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Mid-Atlantic Popular &
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"And I Would Have Gotten Away With It Too": The Influence of Scooby-Doo Villains on the Development of the Voice of the Skeptic in Paranormal Reality TV

Presenter: 
Antares Russell Leask (Northern VA Community College)
Presentation type: 
Paper
Abstract: 

When Scooby-Doo is mentioned, most people’s immediate response is to quote the recurring line “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” To borrow from a popular meme, the original Scooby-Doo series (1969-1976) taught the youth of America that there were no monsters—just humans in masks, and those humans were usually old white men in a position of power. By decrying the “meddling kids,” these villains further created a generational divide between the evil-doers and those willing and able to debunk their quasi-supernatural hijinks.

Modern versions of Scooby-Doo (1987-present) dropped the overused trope of the old white man in a mask in favor of real encounters with monsters and the supernatural, which created a generation more open to the possibility. This shift happened toward the end of the youth of Generation X, and can be seen in current paranormal reality TV as ghost hunters who present as skeptics were born in the early 70s, when they would have been more likely to have watched the original series, while those who portray themselves as believers were born in the late 70s, making them more of the target audience for the remakes and reboots.

This paper will look at how changing Scooby-Doo villains divided paranormal reality TV hosts between the younger generation, willing to believe in monsters, and those a bit older, who are still looking for the man behind the mask.

Session: 
Animated Horror
Scheduled on: 
Thursday, November 7, 11:00 am to 12:15 pm

About the presenter

Antares Russell Leask

Antares Leask, PhD, NBCT (she/her) is an academic moving into the tech world and excited to find ways for these communities to successfully interact! She also teaches English for Northern Virginia Community College and is a National Board Certified Teacher. Her dissertation focused on the impact of white privilege on paranormal reality television, and other research interests include Disney, popular culture, horror, and cryptozoology.

She has also trained, implemented, and trained others on equitable grading, trauma informed teaching, culturally responsive teaching, transparent assignment design, assessment contracts, project based learning, personalized learning, and differentiation.

She presents at several pop culture conferences each year and is the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association co-chair for the newly created Disney Studies area. She is on the editorial boards for the International Journal for Disney Studies, the Journal of American Culture, and the Popular Culture Review.

She published the chapter “‘Don’t Stand Out When You’re Fittin’ In’: Segregationists, Assimilationists, and Antiracists in Disney’s Zombies 2” in The Undead in the 21st Century: A Companion (2022), edited by Simon Bacon.

She has recently published the chapter, “Che Guevara and Debussy to a Disco Beat: Intellectualism and the Pet Shop Boys” in the collection The Pet Shop Boys and the Political: Queerness, Culture, Identity, and Society edited by Bodie Ashton.

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