FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2015, 5:00 p.m. CDT
Contact Jason Hogue, Peru State College Marketing and Communications, 402.872.2429
Peru, Nebraska- Dr. Bill Clemente, professor of English at Peru State College, has a new essay published
in The Last Midnight: Essays on Apocalyptic Narratives in Millennial Media. His essay is titled “Corporate
Abuse and Social Inequality in RoboCop and Fido.”
McFrarlandBook.com writes about “The Last Midnight,” “Visions of an apocalypse began
to dominate mass media well before the year 2000. Yet narratives since then present
decidedly different spins on cultural anxieties about terrorism, disease, environmental
collapse, worldwide conflict and millennial technologies.”
“This collection of new essays explores apocalyptic themes in a variety of post-millennial
media, including film, television, video games, webisodes and smartphone apps.”
Clemente's essay explores these issues, “’RoboCop’ draws on distress triggered by diverse issues, from the militarization of
the police to the unholy alliance of wing-nut media and global corporations.“
“And ‘Fido’ references multiple issues that continue to plague the country, from soaring
corporate profits made through perpetuating fears about security, to the growing disparity
between the powerful super rich and the ever diminishing political influence of the
middle class and the poor.”
"The Last Midnight" is Clemente’s second publication in 2016 following his article
on the Cuban zombie film “Juan of the Dead,” "Zombies along the Malecón" appearing in the Spring 2016 edition of the “Hungarian Journal of English and American
Studies.”
Clemente will also present at the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse conference in Windsor,
Canada, about an in-progress essay, "Do Zombies Smoke After Sex? Desire and Compulsion
in three Zombie films, Fido, Colin, and Otto."
Cover for "The Last Midnight"
Clemente’s most recent other publication is "Panem in America: Crisis Economics and
a Call for Political Engagement" in “Of Bread, Blood and The Hunger Games: Critical
Essays on the Suzanne Collins Trilogy.” An avid photographer and bird watcher, Clemente has also published an article about
birding in “The Prairie Fire.”
Over the past few years, Clemente has created new classes for Peru State that include
The Graphic Novel, Science Fiction Literature and Film, a class devoted to Zombie
films, and a Children's Literature course on Young Adult Dystopian Fiction.
“The Last Midnight” was edited by Leisa A. Clark, Amanda Firestone and Mary F. Pharr
with series editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III.
A leading independent publisher of academic and nonfiction books, meeting high library
standards has always been a major focus, and many McFarland books have received awards
from the library-oriented (Choice Outstanding Academic Title and ALA Outstanding Reference Work) to the specialized
(Hugo, Edgar, Stoker, USCF Chess Book of the Year). McFarland is recognized for noteworthy
books about pop culture, history, sports, the military and other topics.
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For more information, visit www.peru.edu or call 1-800-742-4412.
About Peru State College: Peru State’s “Campus of a Thousand Oaks,” an arboretum,
is nestled in historic southeast Nebraska. The state’s first college, Peru State offers
a unique mix of innovative online and traditional classroom undergraduate and graduate
programs, including online graduate degrees in education and organizational management.
It is a college of choice fostering excellence and student achievement through engagement
in a culture that promotes inquiry, discovery and innovation.