Generic Purity, Distributive Security........................................... 101 5.4 Endogenous Genre Ecology: Un-Zombie Zombies Are Zombies Too .............. 107 5.5 Boom and Bust: The