Dark Carnivals : Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire

The panoramic story of how the horror genre transformed into one of the most incisive critiques of unchecked American imperial power The American empire emerged from the shadows of World War II. As the nation’s influence swept the globe with near impunity, a host of evil forces followed—from racism, exploitation, and military invasion to killer clowns, flying saucers, and monsters borne of a fear of the other. By viewing American imperial history through the prism of the horror genre, Dark Carnivals lays bare how the genre shaped us, distracted us, and gave form to a violence as American as apple pie. A carnival ride that connects the mushroom clouds of 1945 to the beaches of Amity Island, Charles Manson to the massacre at My Lai, and John Wayne to John Wayne Gacy, the new book by acclaimed historian W. Scott Poole reveals how horror films and fictions have followed the course of America’s military and cultural empire and explores how the shadow of our national sins can take on the form of mass entertainment. From Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Get Out , Dark Carnivals tells the panoramic story of the filmmakers and writers who, through their work in the horror genre, asked us to imagine the consequences of unchecked American power dominating the world With Dark Carnivals , author W. Scott Poole, an expert in horror and its impact on American history, reveals how the horror genre as a way of seeing the world has become one of the most incisive critiques of America and its history and influence around the globe. Following World War II, America took its place on the world stage, its growing imperial shadow becoming ever more evident. But even as the American empire emerged, propaganda at home convinced ordinary Americans that their country kept its hands clean on the world stage. The nation, enshrined in the aspirational words of its founding documents, found itself enjoying a primal innocence, despite a host of evil forces insidiously growing more rooted each day: racism and violence, deadly viruses and fear of the other. From the Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) to Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to Get Out (2017), horror films have long acted as the shadow that reveals uncomfortable political realities and inhuman crimes perpetrated by the United States for the last century with near impunity. In fact, the influence of American horror culturein films, literature, online forums, and even video gamescontinues into our contemporary experience, continually challenging the myth of American innocence and exceptionalism, acknowledging our culpability abroad, and, most importantly, our failures at home.