A regular feature of Cinema Journal is their ‘In-Focus’ section which focuses on a singular topic, theme, or text. Karra Shimabukuro co-edited the most recent In-Focus section on Twin Peaks. This section was the end result of two weeks of work – not just choosing the submissions, but also working with her co-editor Ross Garner the Director of Media and Communication, and Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, at Cardiff University. In addition to Shimabukuro’s own piece, “The Mystery of the Woods: Twin Peaks and the Folkloric Forest” which analyzes the use of the folkloric forest as a narrative shorthand, In Media Res also hosted a series of related multimedia postings by the contributors that highlighted different aspects of their In-Focus pieces throughout the week of May 23rd – 27th.
Meanwhile, Shimabukuro continues her ongoing scholarship of applying folklore studies to literature and popular culture. She was invited to present as part of an ACLA seminar, The Devil is in the Details. Her presentation focused on her upcoming book project, Revising Milton which examines how Milton’s secular mythology has been revised and re-imagined in popular culture. Shimabukuro further explores the character of John Constantine as anti-hero, and how the multiple incarnations of Constantine, as a comic, movie, and television show, have used and revised concepts seen in Milton. For example, Constantine’s world uses Milton’s work, primarily his variation of the English folkloric devil, angels, and the war in heaven.
