Crossing Over: Media and Mortality in the Dead Zone

Crossing Over highlights the dialectic between fictional death as depicted in the media and real death as it is experienced in a hospital setting. Using a Terror Management theoretical lens, this book will explore the intersections of life and death, experience and fiction, as we seek to understand the relationship between the two. It includes multiple and complementary perspectives to understand what it means when speaking and thinking of death, from the most intimate of communicative exchanges to narrative spectacles that enthrall millions of readers and rapt audience members. More specifically, it explores interpersonal health communication as it is constructed by and circulates between patients, health professionals, and supportive family members and friends.