Manchester University Press
5 Fungal bogeymen
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of fungus in contemporary end-of-the-world fiction. Drawing on recent understandings that our bodies house bacterial, viral and fungal cells that outweigh their ‘human’ counterparts, fungal fictions challenge myths of planetary dominance by pointing out that we are not even the dominant life forms in our bodies. Across television, literature and videogames, I show how these fears are energising visions of the end in which humanity suffers a biological breakdown. These include recent videogames and television series that pit human survivors against ‘infected’ fungal hosts, body-horror cinema and literature that revels in human destruction, and a curious trend in recent young-adult fiction that explores the possibility of human/fungal ‘hybrids’. As this book repeatedly argues, challenging the belief that it is within human capacity (or indeed interest) to subjugate non-human life often seems to be easier in fictions written for children.
Abstract
This chapter examines the role of fungus in contemporary end-of-the-world fiction. Drawing on recent understandings that our bodies house bacterial, viral and fungal cells that outweigh their ‘human’ counterparts, fungal fictions challenge myths of planetary dominance by pointing out that we are not even the dominant life forms in our bodies. Across television, literature and videogames, I show how these fears are energising visions of the end in which humanity suffers a biological breakdown. These include recent videogames and television series that pit human survivors against ‘infected’ fungal hosts, body-horror cinema and literature that revels in human destruction, and a curious trend in recent young-adult fiction that explores the possibility of human/fungal ‘hybrids’. As this book repeatedly argues, challenging the belief that it is within human capacity (or indeed interest) to subjugate non-human life often seems to be easier in fictions written for children.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Epigraph vii
- Contents ix
- Acknowledgements x
- A note on spoilers xii
- Prologue 1
- 1 Growing up in this dying world 18
- 2 Parenting in the end times 38
- 3 Last battles of the sexes 55
- 4 The swallowing green 81
- 5 Fungal bogeymen 99
- 6 End gaming 118
- 7 Our ruins 137
- Epilogue 157
- References 164
- Index 175
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Epigraph vii
- Contents ix
- Acknowledgements x
- A note on spoilers xii
- Prologue 1
- 1 Growing up in this dying world 18
- 2 Parenting in the end times 38
- 3 Last battles of the sexes 55
- 4 The swallowing green 81
- 5 Fungal bogeymen 99
- 6 End gaming 118
- 7 Our ruins 137
- Epilogue 157
- References 164
- Index 175
