Today’s News from the University of Kansas
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Zombies change to keep up with the times, professor writes
LAWRENCE – A University of Kansas researcher is writing a book on the proliferation of zombie TV shows, scheduled to come out in 2022 in publisher McFarland’s Contributions to Zombie Studies series. As opposed to the brainless, brain-eating, slow-moving monsters of George Romero’s classic film “Night of the Living Dead” or the American TV series “The Walking Dead,” new dramas portray the undead sympathetically, Associate Professor Paul Scott said.
School of Architecture & Design announces 2020 Alumni Awards
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design has announced the recipients of the 2020 KU Architecture & Design Alumni Awards. This year’s honorees for the Distinguished Alumni Award are Earl Santee and Todd Voth, both founders and senior principals at Populous, and Bruce Smith with Steelcase Inc. The Young Architect/Designer Award has been given to 2012 graduate Eddy Tavio, a senior associate at Populous.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Zombies change to keep up with the times, professor writes
LAWRENCE – A University of Kansas researcher is writing a book on the proliferation of zombie TV shows, scheduled to come out in 2022 in publisher McFarland’s Contributions to Zombie Studies series.
“We deal with our fears by having it on screen,” said Paul Scott, associate professor of French.
Earlier this year, Scott published the article “From Contagion to Cogitation: The Evolving Television Zombie” in the journal Science Fiction Studies. In it, he deals with four recent TV series: the British “In the Flesh” (2013- 2014); the French “The Returned” [“Les Revenants”] (2012-2015); the Australian “Glitch” (2015-2019) and the American “Resurrection” (2014-2015).
For the book, he will also consider the series “iZombie” (2015-19) and “Santa Clarita Diet” (2017-19).
“The zombie apocalypse is usually brought about by some cataclysmic event,” Scott said. “In the shows I deal with for the book, it’s usually a medical or metaphysical event that causes the outbreak.”
As opposed to the brainless, brain-eating, slow-moving monsters of George Romero’s classic film “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) or the American TV series “The Walking Dead” (2010-present), Scott wrote that the new dramas portray the undead sympathetically — as sentient, if confused, damaged or changed, human beings.
These shows “depict the struggle of the undead to reinsert themselves back into their former lives, families and localities,” Scott wrote. “An essential element of this conflict is the degree of acceptance or antagonism they receive from their former hometowns.”
Scott said he began to think “something is going on here” a couple of years ago when, while teaching a first-year interdisciplinary seminar focused on science fiction, many student groups wanted to write about zombie shows. He noted both the popularity of the shows and their recurring themes.
Because their undead are sympathetic characters, the new shows lack the gratuitous gore of the old ones. Scott wrote: “…the violence is generally psychological. Moreover, this violence reverses generic expectations, for it is invariably humans who commit the most ferocious acts.”
Whereas old-style zombies can be seen as critiques of mindless consumerism and, in a larger sense, capitalism itself, Scott wrote that the new zombie plays “critique the failings of neoliberalism in Western democracies, pointing to the inadequacy of this dominant paradigm to address the material and cultural effects of contemporary mass migration and multiculturalism.” Or to put it another way, “these series have the motifs of integration and alienation at their core.”
Zombie dramas, which Scott traces back to “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” will continue to change with current events.
“Pop culture rises to the challenge of its times, because it is of its times,” Scott said. “We have seen how things can change so quickly. So I think that media that deal with apocalyptic events will change and become more nuanced. The what-if scenarios will become more complex.
“That’s what I like about science fiction. It helps us to flesh out a lot of things. It generally asks the next question: What if? What about? Where is this going?”
If there is any comfort to be found in previous imaginings about apocalyptic scenarios, Scott said, it is their message that kindness and empathy are protective qualities.
“When everything has gone to the dogs,” he said, “it’s invariably the dogs that perish, rather than the humans.”
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Contact: Dan Rolf, School of Architecture & Design, 785-864-3027, [email protected], @ArcD_KU
School of Architecture & Design announces 2020 Alumni Awards
LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design has announced the recipients of the 2020 KU Architecture & Design Alumni Awards. This year’s honorees for the Distinguished Alumni Award are Earl Santee, Bruce Smith and Todd Voth. The Young Architect/Designer Award has been given to Eddy Tavio.
The KU Architecture & Design Alumni Awards recognize individuals who have demonstrated leadership and made a significant contribution to the design and architectural professions.
Distinguished Alumnus Awardees:
Earl Santee, FAIA, received bachelor’s degrees in both architecture and environmental design from KU in 1981. Santee, a senior principal and founder at Populous, is recognized as one of the most widely acclaimed sports designers in the world. With a guiding philosophy that dictates that sites should shape a building’s design, Santee has designed award-winning projects that have been part of major urban renewal efforts across the nation, including in Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Houston, Denver, Miami and St. Louis. His portfolio includes 18 Major League Baseball parks, 40 spring training facilities and minor league parks. In 2014, he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, the organization’s highest honor bestowed upon an architect.
Bruce Smith received a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from KU in 1978 and has been in various design roles with Steelcase Inc. since 1986. Smith is currently Steelcase’s global design director and been responsible for numerous innovations in workplace product design. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, Smith takes a collaborative approach to product design that considers everything from materials, to user research, to manufacturing, to marketing, thereby utilizing the expertise of specialists at all stages of product development to improve performance and sustainability standards.
Todd Voth, FAIA, received bachelor’s degrees in both architecture and environmental design from KU in 1981. Voth, a senior principal and founder at Populous, leads the firm’s convention center practice. He had led the design of hotels, retail facilities and 40 convention centers. Under his leadership, Populous has become a global leader in convention center design. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work, including a Historic Preservation Award; National Chairman, Young Architects Forum, American Institute of Architects; and a National Presidential Citation Award, American Institute of Architects. In 2017, he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Young Architect/Designer Awardee:
Eddy Tavio received a master’s degree in architecture in 2012. Tavio is currently a project designer and senior associate at Populous, where he focuses on conceptual design, 3D visualizations and innovative thinking to help clients see the future possibilities for their buildings and surrounding developments. He has experience working on a variety of project types spanning higher education, civic buildings, campus master plans and sports facilities, assisting with all phases of design. Since 2018, he has been an adjunct instructor in the KU Department of Architecture.
Originally from Venezuela, Tavio is also a co-founder of the nonprofit Kinitiative, which provides humanitarian architecture to towns and villages in West Africa.
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