ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2, we examine cultural narratives – mediated tales, poetry, novels, and songs about death and dying – to understand how they construct our joint ideas about our eventual ends. We explain the creative impulse – Eros – and the ways in which creativity is the antithesis of the death drive. Moving from ancient religious and commemorative paintings, sculptures, and music, to more contemporary television shows, movies, songs, and books about death, we discuss and describe the ways in which these artifacts depict and construct the beliefs of the day surrounding death and the afterlife. We discuss various horror films, war stories, comedies, love stories, action-adventure movies, and murder mysteries with death as a main plot point; and songs and poetry about death to consider how these popular cultural artifacts convey what our culture values and believes about life and death. We discuss the cultural ramifications for death as both a taboo subject yet also an entertainment topic, and how these practices help us come to terms with our own mortal natures.
