Lecture by Rachel Wagner, Associate Professor of Religion
We commonly think about transmedia as story-worlds like The Matrix or Star Wars. But other forms of myth-making can also be transmediated. What I call the cowboy apocalypse is relayed through film, video games, television shows as well as through rituals, live events, and scripted practices to produce an imaginary space for devoted fans who buy into its ideology. As a blend of frontier mythology and end-of-the world scenarios, transmediated cowboy apocalypticism provides a simple mythic solution to complex global problems. Violently wipe the slate clean, it says, and let the survivors demonstrate their mettle on a new frontier. The greatest danger, of course, is when the desire for future habitation in an imaginary post-apocalyptic frontier is used to justify real violence here and now.