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Prime-time Satanism: rumor-panic and the work of iconic topoi

Louisiana State University, USA, jgunn{at}lsu.edu

This article examines images of The Satanic Bible and clips from a 1969 shockumentary titled, Satanis: The Devil’s Mass, tracing the gradual transformation of their imagery into what is termed, variously, ‘iconic topoi ’ or ‘visual abbreviations’. Mapping the visual abbreviations of Satanic imagery demonstrates how the mass media enable the invention of rumor-panics from a limited number of ‘texts’. Once divorced from their actual content in media programs, the imagistic forms of the book and film collectively served as ready-made topoi for the invention of a clandestine and criminal Satanic ‘underground’ in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This article also argues that the fragmentation of the book and film into stock footage reflects the conditions of their production, helping to highlight the cultural logics typical of late capitalism.

Key Words: fetishism • iconic topoi • late capitalism • occultism • rumor-panic • Satanism • visual abbreviation

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