WHEN THE WOMAN LOOKS On Femininity & Horror

WHEN THE WOMAN LOOKS

»Whenever the movie screen holds a particularly effective image of terror, little boys and grown men make it a point of honor to look, while little girls and grown women cover their eyes or hide behind the shoulders of their dates. There are excellent reasons for this refusal of the woman to look, not the least of which is that she is often asked to bear witness to her own powerlessness in the face of rape, mutilation and murder.«

Linda Williams When the Woman looks

OURS IS INDEED AN AGE OF EXTREMITY. FOR WE LIVE UNDER CONTINUAL THREAT OF TWO EQUALLY FEARFUL, BUT SEEMINGLY OPPOSED, DESTINIES: UNREMITTING BANALITY AND INCONCEIVABLE TERROR. IT IS FANTASY, SERVED OUT IN LARGE RATIONS BY THE POPULAR ARTS, WHICH ALLOWS MOST PEOPLE TO COPE WITH THESE TWIN SPECTERS. FOR ONE JOB THAT FANTASY CAN DO IS TO LIFT US OUT OF THE UNBEARABLY HUMDRUM AND TO DISTRACT US FROM TERRORS, REAL OR ANTICI- PATED- BY AN ESCAPE INTO EXOTIC DANGEROUS SITUATIONS WHICH HAVE LAST-MINUTE HAPPY ENDINGS. BUT ANOTHER ONE OF THE THINGS THAT FANTASY CAN DO IS TO NORMALIZE WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY UNBEARABLE, THEREBY INURING US TO IT. IN THE ONE CASE, FANTASY BEAUTIFIES THE WORLD. IN THE OTHER, IT NEU- TRALIZES IT.

SUSAN SONNTAG THE IMAGINATION OF DISASTER Body Genre

»The body spectacle is featured most sensationally in pornography‘s portrayal of orgasm, in horror‘s portrayal of violence, blood and terror, and in melodra- ma‘s portrayal of weeping. Body genres hinge on the spectacle of a ›sexually saturated‹ female body, and each offers what many feminist critics would agree to be spectacles of feminine victimization.

Like all popular genres, they address persistent problems in our culture, in our sexualities, in our very identities. The deployment of sex, violence, and emotion is thus in no way gratuitous and in no way strictly limited to each of these genres; it is instead a cultural form of problem solving.

Their very existence and popularity hinges upon rapid changes taking place in relations between the sexes and by rapidly changing notions of gender – of what it means to be a man or a woman. To dismiss them as bad excess whether of explicit sex, violence, or emotion, or as bad perversions, whether of maso- chism or sadism, is not to address their function as cultural problem-solving. Genres thrive, after all, on the persistence of the problems they address; but genres thrive also in their ability to recast the nature of these problems.«

Linda Williams Film bodies: Gender, genre, and excess THE MALE GAZE SLASHER THE FINAL GIRL THE FEMALE SPECTATOR RAPE-REVENGE THE MONSTROUS FEMININE POSTFEMINISM THE MALE

GATHE WOMAN AS THE PERFECT ZE PRODUCT THE BEAUTY OF THE WOMAN AS OBJECT AND THE SCREEN SPACE COALESCE; SHE IS NO LONGER THE BEARER OF GUILT BUT A PERFECT PRODUCT, WHOSE BODY, STYLISED AND FRAGMENTED BY CLOSE-UPS, IS THE CONTENT OF THE FILM AND THE DIRECT RECIPIENT OF THE SPECTATOR‘S LOOK.

LAURA MULVEY IN THEIR TRADITIONAL EXHIBITIONIST ROLE WOMEN ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY LOOKED AT AND DISPLAYED, WITH THEIR APPEARANCE CODED FOR STRONG VISUAL AND EROTIC IMPACT SO THAT THEY CAN BE SAID TO CONNOTE TO-BE-LOOKED- AT-NESS. WOMAN DISPLAYED AS SEXUAL OBJECT IS THE LEIT-MOTIF OF EROTIC SPECTACLE: […] SHE HOLDS THE LOOK, PLAYS TO AND SIGNIFIES MALE DESIRE.

LAURA MULVEY THIS FETISHISTICALY SOFT-LIT, SLOW-MOTION MONTAGE OF MARI DRESSING IN ›THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT‹ – FEATURING FRAGMENTED CLOSE-UPS OF WET SKIN, STOMACH, BREASTS, CROTCH, DRIPPING HAIR AND SUN-DAPPLED FACE – IS PRACTI- CALLY A STEP-BY-STEP CINEMATIC RENDERING OF LAURA MULVEYS PARADIGM. THE SEQUENCE FUNCTIONS TO INTERPELLATE THE VIEWER AS IDEOLOGICALLY COMPLICIT.

MARTIN FRADLEY THE WOMAN AS ICON, DISPLAYED FOR THE GAZE AND ENJOYMENT OF MEN, THE ACTIVE CONTROLLERS OF THE LOOK, ALWAYS THREATENS TO EVOKE THE ANXIETY OF CASTRATION

LAURA MULVEY IN A WORLD ORDERED BY SEXUAL IMBALANCE, PLEASURE IN LOOKING HAS BEEN SPLIT BETWEEN ACTIVE/MALE AND PASSIVE/FEMALE. THE DETERMINING MALE GAZE PROJECTS ITS PHANTASY ON TO THE FEMALE FORM WHICH IS STYLED ACCORDINGLY.

LAURA MULVEY Those straw dogs outside were practically licking my body.

I applaud their good taste.

Thats not funny.

Well maybe you should wear a bra.

Are you saying I’m asking for this?

I’m just saying that maybe you should be a little more modest and you’d be looked at with a bit more respect.

So you’re saying that if I put on THE WOMAN DISPLAYED HAS FUNCTIONED ON a bra then I’ll gain more respect? TWO LEVELS: AS EROTIC OBJECT FOR THE CHARACTERS WITHIN THE SCREEN STORY, AND AS EROTIC OBJECT FOR THE SPECTATOR WITHIN THE AUDITORIUM.

LINDA WILLIAMS I LIKE WOMEN, ESPECIALLY BEAUTIFUL ONES. IF THEY HAVE A GOOD FACE AND FIGURE, I WOULD MUCH PRE- FER TO WATCH THEM BEING MURDERED THAN AN UGLY GIRL OR MAN.

DARIO ARGENTO THE USE OF SUCH CLOSE-UPS FOR THE HEROINE STRESSES THAT, UNLIKE THE HERO, SHE IS VALUED ABOVE ALL FOR WHAT HER APPEARANCE CONNOTES, FOR HER BEAUTY AND SEXUAL DESIRABILITY. ON THE CINEMA SCREEN ITSELF, THE SHOHINI CHAUDHURI WOMAN AS EROTIC SPECTACLE IS THE PERFECT FETISH. THE CAMERA FETISHISTICALLY ISOLATES FRAG- MENTS OF HER BODY (FACE, BREASTS, LEGS) IN CLOSE-UPS. THE FETISHISTIC REPRESENTATION OF THE NUDE FEMALE BODY INSURES A MASCULINIZATION OF THE SPECTATORIAL POSITION.

MARY ANN DOANE IN THE CLASSICAL NARRATIVE CINEMA, TO SEE IS TO DESIRE. BLINDNESS IN THIS CONTEXT SIGNIFIES A PERFECT ABSENCE OF DESIRE, ALLOWING THE LOOK OF THE MALE PROTAGONIST TO REGARD THE WOMAN AT THE REQUISITE SAFE DISTANCE NECESSARY TO THE VOYEUR’S PLEASURE, WITH NO DANGER THAT SHE WILL RE- TURN THAT LOOK AND IN SO DOING EXPRESS DESIRES OF HER OWN.

LINDA WILLIAMS THE PARADOX OF WOMAN AS ›CONSTANTLY SPOKEN OF‹ WHILE SHE HERSELF REMAINS ›INAUDIBLE‹, DISPLAYED AS SPECTACLE AND YET UNREPRESENTED.

TERESA DE LAURETIS SEX, INI LIKE THIS WOMEN, ESPE- UNIVERSE,CIALLY PROCEEDS BEAUTIFUL FROM GENDERONES. IF – THEYNOT HAVE THE OTHERA GOOD WAY FACEAROUND AND FIGURE, I WOULD MUCH PREFER TO WATCH THEM BEING MURDERED THAN AN UGLY GIRL OR SLASHERSEX, IN THISMAN. UNIVERSE, PROCEEDS FROM GENDER. IN HORROR, COUNTRY DWELLERS ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY REPRESENTED BY ADULT MALES WITH NO FAMILY ATTACHE- MENTS. THESE MEN LIVE BEYOND THE REACHES OF SOCIAL LAW. THE COUNTRY IS A PLACE WHERE THE RULES OF CIVILIZATION DO NOT OBTAIN. THE PROBLEM IS PATRIARCHY RUM AMOK.

CAROL CLOVER VICTIM-IDENTIFED SLASHER FILMS HAVE ALWAYS EXPRESSED FEMALE ANXIETIES ABOUT GENDERED POWER RELATIONS, FEARS THAT RUN THE GAMUT FROM COERCIVE AMOROUS ADVANCES THROUGH TO THE BRUTAL REALITIES OF VIOLENT SEXUAL ASSAULT.

MARTIN FRADLEY SO THERE IS A SENSE IN WHICH THE WOMAN’S LOOK AT THE MONSTER IS MORE THAN SIMPLY A PUNISHMENT FOR LOOKING, OR A NARCISSISTIC FASCINATION WITH THE DISTORTION OF HER OWN IMAGE IN THE MIRROR THAT PATRIARCHY HOLDS UP TO HER; IT IS ALSO A RECOGNITION OF THEIR SIMILAR STATUS AS POTENT THREATS TO A VULNERABLE MALE POWER.

LINDA WILLIAMS TORTURE THE WOMEN! THE TROUBLE TODAY IS THAT WE DON‘T TORTURE WOMEN ENOUGH.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THE VICTIM FUNCTION THAT WANTS MANIFESTATION IN A FEMALE, AND SOMETHING ABOUT THE MONSTER AND HERO FUNCTIONS THAT WANTS EXPRESSION IN A MALE. SEX, IN THIS UNIVERSE, PROCEEDS FROM GENDER, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. A FIGURE DOES NOT CRY AND COWER BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN; SHE IS A WOMAN BECAUSE SHE CRIES AND COWERS. AND A FIGURE IS NOT A PSYCHOKILLER BECAUSE HE IS A MAN; HE IS A MAN BECAUSE HE IS A PSYCHOKILLER.

CAROL CLOVER SEX, INI LIKE THIS WOMEN, ESPE- UNIVERSE,CIALLY PROCEEDS BEAUTIFUL FROM GENDERONES. IF – THEYNOT HAVE THE OTHERA GOOD WAY FACEAROUND AND FIGURE, I WOULD MUCH PREFER TO WATCH THEM BEING MURDERED THAN AN UGLY GIRL OR MAN. ‚Torture the women!‘ The trouble today is that we don‘t torture women enough.“ Hitchcock

IN HORROR FILMS, THE WOMAN’S LOOK AT THE MONSTER OFFERS AT LEAST A POTENTIALLY SUBVERSIVE RECOGNITION OF THE POWER AND POTENCY OF A NON-PHALLIC SEXUALITY. PRECISELY BECAUSE THIS LOOK IS SO THREATENING TO MALE POWER, IT IS VIOLENTLY PUNISHED.

LINDA WILLIAMS THE FINAL

GIRLSHE‘S THE LAST SURVIVOR THE FINAL GIRL IS WATCHFUL TO THE POINT OF PARANOIA; SMALL SIGNS OF DANGER THAT HER FRIENDS IGNORE, SHE REGISTERS. ABOVE ALL SHE IS INTELLIGENT AND RESOURCEFUL IN A PINCH.

CAROL CLOVER WHEN THE FINAL GIRL ASSUMES THE ›ACTIVE INVESTIGATING GAZE‹, SHE EXACTLY REVERSES THE LOOK, MAKING A SPECTACLE OF THE KILLER AND A SPECTATOR OF HERSELF. THE FEMALE EXERCISE OF SCOPIC CONTROL RESULTS NOT IN HER ANNIHILATION BUT IN HER TRIUMPH; HER TRIUMPH DEPENDS ON HER ASSUMPTION OF THE GAZE.

CAROL CLOVER IT‘S A SHARED MASCULINITY, MATERIALIZED IN ALL THOSE PHALLIC SYMBOLS-AND IT IS ALSO A SHARED FEMININITY, MATERIALIZED IN WHAT COMES NEXT: THE CASTRATION, LITERAL OR SYMBOLIC, OF THE KILLER AT HER HANDS. THE FINAL GIRL HAS NOT JUST MANNED HERSELF; SHE SPECIFICALLY UNMANS AN OPPRESSOR WHOSE MASCULINITY WAS IN QUESTION TO BEGIN WITH.

CAROL CLOVER IF A WOMAN CAN NOT BE AGGRESSIVE AND STILL BE A WOMAN, THEN FEMALE AGENCY IS A PIPE DREAM. BUT IF THE SURVIVING FEMALE CAN BE AGGRESSIVE AND BE REALLY A WOMAN, THEN SHE SUBVERTS THIS BINARY NOTION OF GENDER THAT BUTTRESSES MALE DOMINANCE.

ISABEL CRISTINA PINEDO SHE IS WHAT THE KILLER ONCE WAS; HE IS WHAT SHE COULD BECOME SHOULD SHE FAIL IN HER BATTLE FOR SEXUAL SELFHOOD. THE MONSTER’S DEATH IS AN EXORCISM OF THE POWER OF THE FINAL GIRLS SEXUALITY.

CAROL CLOVER CONTEMPORARY HOFFOR FILMS INSISTENTLY FOREGROUND THE FEMALE HERO‘S EXPERI- ENTIAL TRANSFOTRMATION FROM AN UNCER- TAIN YOUNG WOMAN TO AN ADULT EMPOWERED BY THE GAINING OF FEMINIST SOCIAL AND POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE.

MARTIN FRADLEY THE FEMALE

SHESPECTATOR REVERSES THE LOOK THE FEMALE SPECTATOR HAS TWO OPTIONS. THE FIRST IS TO OVER-IDENTIFY WITH THE WOMAN ON THE SCREEN, BECOMING EMOTIO- NALLY OVER-INVOLVED WITH THE HEROINE. THE OTHER OPTION IS FOR THE FEMALE SPECTATOR TO TAKE THE HEROINE AS HER OWN NARCISSISTIC OBJECT OF DESIRE.

MARY ANN DOANE THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN THE MEDIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN EXPLOI- TATIVE. IT HAS, THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, REDUCED WOMEN TO BEING NOTHING MORE THAN OBJECTS TO BE WON, PRIZES TO BE SHOWN OFF, AND PLAYTHINGS TO BE ABUSED.

STEPHANIE NICHOLL BERBERICK THE MALE GAZE INVOLVES VOYEURISM. VOYEURISM PRESUPPOSES DISTANCE. THE FEMALE SPECTATOR LACKS THIS NECESSARY DISTANCE BECAUSE SHE IS THE IMAGE. FEMININITY IS CONSTRUCTED AS CLOSENESS, AS AN OVERWHELMING PRESENCE- TO-ITSELF OF THE FEMALE BODY.

MARY ANN DOANE IN THE CLASSICAL NARRATIVE CINEMA, TO SEE IS TO DESIRE.

LINDA WILLIAMS WHAT DID YOU SEE, CLARICE? WHAT DID YOU SEE? RAPE

REVENGETHE PUNISHMENT THAT FITS THE CRIME RAPE IS NOT A CRIME OF IRRATIONAL, IMPULSIVE, UNCONTROLLABLE LUST BUT A DELIBERATE, HOSTILE, VIOLENT ACT OF DEGRADATION AND POSSESSION ON THE PART OF A WOULD-BE CONQUEROR, DESI- GNED TO INTIMIDATE AND INSPIRE FEAR.

SUSAN BROWNMILLER, AGAINST OUR WILL

Amy: I think you should go. Charlie: No, you don‘t. WHAT‘S A PRETTY LITTLE THING LIKE YOU DOING ALL ALONE OUT HERE?

FEMALE SELF-SUFFICIENCY, BOTH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL, IS THE HALLMARK OF THE RAPE- REVENGE GENRE.

CAROL CLOVER RAPE-REVENGE FILMS EXAMINE THE POWER DYNAMIC BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN THAT MAKES RAPE HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE AND, IN THE SECOND, THAT MAKES IT SO EMINENTLY AVENGEABLE. IN DEFERENCE TO THE FEMINIST DISCUS- SION OF RAPE, RAPE IN THESE FILMS IS VIRTUALLY ALWAYS SEEN NOT JUST AS AN INDIVIDUAL ACT BUT AS A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACT AS WELL.

CAROL CLOVER FOR ›I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE‹, I‘m GANG RAPE HAS FIRST AND FOREMOST TO DO WITH MALE sorry SPORT AND MALE PECKING ORDER AND ONLY SECONDA- for RILY TO DO WITH SEX, THE IMPLICATION BEING THAT what TEAM SPORT AND GANG RAPE ARE DISPLACED VERSIONS OF I ONE ANOTHER, DRIVEN BY MALE SPECTATORSHIP. did CAROL CLOVER to you with them, but it wasn‘t my idea. RAPE-REVENGE FILMS NOT ONLY HAVE FEMALE HEROES AND MALE VILLAINS, THEY REPEATEDLY AND EXPLICITLY ARTICULATE FEMINIST POLITICS. THE REDEFINITION OF RAPE AS AN OFFENSE ON A PAR WITH MURDER, MUST BE CENTRALLY RESPON- SIBLE FOR LODGING RAPE AS A CRIME DESERVING OF THE LEVEL OF PUNISHMENT ON WHICH REVENGE NARRATIVES ARE PREDICATED.

CAROL CLOVER AN ENDURING TROPE IN POSTFEMINIST MEDIA REPRESENTATION IS THE WOMEN WHO EMBRACES VIOLENCE AS A REFUSAL OF VICTIMHOOD.

MARTIN FRADLEY THE VIOLENCE VISITED ON THANA HAS CAUSED HER TO NOTICE, THAT IN EVERY CORNER OF LIFE, MEN TAKE IT AS THEIR DUE TO DOMINATE AND ABUSE WOMEN. THE FILM SHOWST THANA INCREASINGLY SEXILY DRESSED AS A KIND OF ULTIMATE FEMINIST VIGILANTE GUNNING DOWN MEN WHO TRAFFICK IN WOMEN. SHE SHOTS AN ARRO- GANT PHOTOGRAPHER WHO OFFERS HER A CAREER IN EXCHANGE FOR SEX. SHE SHOOTS A PIMP IN THE ACT OF BEATING A PROSTITUTE FOR LOW PRODUCTIVITY. SHE SHOOTS AN ARAB SHEIK WHO SMUGLY BELIEVES THAT HE CAN BUY HER FOR THE NIGHT.

THANA KILLS NOT ONLY FOR HER OWN LITERAL RAPE, BUT FOR THE FIGURATIVE RAPE OF ALL WOMEN. ›MS 45‹ IS A VIRTUAL CHECKLIST OF MASCULINE PRIVILEGE AND PERVASIVE STRUCTURAL MISOGYNY.

CAROL CLOVER ALL IMAGES THAT DISPLAY THE VIOLATION OF AN ATTRACTIVE BODY ARE, TO A CERTAIN DEGREE, PORNOGRAPHIC. BUT IMAGES OF THE REPULSIVE CAN ALSO ALLURE. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT WHAT SLOWS DOWN HIGHWAY TRAFFIC GOING PAST A HORRENDOUS CAR CRASH IS NOT ONLY CURIOSITY.

SUSAN SONTAG THE CATEGORIES OF FETISHISM, VOYEURISM, SADISM, AND MASO- CHISM FREQUENTLY INVOKED TO DESCRIBE THE PLEASURES OF FILM SPECTATORSHIP ARE BY DEFINITION PERVERSIONS.

LINDA WILLIAMS THE MONSTROUS THERE IS SOMETHING FEMININE INSIDE OF ME VAGINA DENTATA, (LATIN): THE TOOTHED VAGINA APPEARS IN THE MYTHOLOGY OF MANY AND DIVERSE CULTURES ALL OVER THE WORLD. IN THESE MYTHS THE STORY IS ALWAYS THE SAME: THE HERO MUST DO BATTLE WITH THE WOMAN, THE TOOTHED CREATURE AND BREAK HER POWER. THE MYTH SPRINGS FROM A PRIMITIVE MASCULINE DREAD OF THE MYSTERIES OF WOMEN AND SEXUAL UNION. FEARS OF WEAKNESS, IMPOTENCE. IT IS A NIGHTMARE IMAGE OF THE POWER AND HORROR OF FEMALE SEXUALITY. THIS EMPHASIS ON YOUNG WOMEN‘S EVERYDAY GENDERED DISCONTENT IS SIMILARLY FOREGROUNDED IN TEEN HORROR FILMS SUCH AS ›TEETH‹. ALL OF WHICH SHARE A THEMATIC PREOCCUPATION WITH THE SUBLIMATION OF GENDERED ANGER AND THE REPRESSION AND/OR DENIGRATION OF YOUNG WOMEN‘S BODIES AND FEMALE SEXUALITY.

MARTIN FRADLEY PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP! PLUG IT UP! A NARRATIVE ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE OF FEMALE SEXUALITY AS A DIFFERENCE WHICH IS GROUNDED IN MONSTROUSNESS AND WHICH INVOKES CASTRATION ANXIETY IN THE MALE SPECTATOR.

BARABARA CREED ALL HUMAN SOCIETIES HAVE A CONCEPTION OF THE MON- STROUS-FEMININE, OF WHAT IT IS ABOUT WOMAN THAT IS SHO- CKING, TERRIFYING, HORRIFIC, ABJECT.

BARBARA CREED IF THE STEPFORD WIVES CONCERNS ITSELF WITH WHAT MEN WANT FROM WOMEN, THEN ›CARRIE‹ IS LARGELY ABOUT HOW WOMEN FIND THEIR OWN CHANNELS OF POWER, AND WHAT MEN FEAR ABOUT WOMEN AND WOMEN‘S SEXUALITY. THE BOOK IS, IN ITS MORE ADULT IMPLICATIONS, AN UN- EASY MASCULINE SHRINKING FROM A FUTURE OF FEMALE EQUALITY.

STEVEN KING WOMAN IS NOT, BY HER VERY NATURE, AN ABJECT BEING: RATHER, PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY CONSTRUCTS HER AS SUCH.

BARBARA CREED MASQUERADE IS A MASK OF FEMININITY.

MARY ANN DOANE POST

FEMINISMCOMPETITIVE INDIVIDUALISM AND SEXUALIZED SELF-DEFINITION v

I DON’T HAVE A - PROBLEM WITH MARLIN. BUT IT’S LIKE, FRADLEY MARTIN IF THAT FAT BITCH HAS A BETTER CHANCE AT JAKE THAN I DO THEN WHY IS IT MY FAULT THAT SHE HAS BODY IMAGE ISSUES? LIKE, THATS HER PREENING ACQUISITIVENESS, SEXUAL MARLIN‘S AND CHLOE PERFORMATIVITY AND KNOWINGITS USE OFMANIFESTS THEIR PHYSICALCAPITAL EROTIC MARKETABLE AS BEAUTY ELF IN BARBED EXCHANGES AND COMPETITIVEAPPEARANCE. INSULTS PHYSICAL ABOUT PROBLEM, YOU KNOW? SHE MAKES THE CHOICE TO BE FAT, SO. IT’S TOTALLY ALL ON HER. ›ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY‹ LANE MOBILIZES A STRA- TEGICALLY FETISHISTIC APPROACH TO ITS FEMALE HERO, ADDING FORMALIST RESONANCE TO THE FILM‘S CRITIQUE OF PSYCHO-SEXUAL SURVEILLANCE AND OBIECTIFICATION.

THE AFFECTIVE SEMIOTICS OF TEEN HORROR‘S KEY VISUAL TROPE - THE EXHAUSTED FEMALE VICTIM-HERO, TEARFUL, BLOODIED AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY TRAUMATIZED - HOLDS A DARK SOCIAL MIRROR TO THE CONSUMERIST PLEASURES VALORIZED BY POSTFEMINIST CULTURE.

MARTIN FRADLEY

YOU'RE

POSTFEMINISM IS A DISCURSIVE TERRAIN‚ BOTH HIGHLY KNOWING ABOUT SEX AND GENDER AND SO MUCH DEEPLY INVESTED IN CONVENTIONAL MODES OF FEMININITY. PRETTIER YVONNE TASKER THAN ME. THIS IS WHY TEEN HORRORS MOST ENDURING IMAGE – THE EPONYMOUS VICTIM-HERO OF ›CARRIE‹, TRAUMA- TIZED AND DRENCHED IN PIG‘S BLOOD ON HER PROM NIGHT – IS SO ICONIC. STRIPPED OF AN IDEALIZED TRADITIONAL FEMININITY, THE AFFECTIVE SEMIO- TICS OF THE BRUTALIZED FINAL GIRL BESPEAK A KNOWING CRITIQUE OF THE DYSTOPIC LIMITATIONS OF POSTFEMINIST CULTURAL NORMS.

MARTIN FRADLEY FEAR, VULNERABILITY, ANGUISH, TRAUMA – AND THEMATIC EMPHASIS ON SUFFERING AND VICTIM- HOOD ARE ANATHEMA TO BOTH THE FEMINIST POLITICAL EMPHASIS ON FEMALE AGENCY AND POSTFEMI- NISM‘S CONFIDENT PREOCCUPATION WITH FEMININE PLEASURE, PERSONAL STRENGTH AND INDIVI- DUAL SUCCESS.

MARTIN FRADLEY Now, that’s a pretty girl. Look at your eyes. A little mascara to bring it out? Your lips. Try some lipstick. THE ICONIC AND ENDURINGLY POPULAR MAKEOVER You have nice pretty lips. SCENE HAS COME TO STAND AS A SYNECDOCHE FOR And your cheekbones. THE POLITICIL LIMITATIONS OF POSTFEMINIST Look at your hair. It’s beautiful hair. You could just put it up a little. MEDIA CULTURE. Maybe add a little curl. MARTIN FRADLEY What do you think? GROUNDED IN COMPETITIVE INDIVIDUALISM AND SEXUALIZED SELF-DEFINITION, THE NORMALIZA- TION OF NEO-LIBERAL FEMININITY ILLUSTRATES THE ABJECT POLITICS OF THE POSTFEMINIST TURN. WHILE TRADITIONAL FEMININITY CONNOTES ›SEX OBJECT‹, NEOLIBERAL FEMININITY CONNOTES ›COMPETENT SUBJECT‹; WHILE TRADITIONAL FEMININITY IMPLIES DEPENDENCE, NEOLIBERAL FEMININITY IMPLIES INDEPENDENCE; WHILE TRADITIONAL FEMININITY IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SIN OF VANITY, NEOLIBERAL FEMININITY IMPLIES THAT ONE IS ACTIVELY SELF-RESPON- SIBLE.

YEAL D. SHERMAN JENNIFER‘S [I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE] COMMITMENT TO SELF-IMPROVEMENT IS SIGNIFIED BY HER SELF-DISCIPLINING PHYSICAL EXERCISE. HER EXERCISE REGIME FOREGROUNDS THE LABOUR INVOLVED IN REGULATING ›NORMATIVE‹ PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS.

MARTIN FRADLEY IT SEEMS IMPERATIVE FOR FEMINIST SCRUTINY TO OPEN UP TO THE FEMININE PLEASURES OF FEAR.

LINDA WILLIAMS