DOCSLIB.ORG

On Femininity & Horror

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On Femininity & Horror 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 FACE AROUND 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 FACE AROUND 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.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Re-Reading the Monstrous-Feminine : Art, Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis Ebook
    RE-READING THE MONSTROUS-FEMININE : ART, FILM, FEMINISM AND PSYCHOANALYSIS PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Nicholas Chare | 268 pages | 18 Sep 2019 | Taylor & Francis Ltd | 9781138602946 | English | London, United Kingdom Re-reading the Monstrous-Feminine : Art, Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis PDF Book More Details Creed challenges this view with a feminist psychoanalytic critique, discussing films such as Alien, I Spit on Your Grave and Psycho. Average rating 4. Name required. Proven Seller with Excellent Customer Service. Enlarge cover. This movement first reached success in the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory in before reaching the United States in , and the United Kingdom in where women over thirty were only allowed to vote if in possession of property qualifications or were graduates of a university of the United Kingdom. Sign up Log in. In comparison, both films support the ideas of feminism as they depict women as more than the passive or lesser able figures that Freud and Darwin saw them as. EMBED for wordpress. Doctor of Philosophy University of Melbourne. Her argument that man fears woman as castrator, rather than as castrated, questions not only Freudian theories of sexual difference but existing theories of spectatorship and fetishism, providing a provocative re-reading of classical and contemporary film and theoretical texts. Physical description viii, p. The Bible, if read secularly, is our primal source of horror. The initial display of women as villains despite the little screen time will further allow understanding of the genre of monstrous feminine and the roles and depths allowed in it which may or may not have aided the feminist movement.
    [Show full text]
  • The Invisible Monstrous-Feminine
    THE INVISIBLE MONSTROUS-FEMININE: THE BLAIR WITCH AND HER HETEROTOPIC WOODS Nb A thesis submitted to the faculty of 30 San Francisco State University Z0\S In partial fulfillment of F im the requirements for * the Degree Master of Arts In Cinema by Erez Genish San Francisco, California May 2015 Copyright by Erez Genish 2015 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read The Invisible Monstrous-Feminine: The Blair Witch and her Heterotopic Woods by Erez Genish, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Cinema at San Francisco State University. THE INVISIBLE MONSTROUS-FEMININE: THE BLAIR WITCH AND HER HETEROTOPIC WOODS Erez Genish San Francisco, California 2015 What is absent in the pseudo found-footage film of Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick’s The Blair Witch Project (1999), is the visual depiction of the Blair witch. The nontraditional tactic of leaving the witch in the woods without form stands in contrast to other folklore and fairytales that perpetuated the mythic figure of the crone, an old woman whose decaying body represents the blurred line between life and death. The crone- witch corresponds to Barbara Creed’s notion of the monstrous-feminine and her analysis of Julia Kristeva’s abject. As her polluted, filthy old mark her a phobic referent, the crone-witch becomes the non-object that draws the subject to the regenerative womb. However, what draws a parallel in the BWP between the monstrous-feminine crone and abjection is the witch’s invisibility.
    [Show full text]
  • Discussion Papers
    School of Business DISCUSSION PAPERS Robinson Crusoe in the Family: Feminist Economics and Lost in Space Gillian Hewitson Series A 01.02 2001 The copyright associated with this Discussion Paper resides with the author(s) Opinions expressed in this Discussion Paper are those of the author(s), not necessarily those of the School, its Departments or the University ROBINSON CRUSOE IN THE FAMILY: FEMINIST ECONOMICS AND LOST IN SPACE ABSTRACT The use of the figure of Robinson Crusoe as an exemplar of rational economic man may be viewed as of no significance whatsoever, or as very significant in the creation of the meaning of the economic agent. This paper discusses two alternative views of feminist economists. Some feminist economists can be understood to be arguing for the situating of Crusoe within a family context in order to more fully represent the economic reality of both men and women. Others suggest that adding representations of women and families without examining the underlying significance and functioning of Crusoe as a self-made man may misrepresent women in the same way as their exclusion or absence from economic representations. A reading of a modern ‘Family Robinson’ story is used to discuss these views. KEYWORDS Economic man, Robinson Crusoe, family, story-telling, feminist poststructuralism 2 3 ROBINSON CRUSOE IN THE FAMILY: FEMINIST ECONOMICS AND LOST IN SPACE Gillian Hewitson Department of Economics and Finance La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria AUSTRALIA 3083 Email: [email protected] Phone: 011 61 3 9479 2730 Fax: 011 61 3 9479 1654 Gillian Hewitson is a Lecturer in the Department of Economics and Finance at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia.
    [Show full text]
  • Fears and the Female Circumstance: Women in 1970S Horror Films Lorian Gish
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College 2019 Fears and the Female Circumstance: Women in 1970s Horror Films Lorian Gish Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Fears and the Female Circumstance: Women in 1970s Horror Films Lorian Gish BFA Acting for Film, Television, Voice-over, and Commercials Minor: Classical and Medieval Studies Thesis Advisor: Shaun Seneviratne Film Studies Presentation: May 8th, 2019 Graduation: May 23rd, 2019 Gish 1 Abstract More than ever before, stories commenting on real female fears are invaluable to the natural social progression of film as an art form. The core female-centric themes in prominent 1970s horror films are: coming of age, sexual identity, domesticity, pregnancy, and reproductive rights. This thesis first employs empirical research as groundwork for analysis on specific film works by elaborating on expert opinion of the horror genre as well as its foundational elements. Thus, that analysis of the return of repressed fear(s), audience projection of monster and victim, and male gaze, applies to iconic 1970s horror films such as Carrie (1976), Halloween (1978), and Rosemary’s Baby (1968). Films that capture fear comment on universal themes of female perceptions, through specific visual and textual techniques and practices. Gish 2 Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • MASCULINITY in CRISIS 223 Male Protagonist, Wearing the Mask of the of Male Symbolic Order
    The nature of masculinity and the suppression and re-emergence of the feminine are brilliantly explored in Barbara Creed’s Phallic Panic: Film Horror and the Primal Uncanny. Creed delves deep into the horror genre and what emerges is a succinct and engaging analysis of the PANIZZA ALLMARK connection between the primal uncanny and the classic male monster of horror. The social, historical and psychoanalytical aspects of the masculinity horror genre are integrated into the analysis. The book provides a noble contribution to in crisis feminist insights and cultural criticism by the uncanny male monster providing a counter-reading to the hyper- masculinity that has often been aligned with the male-driven genre. The book is culturally subversive in demonstrating the contradictions and inconsistencies in the symbolic order. BARBARA CREED Creed argues that in cinematic representation Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny and other cultural forms the male monster is Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic. associated with the ‘primal uncanny’, which 2005 is woman, the animal and death. The three ISBN 052285172X categories are not mutually exclusive and the RRP $34.95 book highlights their prevalence in aspects of popular culture. In Creed’s rich theoretical discussion, she examines popular film and myth, which feature male monsters, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, werewolves, mad scientists, slashers and ghosts. Creed discusses what they have in common and significantly she, in turn, uses the uncanny as a motif for revealing or bringing to light what, according to phallocentric society ‘ought to have remained secret and hidden’.1 (3) The book is compelling in its appeal and approach to the shadow side of popular culture.
    [Show full text]
  • DARK DESIRES: Male Masochism in the Horror Film Barbara Creed from SCREENING the MALE
    DARK DESIRES: Male masochism in the horror film Barbara Creed From SCREENING THE MALE: Exploring masculinities in Hollywood cinema Edited by Steven Cohan and Ina Rae Hark 1993 The body must bear no trace of its debt to nature: it must be clean and proper in order to be fully symbolic (Kristeva 1982) Whenever male bodies are represented as monstrous in the horror film they assume characteristics usually associated with the female body: they experience a blood cycle, change shape, bleed, give birth, become penetrable, are castrated. Traditionally, the male body has been viewed as norm; the female body a deviation. One of the more popular medieval ideas of the difference between the sexes was that women were men turned inside out. Galen explains in careful detail how this reversal works. His discussion is part of a wider treatise justifying woman’s inferiority. A second reason is one that appears in dissecting...think first, please, of the man’s [sexual organs] turned in and extending inward between the rectum and the bladder. If this should happen, the scrotum would necessarily take the place of the uteri [sic], with the testes lying outside, next to it on either side; the penis of the male would become the neck of the cavity that had been formed; and the skin at the end of the penis, now called prepuce, would become the female pudendum itself...In fact, you could not find a single male part left over that had not simply changed its position; for the parts that are inside in woman are outside in man.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbara Creed a JOURNEY THROUGH BLUE VELVET
    new formations NUMBER 6 WINTER I 988 Barbara Creed A JOURNEY THROUGH BLUE VELVET FILM, FANTASY AND THE FEMALE SPECTATOR Fantasists enjoyed little success with her: for, although she did not say very much . her bright eyes and that subtle ironical smile told them: 'Dear friends! how could you believe of me that I should regard your transient poetic fancies as real beings, possessing life and action?' For this reason Clara was stigmatized by many as cold, unfeeling, prosaic. E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Sandman David Lynch's film Blue Velvet threatens to make interpretation redundant, so openly does it flaunt its Freudian themes and narrative. Its protagonist, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), is an Oedipal hero. His real father is struck down (by a heart attack); he sets out on a journey, encounters woman as enigma, woman as symbolic mother figure, and makes love to her; finally, he kills the murderous father-substitute - at which point some fonm of normality is restored and the hero is free to take a young woman of his own. The narrative is liberally dotted with Freudian signposts, often humorously treated: a severed ear, the symbolic use of 'keys' (to unlock the unconscious), the Oedipal drama which Jeffrey witnesses from a wardrobe, repressed homosexual desire when Frank (Dennis Hopper) kisses Jeffrey, the multiplication of father figures, the separation of a mother from her (male) child, woman as masochist, and so on. This surface knowingness and playfulness, the ironic tone and insistent parody of family values, mark Blue Velvet as a post-modern text. It also displays the expected generic pastiches of film noir, melodrama, and pornography.
    [Show full text]
  • Negotiation of the Abject Through the Representation of the Monstrous-Feminine in Ari Aster’S Midsommar
    PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI NEGOTIATION OF THE ABJECT THROUGH THE REPRESENTATION OF THE MONSTROUS-FEMININE IN ARI ASTER’S MIDSOMMAR AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By KATARINA ANGGITA RACHMAPUTRI Student Number: 174214154 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2021 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI NEGOTIATION OF THE ABJECT THROUGH THE REPRESENTATION OF THE MONSTROUS-FEMININE IN ARI ASTER’S MIDSOMMAR AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By KATARINA ANGGITA RACHMAPUTRI Student Number: 174214154 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2021 ii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude toward my thesis advisor, Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., for his patient guidance and understanding during the completion of this thesis, and my thesis co-advisor and examiner, Dr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum. and Sri Mulyani, Ph.D. respectively, for their thorough and insightful feedback. I am also indebted to the other lecturers of the English Letters Department, in particular Elisabeth Oseanita Pukan, S.S., M.A., for their constant care and support during my time in the university. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without constant help and support from my family; my friends, in particular Anggi, Aul, Bella, Dea, Deva, Dimi, Fali, Fira, Galuh, Hestu, Hugo, Ilham, Kak Jo, Lauren, Lieie, Mikha, Nandha, Nathan, Nia, Ninja, Ocha, Ryan, Sasha, Mbak Shuluh, Mbak Uti, Vanesa, Vinsen, Vinska; and all the people who have made me feel held and at home.
    [Show full text]
  • Figuring Female Transgression in Jennifer's Body (2009)
    HUMANIORA VOLUME 30 Number 1 February 2018 Page 10–16 Female Monsters: Figuring Female Transgression in Jennifer’s Body (2009) and The Witch (2013) Aidatul Chusna; Shofi Mahmudah Univeristas Jenderal Soedirman Purwokerto, Indonesia Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper aimed to examine the depiction of the monstrous feminine in two horror films, 2009’s Jennifer’s Body and 2015’s The Witch, by investigating how horror films confront transgression through the construction of woman as a monstrous figure in the story. The theory of abjection proposed by Julia Kristeva and of the monstrous feminine by Barbara Creed were used in the analysis. The main data were taken from these two films, focusing on the characterization and narrative aspects. It was found that the depiction of the monstrous feminine in both films was through the use of monstrous acts and images. The way in which these films constructed monstrosity indicates female transgression of patriarchal boundaries, specifically on the issue of gender identity and religiosity. The transgression emphasizes that there is no absolute identity, and thus boundaries are disrupted due to this fluid identity. Keywords: abjection; boundaries; female monster; monstrous feminine; transgression INTRODUCTION Horror films have been produced since the first era of of the popular types is the female monster. Many cinema. These stories are developed based on various horror films present various characters in the form types of sources, like ghost stories, myths, legends, of female monsters, such as ghosts in The Shining and gothic Victorian literature. The horror genre has (1980), The Others (2001), and Carved (2007); aliens become one of the oldest and most popular genres in The Faculty (1998), Species (1995), and Under in film history.
    [Show full text]
  • Menstruation, Monstrosity and the Double in the Ginger Snaps Werewolf Trilogy Erin M
    Pace University DigitalCommons@Pace Honors College Theses Pforzheimer Honors College 5-6-2008 Howling (and Bleeding) at the Moon: Menstruation, Monstrosity and the Double in the Ginger Snaps Werewolf Trilogy Erin M. Flaherty Honors College, Pace University, New York Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses Part of the Modern Literature Commons Recommended Citation Flaherty, Erin M., "Howling (and Bleeding) at the Moon: Menstruation, Monstrosity and the Double in the Ginger Snaps Werewolf Trilogy" (2008). Honors College Theses. Paper 67. http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/67 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Pforzheimer Honors College at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Flaherty Howling (and Bleeding) at the Moon: Menstruation, Monstrosity and the Double in the Ginger Snaps Werewolf Trilogy by Erin M. Flaherty Abstract In this essay, I explore the radical reframing of the traditional werewolf narrative with respect to the figure of the double and the abject female body in the Ginger Snaps werewolf trilogy. Notable theorists discussed herein include Barbara Creed, Carol Clover, Julia Kristeva, April Miller and Robin Wood. Throughout both its folkloric and cinematic history, the creature of the werewolf has been constructed almost invariably as a male monster suffering within a Jekyll and Hyde-like narrative of the double. An otherwise exemplary member of Robin Wood’s society of surplus repression, the male lycanthrope is doomed to endure a monthly transformation into monstrous, murderous beast, the Other that challenges normality through its very existence.
    [Show full text]
  • Animal Studies Journal 2014 3 (1): Cover Pages, Table of Contents, Notes on Contributors and Editorial
    Animal Studies Journal Volume 3 Number 1 Article 1 5-2014 Animal Studies Journal 2014 3 (1): Cover Pages, Table of Contents, Notes on Contributors and Editorial Melissa J. Boyde University of Wollongong, [email protected] Sally Borrell Middlesex University Fiona Probyn-Rapsey University of Sydney Chris Degeling University of Sydney Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj Recommended Citation Boyde, Melissa J.; Borrell, Sally; Probyn-Rapsey, Fiona; and Degeling, Chris, Animal Studies Journal 2014 3 (1): Cover Pages, Table of Contents, Notes on Contributors and Editorial, Animal Studies Journal, 3(1), 2014, i-vii. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol3/iss1/1 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Animal Studies Journal 2014 3 (1): Cover Pages, Table of Contents, Notes on Contributors and Editorial Abstract Cover pages, table of contents, contributor biographies and editorial for Animal Studies Journal Vol. 3 No. 1 2014 This journal article is available in Animal Studies Journal: https://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol3/iss1/1 AASG COMMITTEE Chairperson: Melissa Boyde Deputy Chair: Fiona Probyn-Rapsey Secretary: Sally Borrell Treasurer: Yvette Watt General committee: Matthew Chrulew, Jennifer McDonell, Clare McCausland WEBPAGE Our website provides detailed information about AASG, including our aims and vision, committee profiles, list of members, past and present issues of our Bulletin and material on AASG conferences. The news section lists upcoming conferences, seminars and exhibitions, new publications and calls for papers and proposals.
    [Show full text]
  • Monstrous-Feminine
    REVISING “MONSTROUS-FEMININE”: MADNESS, SEXUALITY, PERVERSION IN CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOHORROR by Kateryna Burkush Submitted to Central European University Department of Gender Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Gender Studies Supervisor: Professor Erzsébet Barát CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2012 Abstract In my thesis I explored various forms of female filmic monstrosity in The Piano Teacher (2001), the Black Swan (2010), and the Antichrist (2009) arguing that they belong to the hybrid ‘post-modern’ genre of psychohorror. Having compared the main characters of these films to the ‘empowered’ figures of female castrating monsters such as Ripley in the Alien (1979) and Carrie in Carrie (1976) and a trope of the ‘final girl’ I identified a conservative ‘backlash’ in the genre of horror. I argued that the main site of ‘abjection’ of these characters and the root of their monstrosity is uncontrolled un-reproductive sexuality, represented in films as perverse and dangerous for social order and therefore subjected to further repression. The ways of ‘monstrification’ of female sexuality overlap through films along the lines of fear of ‘maternal authority’ (The Piano Teacher and the Black Swan), madness, and heroines’ engagement into sphere of artistry (The Piano Teacher and the Black Swan) or academic research (the Antichrist) that forms the binary of production/reproduction in which (creative) production is connoted as anti-feminine in terms of its narrative alignment with excessive (perverse) sexuality and identity crisis. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents Abstract........................................................................................................................... ii 1. Introduction: Psychohorror as a hybrid genre and its discontents ..................................1 2.
    [Show full text]