Amy’s talk is called “The Gospel According to Jughead: Monster Theory and Comparative Popular Culture Practices as Hermeneutic Lenses”
In certain hermeneutical pursuits, scholars use monsters and their symbols as comparative tools for cultural analysis. This scholarly lens, called Monster Studies, asks questions and analyzes problems through the lens of “The Monster.” As part of a critical reflection on Monster Studies, this presentation will use this lens in an intertextual, antidiachronic comparison of the “monsters” of two beloved American narratives from the 1940’s: Archie Comics and Oklahoma! These two continuously existing brands are now riding the crest of another pop culture wave coinciding with their new focus on storytelling through the lens of the monster/outsider. This presentation compares the characters of Jughead from Archie Comics and Jud Fry from Oklahoma! to the outsider narrator, Judas the disciple, as he appears in the first-century Gnostic text, The Gospel of Judas. I suggest that all three texts act as a form of midrash that provide narrative supplement and work to highlight issues of community concern. For first century Christians, an issue of concern was how the all-knowing Jesus could be betrayed by a mere mortal/disciple. The Gospel of Judas addresses that concern through the perspective of the betrayer himself. Likewise, the newly-elevated perspective of the outsider-narrators in Archie and Oklahoma, I argue, raise the contemporary community issue of active shooters and incel culture. This presentation uses the lens of popular culture comparison as discussed by Jeffrey Kripal to conclude that the dark characters of our narratives may hide real life concerns; supporting Jeffrey Kripal’s suggestion that “not everything imagined is imaginary.”
About Amy
A cat fancier from Goleta, California, Amy Slonaker graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a double major in Religious Studies and Political Science. During her 20+ year law career, she lived in Seattle, San Francisco, New York City and London. In 2017, she enrolled at Pacifica Graduate Institute where she is currently pursuing her PhD in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology, with an expected completion date of 2022. A lover of popular culture, Amy has dabbled in an array of art media including installation art, costume/set design, public performance art, and psychedelic liquid light shows. Her favorite musical is Oklahoma!