Digital Mythology and the Internet's Monster: The Slender Man

Description

Exploring a prominent digital mythology, this book proposes a new way of viewing both online narratives and the online communities which tell them. The Slender Man - a monster known for making children disappear and causing violent deaths to the adults who seek to know more about him - is used as an extended case study to explore the role of digital communities, as well as the question of the existence of a broader "digital culture". Structural anthropological mythic analysis and ethnographic details demonstrate how the Slender Man mythology is structured, and how its everlasting nature in the online communities demonstrates an importance of the mythos.

Vivian Asimos is a scholar at alt-ac.uk, of which she is a co-founder. Her research focuses on the study of popular culture, and what contemporary narratives have to tell us about our current societies.

Digital Mythology and the Internet's Monster is one of the only major studies into contemporary folklore developed in online spaces. This makes it an important addition to scholarship on media and religion ... a strong and thorough piece of academic writing showing a meticulous understanding of the processes behind The Slender Man and his spread in the online sphere. * Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture * Vivian Asimos is a new and original voice in both structuralism and the study of digital culture. This book has opened my eyes to processes in the creation of folk/fakelore and to the highly dynamic nature * Seth Kunin, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Curtin University, Australia *