FROM SERIAL DEATH TO PROCEDURAL LOVE: A STUDY OF SERIAL CULTURE By STEPHANIE BOLUK A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2011 1 © 2011 Stephanie Boluk 2 For my mum 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One of the reasons I chose to come to the University of Florida was because of the warmth and collegiality I witnessed the first time I visited the campus. I am grateful to have been a member of such supportive English department. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to my brilliant advisor Terry Harpold and rest of my wonderful committee, Donald Ault, Jack Stenner, and Phil Wegner. To all of my committee: a heartfelt thank you. I would also like to thank all the members of Imagetext, Graduate Assistants United, and Digital Assembly (and its predecessor Game Studies) for many years of friendship, fun, and collaboration. To my friends and family, Jean Boluk, Dan Svatek, and the entire LeMieux clan: Patrick, Steve, Jake, Eileen, and Vince, I would not have finished without their infinite love, support, patience (and proofreading). 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 11 Serial Ancestors...................................................................................................... 13 Serial Labor ............................................................................................................ 15 Serial Biases........................................................................................................... 16 Serial Time and Serial Death .................................................................................. 19 Serial Apocalypses ................................................................................................. 20 Serial Collectives .................................................................................................... 22 Overview................................................................................................................. 25 BLONDIE AND THE END OF HISTORY ...................................................................... 32 The Early Years ...................................................................................................... 34 Typologies..............................................................................................................37 Queering Blondie .................................................................................................... 40 Family Affairs .......................................................................................................... 43 Imaginary Communities .......................................................................................... 44 From Caricature to Character ................................................................................. 48 History Returns: The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary ..................................................... 57 The Nuclear Family................................................................................................. 62 KAWARA, KAWARA MACHINES, AND THE DEATH OF DEATH................................ 79 The Early Kawara ................................................................................................... 83 The Today series .................................................................................................... 87 History Painting....................................................................................................... 89 Serial Labor ............................................................................................................ 94 I Am Still Alive......................................................................................................... 95 Kawara Machines ................................................................................................... 97 One Million Years ................................................................................................. 103 Glacial Time.......................................................................................................... 105 Death of Death...................................................................................................... 106 THE SERIAL DATABASE OF HOMESTAR RUNNER................................................ 120 Serialities..............................................................................................................121 Serial Biases......................................................................................................... 123 The Literary in Electronic Literature ...................................................................... 128 Seriality, the Literary and Database...................................................................... 130 Homestar Runner ................................................................................................. 133 5 Metaleptic Relays ................................................................................................. 137 Database + Narrative............................................................................................ 139 The Melancholic Database ................................................................................... 141 SERIAL DEATH AND THE ZOMBIE: NETWORKED NECRONOMICS...................... 149 The History of the Zombie..................................................................................... 151 Going Viral............................................................................................................157 Digital Seriality ...................................................................................................... 165 Left 4 Dead: Serial Killers ..................................................................................... 168 Left 4 Dead 2........................................................................................................175 AI Director............................................................................................................. 177 Serial Killers.......................................................................................................... 179 Over Achievers ..................................................................................................... 184 We Have Always Been Zombies........................................................................... 189 STATE OF PLAY: PROCEDURAL LOVE AND POLITICAL GAMES.......................... 195 Making Love ......................................................................................................... 197 Tools of the Trade................................................................................................. 200 Political Love......................................................................................................... 203 Serial Sex.............................................................................................................204 Just for Fun........................................................................................................... 207 Serfdom 2.0..........................................................................................................209 Re-imagining Fun ................................................................................................. 213 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 223 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.......................................................................................... 231 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 2-1 Blondie, April 2, 1933 ......................................................................................... 65 2-2 Blondie, May 12, 1933........................................................................................ 65 2-3 Blondie, May 14, 1933........................................................................................ 66 2-4 Blondie, December 6, 2004 ................................................................................ 66 2-5 Blondie, January 29, 1933.................................................................................. 67 2-6 Blondie, July 7, 1946 .......................................................................................... 67 2-7 Blondie, June 6, 1945......................................................................................... 68 2-8 Blondie, February 27, 1944 ................................................................................ 68 2-9 Blondie, November 14, 1937 .............................................................................. 69 2-10 Dagwood at the Office (Adelman, 39)................................................................. 70 2-11 Blondie, Sept. 4, 2005 ........................................................................................ 71 2-12 For Better or Worse, August 28, 2005 ................................................................ 71 2-13 Cover of Dagwood Splits the Atom (1949) ......................................................... 72 2-14 Dagwood Splits the Atom (1949), 14. ................................................................