98. Nostalgia 101: Are You Afraid of the Dark, Horror, & Mental Health w/ Prof. Josh Grant-Young

Dan & Manny are joined by Prof. Josh Grant-Young, PhD candidate at the University of Guelph in Canada where he studies our past and contemporary conceptions (medical, political, and popular) of mental differences, using the genre of horror film to point both longstanding cultural anxieties and myths surrounding mental differences and new possibilities for shifting discourse around them. This is one of those episodes that starts in a place and digs deeply. We talk about Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark, monstrosity, PTSD, how sufferers of mental health issues are reflected in horror, specifically men, and so much more. 

Content Warning

This episode deals with discussions of violence, PTSD, Depression, Psychosis, and Suicide Ideation.

Josh Grant-Young is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Guelph in Canada. Josh’s research explores our past and contemporary conceptions (medical, political, and popular) of mental differences, using the genre of horror film to point both longstanding cultural anxieties and myths surrounding mental differences and new possibilities for shifting discourse around them. For Josh, film’s narrative capacities and cultural power can both limit our conceptions of mental difference, as well as offer creators and audiences alike new methods of articulating alternative conceptions of it. Josh has published several book chapters and articles on horror film and literature, essays on mental difference and the horror genre, participated in online forums on the horror genre, and has been a guest on various podcasts. In his spare time, he writes short horror fiction.

Episode Notes

• The Orange Years (Documentary 2018)
• The Orange Years: The Nickelodeon Story w/ Director Scott Barber
• Nickelodeon
• Are You Afraid of the Dark (series 1990-196; 1999-2000; 2019-2022)
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (book series)
• Goosebumps
• Eerie, Indiana (series 1991-1993)
• Horror Homeroom
• Bedlam (movie 1946)
• Boris Karloff
• Split (movie 2016)
• Lights Out (movie 2016)
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• Frankenstein (movie 1931)
• Halloween (movie franchise)
• Black Christmas (movie 1974)
• Black Christmas (movie 2006)
• Halloween (movie 2007)
• Psycho (movie 1960)
• Shutter Island (movie 2010)
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