“I See Dead People”: Death in Popular Culture
Online
Organization: PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network
PopCRN – The UNE Popular Culture Network invites scholars to explore the multifaceted representations of death in popular culture at a virtual symposium to be held online on 27th-28th of November 2025.
Death has long been a central theme in cultural narratives, shaping how societies understand grief, mourning, the afterlife, and the macabre. From Gothic fiction to true crime podcasts, horror films to digital memorials, popular culture both reflects and influences our attitudes toward death. This conference seeks to examine these representations across media, genres, and historical contexts.
We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers. We accept papers, roundtable and panel submissions. Presenters will have the opportunity to submit their work for consideration in a refereed book publication.
Topics can include, but are not restricted to:
"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" – Death and mourning rituals in popular culture
"Till Death Do Us Part" – Love, loss, and ghostly romances
"Six Feet Under" – Representations of the funeral industry in media
"To Be or Not to Be" – Philosophical and existential themes of death in film and literature
"Death Becomes Her" – The aesthetics of death, fashion, and gothic style
"Serial (Killer) Entertainment" – True crime, murder mysteries, and our obsession with death
"The Final Girl Lives" – Death, survival, and horror tropes
"A Digital Afterlife" – Death in virtual spaces, social media memorials, and AI reincarnations
"They Walk Among Us" – Vampires, zombies, and undead mythologies
"R.I.P. to the Old Me" – Transformation, resurrection, and second chances
"Famous Last Words" – Celebrity deaths and their cultural impact
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" – War, disaster, and collective mourning in popular narratives
"Death and Taxes" – Economic and political discourses around mortality
"Murder Most Foul" – Shakespeare, crime fiction, and detective storytelling
"Meet Your Maker" – Religious and spiritual depictions of death
"Playing with Death" – Board games, video games, and the gamification of mortality
"Obituary Culture" – The art of eulogizing the dead
"Macabre Merch" – Death-related consumer culture and memorabilia
Please submit by your proposed abstract by 30th July 2025
· Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
· Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
· Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au
Stay up to date with PopCRN on our social pages & website
· www.popcrn.org
· X (ex-Twitter) - https://twitter.com/PopcultureUne
· Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071540522655
· Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/popcrn.bsky.social
· LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14503409/
Dr Lisa Hackett
