DOCSLIB.ORG

Vena Dan 201810 Phd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vena Dan 201810 Phd UNFINISHED BUSINESS: THE NEW WAVE OF WOMEN’S HORROR CINEMA by Dan Vena A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in Cultural Studies in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (December, 2018) Copyright © Dan Vena, 2018 Abstract My doctoral dissertation, “Unfinished Business: The New Wave of Women’s Horror Cinema,” responds to early considerations in feminist horror studies via the recent surge of horror films directed by women filmmakers for a primarily female audience. Placing this new wave of horror cinema in dialogue with the canonical works of Linda Williams, Carol Clover, and Barbara Creed, I re-evaluate the assumption that horror forecloses the possibility of female spectatorship in favour of male audiences. I argue that a change in authorship from almost exclusively male directors to women artists produces a markedly different form of address previously underrepresented in American and Canadian horror cinemas. Now, for the first time in the genre’s history, women directors are developing a globally substantial body of work that explicitly centres the ‘feminine’ and uses the conventions of horror to bridge topics such as sexuality, menstruation, virginity, gender-based violence, trauma/PTSD, eating disorders, pregnancy, and motherhood all from a woman’s perspective and for a female audience. The result is a cinema that affirms women’s experiences of fear, paranoia, anxiety, and desire, and addresses the ways in which living within patriarchy constitutes its own horror. Given this unprecedented development, the primary aim of this dissertation is to document the ways in which this new body of women-authored/women-driven horror re-inscribes the genre’s primary mode of address as distinctly female/feminine and constructs a tenable subject position for the female spectator. I stake a claim in recording this phenomenon as a crucial cultural moment in the genre’s development and suggest more work needs to be done to account for this cinema’s representational and political offerings. ii Acknowledgements This project emerged from a conversation I had with my colleague and dear friend Angie Fazekas. Many thanks go to Angie for encouraging me to pursue this line of inquiry and for permitting me to share her ideas. A deep amount of gratitude goes to my supervisor and mentor, Dr. Eleanor MacDonald. She has given me an incredible wealth of emotional support, intellectual guidance, and professional confidence over the course of my graduate career. Additionally, I thank her for her willingness to discuss and dissect the gory details of horror cinema with me, given her trepidation at the genre. She has shaped me, both as a person and as a scholar, for the better. I also offer thanks to my committee members and examiners, who have all provided insightful feedback on this project. To Dr. Scott MacKenzie, who came on board in the home stretch and graciously shared his passion for the genre with me. To Dr. Allison Morehead, who has always encouraged me to pursue the macabre. To Dr. Annette Burfoot and Dr. Christie Milliken, who both encouraged me to develop my scholarship in exciting directions. And to Dr. Samantha King, who weighed in during the early stages of my doctoral work and expressed enthusiasm for this project. Thanks also goes to all those who have taken care of me during the ups and downs of this process. Without them I would not have had the emotional, physical or financial resolve to complete this work. To my parents and grandparents, thank you for your sacrifice and for your love. To my compatriots – especially, Angie Fazekas, Aarzoo Singh, Robin Alex McDonald, and Tama De Szegheo Lang – for showing me endless supplies of care, compassion, and motivation. May I offer the same. Special thanks also go to Brittainy Bonnis, Stéfy McKnight, and Michelle Smith. I would also like to thank the staff and faculty at Queen’s Film and Media, who treated me as a welcomed colleague, especially Stephanie Wilson, Denise Arsenault, Professor Gary Kibbins and Professor Emily Pelstring. They have offered me employment, a space to work, and emotional support throughout this process. Also, I am appreciative of the passion and enthusiasm my students in FILM 331 and FILM 302 have shown for horror. I am particularly grateful to Erika Weir for her assistance in this project and to Patrick Woodstock. Lastly, I owe thanks to Colette Steer and Associate Dean Dr. Marta Straznicky, who have helped secure funding and have organized copious amounts of dissertation boot camps (at which a number of these chapters were written). This doctoral project was funded by Vanier Canada, Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Ontario Graduate Scholarships and Queen’s School of Graduate Studies. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1 The Changing Face of Horror .......................................................................................................1 “What’s your favorite scary movie?” ......................................................................................................13 Chapter 2 Final Girls and Monstrous Women: Theorizing Female Representation and Spectatorship in Horror Cinema .............................................................................................................................................21 Cavernous Maws and Bloody Chain Saws ..............................................................................................22 Like Looking in a Mirror… .....................................................................................................................36 Chapter 3 Girls Just Want to Have Fun: Escaping Restriction in Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie (2013) ..........48 The Monstrous-Feminine .........................................................................................................................52 Beginnings ...............................................................................................................................................61 Entrances ..................................................................................................................................................65 Discoveries ...............................................................................................................................................73 Returns .....................................................................................................................................................79 Endings ....................................................................................................................................................84 Chapter 4 Hail Mary, Full of Rage: Avenging the Female Body in Jennifer and Sylvia Soska’s American Mary (2012) .................................................................................................................................................86 The Woman’s Revenge Film ...................................................................................................................89 Representing Rape ...................................................................................................................................92 Enacting Revenge ..................................................................................................................................100 Securing Victories ..................................................................................................................................113 Chapter 5 Taking a Bite: Horror as Female Fantasy in Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight (2008) .............116 Staking a Claim to Horror ......................................................................................................................118 “I Know What I Want” ..........................................................................................................................128 Chapter 6 Don’t Stand So Close to Jennifer: Addressing Questions of Proximity, Spectatorship, and Genre with Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body (2009) ...................................................146 “Smart Bombs” ......................................................................................................................................150 “Someone’s Snack Pack” .......................................................................................................................154 Chapter 7 Unfinished Business: Concluding Thoughts on the New Wave of Women’s Horror Cinema .163 Filmography ...............................................................................................................................................173 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................................177 iv Chapter 1 The Changing Face of Horror Typically qualified as a masculinist genre, the canon of English-language horror cinema has been historically dominated by auteurs such as Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, Roman Polanski and David Cronenberg, as well as independent artists like Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, John Carpenter and George A. Romero, and celebrated B-producers
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Brno Studies in English Volume 39, No. 2, 2013 ISSN 0524-6881 DOI: 10.5817/BSE2013-2-8
    Brno Studies in English Volume 39, No. 2, 2013 ISSN 0524-6881 DOI: 10.5817/BSE2013-2-8 ANDRÉ LOISELLE CANADIAN HORROR, AMERICAN BODIES: CORPOREAL OBSESSION AND CULTURAL PROJECTION IN AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, AMERICAN PSYCHO, AND AMERICAN MARY Abstract Many Canadian horror films are set in the United States and claim to provide a graphic critique of typically American social problems. Using three made-in- -Canada films that explicitly situate themselves “south of the border,” – Ame- rican Nightmare“ (1983, Don McBrearty), “American Psycho” (2000, Mary Harron), and “American Mary” (2012, Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska) – this essay argues that these and other similar cinematic tales of terror have less to do with America than with Canada’s own national anxieties. These films project Ca- nadian fears onto the United States to avoid facing our national implication in horror, mayhem and chaos; and more often than not, the body is the preferred site of such projection. In this way, such films unwittingly expose Canada’s dark obsessions through cultural displacement. Ultimately, this article suggest that Canadians have a long way to go before they can stop blaming the American monster for everything bad that happens to them, and finally dare to embrace their own demons. Key words Canadian horror films; the body as site of terror; Imaginary Canadian; Cana- da-US relationship; Toronto and Vancouver masquerading as American cities Canadian comedian Martin Short was once asked by American late-night TV show host David Letterman what is the difference between the inhabitants of the two neighboring nations. In what is probably the most accurately pithy answer to this eternal question, Short wittily replied, “Americans watch TV, Canadians watch American TV” (Pevere 1998: 10).
    [Show full text]
  • Undergraduate Dissertation Trabajo Fin De Grado
    Undergraduate Dissertation Trabajo Fin de Grado “Hell is a Teenage Girl”: Female Monstrosity in Jennifer's Body Author Victoria Santamaría Ibor Supervisor Maria del Mar Azcona Montoliú FACULTY OF ARTS 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….1 2. FEMALE MONSTERS………………………………………………………….3 3. JENNIFER’S BODY……………………………………………………………..8 3.1. A WOMAN’S SACRIFICE…………………………………………………8 3.2. “SHE IS ACTUALLY EVIL, NOT HIGH SCHOOL EVIL”: NEOLIBERAL MONSTROUS FEMININITY……………………………………………..13 3.3. MEAN MONSTERS: FEMALE COMPETITION AS SOURCE OF MONSTROSITY…………………………………………………………..18 4. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………...24 5. WORKS CITED………………………………………………………………..26 6. FILMS CITED………………………………………………………………….29 1. INTRODUCTION Jennifer’s Body, released in 2009, is a teen horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody. It stars Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried, playing Jennifer, the archetypal popular girl, and Anita “Needy,” her co-dependent best friend, respectively. Jennifer is a manipulative and overly sexual teenager who, as the result of a satanic ritual, is possessed by a demon and starts devouring her male classmates. Knowing that her friend is a menace, Needy decides she has to stop her. The marketing strategy behind Jennifer’s Body capitalized on Megan Fox’s emerging status as a sex symbol after her role in Transformers (dir. Michael Bay, 2007), as can be seen in the promotional poster (see fig. 1) and in the official trailer, in which Jennifer is described as the girl “every guy would die for.” The movie, which was a flop at the time of its release (grossing only $31.6 million worldwide for a film made on a $16 million Figure 1: Promotional poster budget) was criticised by some reviewers for not giving its (male) audience what it promised.
    [Show full text]
  • Film Noir Timeline Compiled from Data from the Internet Movie Database—412 Films
    Film Noir Timeline Compiled from data from The Internet Movie Database—412 films. 1927 Underworld 1944 Double Indemnity 1928 Racket, The 1944 Guest in the House 1929 Thunderbolt 1945 Leave Her to Heaven 1931 City Streets 1945 Scarlet Street 1932 Beast of the City, The 1945 Spellbound 1932 I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 1945 Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, The 1934 Midnight 1945 Strange Illusion 1935 Scoundrel, The 1945 Lost Weekend, The 1935 Bordertown 1945 Woman in the Window, The 1935 Glass Key, The 1945 Mildred Pierce 1936 Fury 1945 My Name Is Julia Ross 1937 You Only Live Once 1945 Lady on a Train 1940 Letter, The 1945 Woman in the Window, The 1940 Stranger on the Third Floor 1945 Conflict 1940 City for Conquest 1945 Cornered 1940 City of Chance 1945 Danger Signal 1940 Girl in 313 1945 Detour 1941 Shanghai Gesture, The 1945 Bewitched 1941 Suspicion 1945 Escape in the Fog 1941 Maltese Falcon, The 1945 Fallen Angel 1941 Out of the Fog 1945 Apology for Murder 1941 High Sierra 1945 House on 92nd Street, The 1941 Among the Living 1945 Johnny Angel 1941 I Wake Up Screaming 1946 Shadow of a Woman 1942 Sealed Lips 1946 Shock 1942 Street of Chance 1946 So Dark the Night 1942 This Gun for Hire 1946 Somewhere in the Night 1942 Fingers at the Window 1946 Locket, The 1942 Glass Key, The 1946 Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The 1942 Grand Central Murder 1946 Strange Triangle 1942 Johnny Eager 1946 Stranger, The 1942 Journey Into Fear 1946 Suspense 1943 Shadow of a Doubt 1946 Tomorrow Is Forever 1943 Fallen Sparrow, The 1946 Undercurrent 1944 When
    [Show full text]
  • How to Die in a Slasher Film: the Impact of Sexualization July, 2021, Vol
    Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture How to Die in a Slasher Film: The Impact of Sexualization July, 2021, Vol. 21 (Issue 1): pp. 128 – 146 Wellman, Meitl, & Kinkade Copyright © 2021 Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture All rights reserved. ISSN: 1070-8286 How to Die in a Slasher Film: The Impact of Sexualization, Strength, and Flaws on Characters’ Mortality Ashley Wellman Texas Christian University & Michele Bisaccia Meitl Texas Christian University & Patrick Kinkade Texas Christian University 128 Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture How to Die in a Slasher Film: The Impact of Sexualization July, 2021, Vol. 21 (Issue 1): pp. 128 – 146 Wellman, Meitl, & Kinkade Abstract Popular culture has often referenced formulaic ways to predict a character’s fate in slasher films. The cliché rules have noted only virgins live, black characters die first, and drinking and drugs nearly guarantee your death, but to what extent do characters’ basic demographics and portrayal determine whether a character lives or dies? A content analysis of forty-eight of the most influential slasher films from the 1960s – 2010s was conducted to measure factors related to character mortality. From these films, gender, race, sexualization (measured via specific acts and total sexualization), strength, and flaws were coded for 504 non killer characters. Results indicate that the factors predicting death vary by gender. For male characters, those appearing weak in terms of physical strength or courage and those males who appeared morally flawed were more likely to die than males that were strong and morally sound. Predictors of death for female characters included strength and the presence of sexual behavior (including dress, flirtatious attitude, foreplay/sex, nudity, and total sexualization).
    [Show full text]
  • Locations of Motherhood in Shakespeare on Film
    Volume 2 (2), 2009 ISSN 1756-8226 Locations of Motherhood in Shakespeare on Film LAURA GALLAGHER Queens University Belfast Adelman’s Suffocating Mothers (1992) appropriates feminist psychoanalysis to illustrate how the suppression of the female is represented in selected Shakespearean play-texts (chronologically from Hamlet to The Tempest ) in the attempted expulsion of the mother in order to recover the masculine sense of identity. She argues that Hamlet operates as a watershed in Shakespeare’s canon, marking the prominent return of the problematic maternal presence: “selfhood grounded in paternal absence and in the fantasy of overwhelming contamination at the site of origin – becomes the tragic burden of Hamlet and the men who come after him” (1992, p.10). The maternal body is thus constructed as the site of contamination, of simultaneous attraction and disgust, of fantasies that she cannot hold: she is the slippage between boundaries – the abject. Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject (1982) ostensibly provides a hypothesis for analysis of women in the horror film, yet the theory also provides a critical means of situating the maternal figure, the “monstrous- feminine” in film versions of Shakespeare (Creed, 1993, 1996). Therefore the choice to focus on the selected Hamlet , Macbeth , Titus Andronicus and Richard III film versions reflects the centrality of the mother figure in these play-texts, and the chosen adaptations most powerfully illuminate this article’s thesis. Crucially, in contrast to Adelman’s identification of the attempted suppression of the “suffocating mother” figures 1, in adapting the text to film the absent maternal figure is forced into (an extended) presence on screen.
    [Show full text]
  • Mother Trouble: the Maternal-Feminine in Phallic and Feminist Theory in Relation to Bratta Ettinger's Elaboration of Matrixial Ethics
    This is a repository copy of Mother trouble: the maternal-feminine in phallic and feminist theory in relation to Bratta Ettinger's Elaboration of Matrixial Ethics. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/81179/ Article: Pollock, GFS (2009) Mother trouble: the maternal-feminine in phallic and feminist theory in relation to Bratta Ettinger's Elaboration of Matrixial Ethics. Studies in the Maternal, 1 (1). 1 - 31. ISSN 1759-0434 Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version - refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher’s website. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Mother Trouble: The Maternal-Feminine in Phallic and Feminist Theory in Relation to Bracha Ettinger’s Elaboration of Matrixial Ethics/Aesthetics Griselda Pollock Preface Most of us are familiar with Sigmund Freud’s infamous signing off, in 1932, after a lifetime of intense intellectual and analytical creativity, on the question of psychoanalytical research into femininity.
    [Show full text]
  • Vision, Desire and Economies of Transgression in the Films of Jess Franco
    A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Journeys into Perversion: Vision, Desire and Economies of Transgression in the Films of Jess Franco Glenn Ward Doctor of Philosophy University of Sussex May 2011 2 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:……………………………………… 3 Summary Due to their characteristic themes (such as „perverse‟ desire and monstrosity) and form (incoherence and excess), exploitation films are often celebrated as inherently subversive or transgressive. I critically assess such claims through a close reading of the films of the Spanish „sex and horror‟ specialist Jess Franco. My textual and contextual analysis shows that Franco‟s films are shaped by inter-relationships between authorship, international genre codes and the economic and ideological conditions of exploitation cinema. Within these conditions, Franco‟s treatment of „aberrant‟ and gothic desiring subjectivities appears contradictory. Contestation and critique can, for example, be found in Franco‟s portrayal of emasculated male characters, and his female vampires may offer opportunities for resistant appropriation.
    [Show full text]
  • I1465 I SHOT ANDY WARHOL (USA, 1996) (Other Titles: Ho Sparato a Andy Warhol)
    I1465 I SHOT ANDY WARHOL (USA, 1996) (Other titles: Ho sparato a Andy Warhol) Credits: director, Mary Harron ; writers, Mary Harron, Daniel Minahan. Cast: Lili taylor, Jared Harris, Stephen Dorff, Martha Plimpton. Summary: Biographical melodrama set in 1960s New York City. A journey into the cultural whirlwind of events surrounding Valerie Solanas’ shooting of pop-art superstar Andy Warhol. Solanis (Taylor) arrived in mid-‘60s New York City with a single-minded mission: to spread the word on female superiority. While feverishly putting her radical ideas down on paper, she becomes a fringe member of the psychedelic entourage surrounding Andy Warhol (Harris). But when her feminist zeal grows too bizarre and violent, even for this avant-garde circle, the consequences are explosive. Includes passing references to the anti-Vietnam War movement. Adams, Thelma. [I shot Andy Warhol] New York post (May 1, 1996), p. 39. [Reprinted in Film review annual 1997] Alexander, Al. “‘Warhol’ a fascinating look at a tragedy” Patriot ledger [Quincy, MA] (May 18, 1996), p. 36. Alleva, Richard. “Insane times: ‘Warhol’ & ‘Anne Frank’” Commonweal 123 (Jul 12, 1996), p. 21-2. Andersen, Soren. “Review: Fact-based ‘I shot Andy Warhol,’ is fascinating film” News tribune [Tacoma, WA] (Jun 14, 1996), SoundLife, p. SL6. Ansen, David. “When the fun ended” Newsweek 127/19 (May 6, 1996), p. 78. [Reprinted in Film review annual 1997] Artner, Alan G. “Andy Warhol: His 15 minutes never ended” Chicago tribune (May 19, 1996), Arts & entertainment, p. 1. B., L. “I shot Andy Warhol” Art in America 84 (Sep 1996), p. 40-41.
    [Show full text]
  • The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir
    1 Murder, Mugs, Molls, Marriage: The Broken Ideals of Love and Family in Film Noir Noir is a conversation rather than a single genre or style, though it does have a history, a complex of overlapping styles and typical plots, and more central directors and films. It is also a conversation about its more common philosophies, socio-economic and sexual concerns, and more expansively its social imaginaries. MacIntyre's three rival versions suggest the different ways noir can be studied. Tradition's approach explains better the failure of the other two, as will as their more limited successes. Something like the Thomist understanding of people pursuing perceived (but faulty) goods better explains the neo- Marxist (or other power/conflict) model and the self-construction model. Each is dependent upon the materials of an earlier tradition to advance its claims/interpretations. [Styles-studio versus on location; expressionist versus classical three-point lighting; low-key versus high lighting; whites/blacks versus grays; depth versus flat; theatrical versus pseudo-documentary; variety of felt threat levels—investigative; detective, procedural, etc.; basic trust in ability to restore safety and order versus various pictures of unopposable corruption to a more systemic nihilism; melodramatic vs. colder, more distant; dialogue—more or less wordy, more or less contrived, more or less realistic; musical score—how much it guides and dictates emotions; presence or absence of humor, sentiment, romance, healthy family life; narrator, narratival flashback; motives for criminality and violence-- socio- economic (expressed by criminal with or without irony), moral corruption (greed, desire for power), psychological pathology; cinematography—classical vs.
    [Show full text]
  • COMITINI, Mariela
    MARIELA COMITINI FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FEATURES TICK TICK … BOOM! Netflix Prod: Brian Grazer, Ron Howard Dir: Lin-Manuel Miranda IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK Plan B Prod: Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner Dir: Barry Jenkins *Official Selection – New York Film Festival, 2018 Adele Romanski, Megan Ellison *Official Selection – Best Motion Picture, Drama – Golden Globes, 2019 Caroline Jaczko WIDOWS Film4/New Regency Prod: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman Dir: Steve McQueen *Official Selection – Toronto Film Festival, 2018 Amy Jackson STRONGER Lionsgate Prod: Todd Lieberman, Jeff Stott Dir: David Gordon Green Nicolas Stern CONFIRMATION HBO Prod: Susannah Grant, Michael London Dir: Rick Famuyiwa Kerry Washington THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS Dreamworks SKG Prod: Rosie Alison, Jeffrey Clifford Dir: Derek Cianfrance MISSISSIPPI GRIND Sycamore Pictures Prod: Randall Emmett, John Lesher Dir: Anna Boden Jeremy Kipp Walker Ryan Fleck SHE’S FUNNY THAT WAY Lagniappe Films Prod: Wes Anderson, Robert Barnum Dir: Peter Bogdanovich Noah Baumbach LOST RIVER Bold Films/Warner Bros. Prod: Noaz Deshe, Gary Michael Walters Dir: Ryan Gosling Ryan Gosling KRISTY Dimension Films Prod: Scott Derrickson,Robert Kravis, Mattew Stein Dir: Oliver Blackburn BEGIN AGAIN The Weinstein Company Prod: Sam Hoffman, Tom Rice, Molly Smith Dir: John Carney PARADISE Mandate Pictures Prod: Diablo Cody, Nathan Kahane Dir: Diablo Cody THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES Focus Features Prod: Matt Berenson, Jim Tauber, Sydney Kimmel Dir: Derek Cianfrance THE ORANGES ATO Pictures Prod: Stefanie Azpiazu,
    [Show full text]
  • Unreliable Narration in Bret Easton Ellisâ•Ž American Psycho
    Current Narratives Volume 1 Issue 1 Narrative Inquiry: Breathing Life into Article 6 Talk, Text and the Visual January 2009 Unreliable narration in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho: Interaction between narrative form and thematic content Jennifer Phillips University of Wollongong, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/currentnarratives Recommended Citation Phillips, Jennifer, Unreliable narration in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho: Interaction between narrative form and thematic content, Current Narratives, 1, 2009, 60-68. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/currentnarratives/vol1/iss1/6 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Unreliable narration in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho: Interaction between narrative form and thematic content Abstract In this paper I analyse the narrative technique of unreliable narration in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho (1991). Critics have been split about the reliability of Patrick Bateman, the novel’s gruesome narrator- protagonist. Using a new model for the detection of unreliable narration, I show that textual signs indicate that Patrick Bateman can be interpreted as an unreliable narrator. This paper reconciles two critical debates: (1) the aforementioned debate surrounding American Psycho, and (2) the debate surrounding the concept of unreliable narration itself. I show that my new model provides a solution to the weaknesses which have been identified in the rhetorical and cognitive models previously used to detect unreliable narration. Specifically, this new model reconciles the problematic reliance on the implied author in the rhetorical model, and the inconsistency of textual signs which is a weakness of the cognitive approach.
    [Show full text]
  • Production Notes
    PUBLICITY CONTACTS LA NATIONAL Karen Paul Anya Christiansen Chris Garcia – 42 West (310) 575-7033 (310) 575-7028 (424) 901-8743 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] NY NATIONAL Sara Groves – 42 West Tom Piechura – 42 West Jordan Lawrence – 42 West (212) 774-3685 (212) 277-7552 (646) 254-6020 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] REGIONAL Gillian Fischer Linda Colangelo (310) 575-7032 (310) 575-7037 [email protected] [email protected] DIGITAL Matt Gilhooley Grey Munford (310) 575-7024 (310) 575-7425 [email protected] [email protected] Release Date: May 31, 2013 (Limited) Run Time: 92 Minutes For all approved publicity materials, visit www.cbsfilmspublicity.com THE KINGS OF SUMMER Preliminary Production Notes Synopsis Premiering to rave reviews at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, THE KINGS OF SUMMER is a unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends – Joe (Nick Robinson), Patrick (Gabriel Basso) and the eccentric and unpredictable Biaggio (Moises Arias) - who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Free from their parents’ rules, their idyllic summer quickly becomes a test of friendship as each boy learns to appreciate the fact that family - whether it is the one you’re born into or the one you create – is something you can't run away from. ABOUT THE PRODUCTION The Kings of Summer began in the imagination of writer Chris Galletta, who penned his script during his off hours while he was working in the music department of “The Late Show with David Letterman.” After some false starts in screenwriting, Galletta shunned his impulse to write a high-concept tentpole feature and craft something more character-driven and personal.
    [Show full text]