Critical Theory Goes Supernatural! Blue Light of the Screen: Horror, Ghosts, and God w/Claire Cronin

Aug 17, 2023

Guest Claire Cronin, author of "Blue Light of the Screen," joins the hosts to discuss horror, ghosts, and God. They explore personal experiences with horror, family trauma, and depression. They analyze the appeal of horror movies, religious themes in horror, and the influence of horror on our sense of self. They delve into aggression and catharsis in horror, belief in ghosts, haunted house movie formulas, and engaging with ghosts on their own terms. They also discuss ghost stories, metal music, and upcoming projects.

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Introduction

00:00 • 3min

Family Trauma and the Comfort of Horror

03:00 • 13min

Analyzing the Appeal of Horror Movies

16:28 • 27min

Exploring Aggression and Catharsis in Horror Movies

43:24 • 2min

Ghosts and Belief

44:57 • 5min

Formula of Haunted House Movies and the Affective Elements of Horror

49:45 • 2min

Engaging with Ghosts and Gothic Conventions

51:43 • 9min

Ghost stories, metal music, and upcoming projects

01:00:28 • 4min

Buy the Book: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/blue-light-of-the-screen-on-horror-ghosts-and-god/

Blue Light of the Screen is about what it means to be afraid — about immersion, superstition, delusion, and the things that keep us up at night.

A creative-critical memoir of the author’s obsession with the horror genre, Blue Light of the Screen embeds its criticism of horror within a larger personal story of growing up in a devoutly Catholic family, overcoming suicidal depression, uncovering intergenerational trauma, and encountering real and imagined ghosts.

As Cronin writes, she positions herself as a protagonist who is haunted by what she watches and reads, like an antiquarian in an M.R. James ghost story whose sense of reality unravels through her study of arcane texts and cursed archives. In this way, Blue Light of the Screen tells the story of the author’s conversion from skepticism to faith in the supernatural.

Part memoir, part ghost story, and part critical theory, Blue Light of the Screen is not just a book about horror, but a work of horror itself.

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Check out the projects of some of the new contributors to Zer0 Books:

Acid Horizon

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/acidhorizon
Merch: crit-drip.com
The Philosopher’s Tarot from Repeater Books: https://repeaterbooks.com/product/the-philosophers-tarot/

The Horror Vanguard

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/horror-vanguard/id1445594437
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/horrorvanguard

Buddies Without Organs

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/buddies-without-organs/id1543289939
Website: https://buddieswithout.org/
Xenogothic: https://xenogothic.com/

Support Zer0 Books and Repeater Media on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/zer0repeater
Subscribe: https://www.patreon.com/zer0repeater
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeroBooks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zer0books, https://twitter.com/RepeaterBooks