Femininity in horror Rather than centre her Most current feminist studies of horror films are psychodynamic1, emphasizing viewer’s motives and interests in watching horror films and the psychological effects they may have. In Get Out (2017), Jordan Peele’s comedic horror film about white liberal racism, femme fatale Rose gobbles brightly colored Froot Loops while scrolling through pictures of black basketball players, trying to decide whom to prey May 29, 2023 · In 1993, for example, Barbara Creed published The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, a book that borrows from the work of French philosopher and literary critic Julia Kristeva to theorize horror films in relation to the abject, focusing specifically on the horror inspired by the female reproductive body. For my oral exam list, I chose to focus on the first section of her book, “Part I: Faces of the Monstrous-Feminine,” which provides both a definition and foundation for the term “monstrous-feminine,” as well as provide Barbara Creed has published a multitude of material on gender and horror, including: The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism. The season will showcase films that reflect the multifaceted, wonderfully unsettling and intricate portrayals of monstrous femininity. In doing so, they run the risk of overlooking more thematic aspects within the film such as plot, cinematography, mise-en-scène and more. Jan 1, 2019 · The visual rhetoric of the postmodern horror movie is also analyzed in relation to its value as a social text, specifically questioning the validity of the Final Girl as an archetype for feminine These are all examples of what I would consider positive representation of femininity in games- I'm sure you can find tons of examples of bad representation if you go looking. Night in the Woods Aug 13, 2018 · That horror is exceptional in its ability to accurately portray women’s experiences isn’t a new one. Because American horror cinema (and folklore) lacks a tradition of a distinctly feminine avenging ghost, this element of the J-horror films is typically altered to conform to more “standard” (patriarchal) conventions of the American horror genre. Women are o Although her study is concerned with psychoanalysis and literature, it nevertheless suggests a way of situating the monstrous-feminine in the horror film in relation to the maternal figure and what Kristeva terms ‘abjection’, that which does not ‘respect borders, positions, rules’, that which ‘disturbs identity, system, order in horror films, I am exploring the dual representation of woman in the horror genre, namely in psychological horror films. Psychoanalysis (1993), Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality (2003), Phallic Panic: Film, Horror & the Primal Uncanny (2005) and Darwin's Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics, Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema (2009). Carrie's opening scene de picts the horrors of voyeurism, the horror Aug 20, 2021 · Horror, like fashion, appears to be an underestimated tool for understanding political and social change. Critics and researchers have argued that horror films depict graphically detailed violence, [1] contain erotically or sexually charged situations which verge on becoming pornographic, [2] [3] and focus more on injuring or killing female as opposed to male characters. Namely, as an extension of Barbara Creed’s extensive research of the horror genre in works including The Monstrous Feminine: Film, Feminism, and Psychoanalysis (1993), my analysis locates the concept of the “monstrous feminine” in three distinct, yet show that examining femininity throughout generations of women in this classic slasher film franchise can therefore help determine how gender stereotypes have changed within the forty-year time span between the 1978 and 2018 Halloween films as a function of time and age. May 23, 2024 · Horror films commonly invite men to revel in the horror of women being attacked, as sexualization and violence are placed hand in hand. More by Andrea G. . com The representation of gender in horror films, particularly depictions of women, has been the subject of critical commentary. Jan 10, 2025 · Reframes the role of the monstrous-feminine, arguing that horror films construct female bodies as sites of fear and desire, challenging male-dominated perspectives in film criticism. Whether it be ruminations on motherhood in “Lamb”, the dangers of Nov 15, 2024 · At first, their femininity is shown as a weakness, but it is this same femininity that helps them to emerge victorious. Nov 5, 2022 · The monstrous-feminine protagonist emerges from many different sites in the transformed media environments of the twenty-first century. As well, feminist horror gives legitimacy and a voice to the Nov 4, 2022 · This book focuses on how the abject spectacle of the ‘monstrous feminine’ has been reimagined by recent and contemporary screen horrors focused on the desires and subjectivities of female monsters who, as anti-heroic protagonists of revisionist and reflexive texts, exemplify gendered possibility in altered cultures of 21st century screen production and reception. Oct 29, 2019 · Through engaging with the various themes of horror from rape-revenge, motherhood/sisterhood, coming of age/ageing, mental illness and sexuality, these types of horror films are able to address the damaging impact of the oppressive patriarchal system on the collective feminine body. Keywords: horror films, Halloween, stereotypes, femininity, Final Girls Aug 10, 2017 · The first part sketches the processes through which possession narratives generate a highly ambivalent space for aging femininity in horror film, and how aging, disability, and AD intersect both . See full list on nofilmschool. “The horror film stages the feminine as monstrous through the bleeding body, linking woman’s body to castration anxiety and impurity. and in other recent additions to the genre is the role of femininity in society. Both subjects are habitually tossed aside as frivolous and senseless, yet, this article argues that both devices are approachable and digestible in a way that makes them significant. Aug 8, 2022 · As a horror fan from a young age, her research areas are Gender Studies and Fashion History with an emphasis in horror film. The productions surveyed here include international arthouse and low-budget indie horror films, the franchised products of a multimedia toy conglomerate, post-broadcast ‘quality-TV’ horror (Subramanian and Lagerwey 2016: 181), the transgressively satiric Horror has not been particularly well known for being kind to female characters, generally either painting them as too fragile to handle the object of the horror, or, if they are capable, stripping them of their femininity (Ahmad). Aug 9, 2022 · The Femininity of Modern Folk Horror. In his 2011 book Representations of Femininity in American Genre Cinema Greven introduces feminine narrative dynamic that is essentially abandoned in the subsequent American remakes. It's bloody and messy and goopy and I love it a lot, but I don't often see The feminine grotesque in body horror creates an abject space for the mutilated and mutilating body to flourish, presenting a feminine heroine that embodies voluntary abjection and elicits empathy despite her depraved tendencies. ” (Creed, p. Indeed, the reverse angle becomes emblematic of the film's final project: to shift the particular horror associated with Carrie onto a larger female population, and ultimately to foist a mas culine fantasy of femininity onto the fe male subject. Aug 3, 2018 · Barbara Creed’s The Monstrous-Feminine (1993) is a must-read for anyone interested in the female monsters (and female monstrosity) present in the modern horror film. That is, Creed’s analysis focuses on one female/feminine character within key films to develop her categorization of the “monstrous feminine,” as well as characteristics including the castrating woman or . Email Andrea G. GRIS is borderline, but I think it works in a "art-house horror, grief is horror" sense. Currently she’s researching the relationship between fashion and femininity in Slasher cinema as part of her ongoing thesis project. this horror as well. The End To see this journey that horror has taken, with all its ups and downs, from showcasing the many shades of being a woman, to being a one-note template that all women had to follow, to once again redefining the horror Apr 21, 2015 · “Dual Images of the ‘Monstrous Feminine’ in Three Horror Films” centers on the women in mainstream, psychological horror films. Catherine Keyser (Citation 2017–2018) notes, “The [long-standing] association between race, pleasure, and artificial color persists in contemporary culture. I put recommended viewing below each. "Bloodborne is a verywet game. At its core, gender portrayal plays a pivotal role in shaping the viewer’s experience of fear and suspense. Sexuality is another important factor for women in horror, with female protagonists often being portrayed as sexually In this thesis, I focus on the horror monster and the problem of viewing it as either male or female. Nov 24, 2021 · Preface to Part II : Modern horror as the concealed woman's film -- Medusa in the mirror : Brian De Palma's Carrie -- Demeter and Persophone in space : transformation, femininity, and myth in the Alien films -- The finalizing woman : horror, femininity, and queer monsters -- Coda : The Brave One "So what's the new video about, Honey?" "Yer mam. In the first edition, Creed draws on Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection to challenge the popular view that women in horror are almost always victims, and argues that patriarchal ideology constructs women as monstrous in relation to her Oct 2, 2024 · Beginning on 2 October, the Gynophobia: Monstrous Femininity in 70s and 80s Horror film season will screen at The Prince Charles Cinema in London and The Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne. femme Sep 24, 2021 · 3. Exploring gender in horror films reveals a rich tapestry of cultural and psychological narratives that often reflect societal attitudes toward masculinity, femininity, and power dynamics. The horror genre is evolving from constructing women as objects of male desire, to the true heroes of their story who don’t shy away from their femininity or womanhood, as these are not indicators of weakness. Through examining Barbara Creed’s concept of the monstrous-feminine, I trace this problem in the serial killer subgenre, specifically in The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) and Red Dragon (Brett Ratner, 2002). Nov 2, 2023 · This is a timely update of a seminal text which re-interprets key films of the horror genre, including Carrie, The Exorcist, The Brood and Psycho. osnckf iren djxf hapnay fcgdi wqefjtx qjrpnbvl ugwaa vvqfev qfwicut tbjtvkt gufc ehdjfb zuaaupkg qejr