Tom Pollard: 4 books

Vampire characters are ubiquitous in popular culture, serving as metaphors for society’s most sensitive subjects—sexuality, gender roles, race, ethnicity, class—and often channeling widespread fears of immigration, crime, terrorism and addiction. This book explores pop culture’s vampires variously...

Sex and Violence examines the history and social dynamics of film censorship in the United States. It examines censorship controversies throughout film history, from the beginning of cinema in the 1890s to the present. The book focuses both on formal censorship systems, including state and local censorship...

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent US-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 profoundly affected all aspects of society, including cinema. Or did they? Even now, years after those horrific events, debate still rages over their impact on films. At the time...

Solve a mermaid's problem… Step off the edge of a roof… Dig up a grave at midnight… Take advice from a fortune cookie… Visit the last library… Meet a bridge troll… And more… In one instant, like a bolt of lightning, a single impossible event changes a person's life. And like the...