Voodoo - Present

 

In terms of voodoo there was a range of media i have found which has been relevant and in the public eye as of present.

one example i have found is a site named pinstruck.com this site is unique and interesting because it offers a service where a person can send a joke voodoo curse to someone else through email anonymously. The site allows the person to custom make there curse with the victim with their name and description.

Personalised curse on pinstruck.com

 

This is a nice media piece related to media i think because This is a fun play on chain mail where people can send curses to other people when cursed, making a harmless fun version of the Voodoo doll curse.

There is a product that is available for purchase called the Revenge Voodoo Doll. This doll is linked to the old voodoo belief that if you make a doll of someone and stick needles in it, you can make someone feel pain or be cursed. This toy marks itself as a light hearted toy to mess around with.

Revenge Voodoo Doll from find-me-a-gift.co.uk

It’s quite interesting therefore i feel how they have managed a light hearted spin on what was originally a dark voodoo spell as with the last example but with this one being a more direct approach as the user has an actual physical doll to play around with.

Another really interesting item is the voodoo knife block. The knife block is a knife holder but interestingly shaped like a person as to make it resemble a voodoo doll but replacing the pins with knives.  

Voodoo knife block from ideas.me.uk

This item again another play on the idea of the Voodoo doll but this time in a more practical manner. This i therefore feel is a good example because it shows how the manipulation of voodoo ideas have stay in media as reprisented in household objects

 From this i also note that there is a good amount of popularity in Voodoo dolls in different media forms. It seems that the idea of Voodoo dolls plays well to numours media types and captivates peoples interests.

also found when looking that there are a series of bikes being released from a company called "Voodoo Bikes" This Company sells mountain, bmx and other bikes that are all named after Voodoo related names. The company is set up from a famous bike mechanic Joe Murrey who amongst others engineer these bikes

The Wanga from Voodoo Bikes

this i think is a good example of how the idea of Voodoo and Voodooist witchcraft is being used to represent products that make them sound more appealing as it really brings character to the goods.

There is an American based bakery company called Voodoo Doughnuts, which utilises its voodooist name as they produce more out of the ordinary bakery goods. The company such pastry’s as the "Voodoo Doll" which is a doll shaped pastry.

Sign outside Voodoo Doughnut and Stain glass Door.
 Pictures by Katrina Taylor 

Voodoo Doll from Voodoo Doughnut

 

This i definitely think is a good example of using the tag names of Voodoo to make for a more interesting appearing business especially with the more fun style baked good making it more out the ordinary then usual

 

I have also found that the manufactor DeMarini that makes baseball related goods have a bat named the Voodooseries that was manufactured this year. These bat has seen proffestional baseball as some big named stars have used it.

Baseball player using one of the Voodoo bats.

I think this is another good example of the name of Voodoo being taglined onto a product to make it seem more mysterious. This shows expesally as its a major league standered bat that its used and respected well in its field.

From some of these examples ive seen that the name of Voodoo often gets taglined onto comemrsial products to help create a more mystic and supernatural feel around the product making the user feel as if they will achieve better due to unforseen forces. Therefore i feel these are good examples of how the idea of Voodoo still gets used in media today.

Looking into voodoo I found that zombies which are a voodooist belief is very big at present in media so i looked into zombies for present.

In books there has been "The zombie survival guide" (Max Brooks Three Rivers Press 2003) which is laid out like an instructional booklet explaining all the necessary tools and tactics to survive if there was a zombie apocalypse.

 

Front Cover

This book is a really good example because this book really plays on the fear people have gained from the rise of zombies in media, that someday an experiment gone wrong by the government or some sort of disaster would cause real life zombies because the fear to do with zombies is that it seems possible.

There also has been the book "World war Z" (2006) is another book released by Max Brooks. In this book it follows an interviewer after the zombie outbreak as he follows people’s stories of how they survived the outbreak.  This book is even being turned into a film due to release in 2012.

Front cover

This book is very interesting because it’s heavily researched with everything being influenced by real military tactics and political policies. also it follows a very political theme as the author details how the outbreak started throughout the country’s and how each country faired in the end of it due to their governments decisions which were influenced by how the countries have reacted in real life to previous disasters and such.

In comic book form there is "The walking dead" (Image Comics 2003) which is a comic that has risen into popularity recently that focuses on a group of survivors after the apocalypse.

Illustration from the comic

this entry is interesting i think because unlike previous zombie themed media, this one is a lot more grim dealing with how the survivors have to adapt to this new world. The comic constantly deals with survivors dying, committing suicide or even being murdered which adds a very dark theme to the comic.

Recently "The walking dead" has been adapted into a TV program which has had worldwide acclaim. This has caused the comic series to hit mainstream and raise popularity. The TV series has a lot of changes from the comic but still has the dark theme.

Still shot of a scene from the first episode.

 

This is good because it shows that there is a rising in popularity due to the fact that the comic book was adapted into a TV show form and thus bringing it out into a much more mainstream light which means more people are exposed to zombies in media.

In films there has been "Shawn of the dead" (Edger Wright 2006) which brought a new approach to zombies and zombie films, by having it more as a comedy then a serious element in the film follows Shawn an average guy as a zombie outbreak happens in his local town. Although a comedy, the zombies are portrayed seriously even though the characters are more comedic as the zombies are shown killing off characters quite violently.

Glamour shot of the main cast

This film was interesting i think because it portrayed a world more used to the idea of zombies through their own media and so the characters are more prepared, making lots of zombie pop culture references.

From this i have seen that zombies in the present have become very much a cult classic as many types of media are portraying the horror of a zombie infestation. This in turn has become so deep set in our culture that it has people making make believe plans on what they would do should the impossible event happens and it even has seeped back into the media itself as the media portrays characters pre aware of zombies existence prior to the start of the infestation which is not normally done in horror.