Postmodernism, the Contemporary Horror Film and the "Problem" of the Femlwine
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THE LIMITS OF DISSATTSFACTION: POSTMODEm?SM, THE CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILM AND3 THE "PROBLEM" OF %HE FEMININE Liame McLarty MA., Carleton University, 1984 THESE SUBNLIrnB IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGFEE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPflY in the Department of Communication @ Lianne McLarty 1993 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY October 1993 Ail rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other m.eans, without permission of the author. 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Ni la these ni des extraits extracts from it may be printed or substantiels de celle-ci ne otherwise reproduced without doivent 6tre imprimes ou his/her permission. autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. ISBN 0-315-91282-0 APPROVAL DEGREE: PhD. (Communicationj TITLE OF THESIS: THE LIMITS OF DISSATISFACTION: POSTMODERNISM, THE CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILM AND THE "PROBLEM" OF THE FEMLWINE EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Dr. Catherine -Murray, Associate Professor Dr. ~ichwah.Pro~msor, Senior Supervjsor Dr. Martin ah, Asso&a'te\T)&fessor, Supervisor Dr. 3aul Budra, ~ZsistantProfessor, Supervisor - Dr. ~ackieLevitin, Associate Professor, Contemporary Arts Dr. Will straiv, ksociat8professor, Dept. of Conmunication, McGill DATE APPROVED: PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENCE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the titls of which is shown below) to users of :he Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of Its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Disser?ation: THE LIMITS OF DISSATISFACTION: POSTMODERNISM, THE CONTEMPORARY HORROR FILM AND THE "PROBLEM" OF THE FEMlNlNE Author: signature Lianne McLartv name ABSTRACT In this dissertation I explore the links between postmodernism and contemporary horror films in the interests of assessing the oppositional political potential of postmodern horror. I isolate two strains of postmodernism: the nihilistic -- which is marked by extreme cultwal pessimism; and the celebratory -- which articulates the possibilities of a culhire characterized by multipliaty and self- awareness. These postmodernisms are more useful than traditional approaches to the horror genre for analyzing the particular characteristics of contemporary horror, they help explain the pessimistic and paranoid themes of the genre, and, its tendency toward playful self-reference. Indeed, the postmodern features of the contemp~raryhorror film bear some resemblance to strategies said to be characteristic of the progressive genre film more generally. Yet, neither of these postmodernisms offer an adequate account for the genre's oppositional potential. Confronting this limitation leads to a reassessment of the implicit politics of postmodernism, both as a perspective from which to view contemporary popular culture in general, and recent horror films mor specifically. Building on thz premises that popular culture is a site of struggle over meanings, and that processes of contairiment and resistance are the central features of that struggle, an alternative perspective is developed for analyzing the oppositionai potential of postmodern horror. Given the tendency of much recent horror to displace its postmodern anxieties onto a monstrous feminine, I argue that opposition in contemporary horror depends on much more than paranoia or play. It depends on the coupling, and the uncoupling, of the monstrous and the feminine. I want to thank the members of my supervisory committee: Paul Budra (for his insights into horror) ; Martin Laba (for his support mci encouragement from the beginning); and, especially, my scnior supervisor, Rick Gruneau, (for his careful reading, t!ioughtful suggestions and invaluable support). 1 also want to thank Lynne Hissey and Bob Begin for "sharing the horrors. " TABLE OF COlVTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................... iii Introduction ....................................................................................................... Cha~terOne: Reading Postmodern Theory as a Horror Story ............................................ Chapter Two: Towards a Less Horrific Postmoderaism: The Possibilities of the Popular .................................................................................................... 52 Chapter Three: Horror Films in Popular Culture: From Psychoanalytic Perspectives to Postmodern Readings ................................................................................... 82 Chapter Four: Contemporary Horror and the Question of Oppasition, or, The "Problem" of the Feminine Other ...................................................... 128 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 177 Works Cited .................... .. .............................................................................. 185 Appendix ....................... .. ............................................................................... 192 What kind of sense can one make oi images of shopping malls over- run by zombies, normal bodies mutating beyond belief, and common televisions tampering with our consciousness? In much contemporary horror, the fear that is inevitably invoked is generated by, and experienced within, the everyday: families, media, and other saentific technologies, and, indeed, the human body itself. It is arguable that 55th PSYCHO and TE-IF: EXORCIST deserve to be designated as "landmarks" in the history of the horror film for ushering in these changes.1 These films have contributed not oniy to specific subgenres, but, also to the sense in contemporary horror that horror happens at hcme, and often our very bodies. Contemporary horror constructs an immediate and intimate threat, and, often imagii~esa total disintegration of what was once a meaningful world. Oddly, at the same time that many contemporary horror films warn of unrelenting horror through gory displays, they also demonstrate a sense of humour, which is "mostly perversz and/or tasteless" (Brophy, 1986: 12). These films self-reflexively engage with the clich6s and conventions of the horror genre. Some writers have invoked postmodernism (as both critical theory and cdtural practice) to explain this tendency of contemporary horror to direct its energies towards both paranoia and play (Boss, 1986; Brophy, 1986; Mocileski, 1986b; Creed, 1987; Tudor, 1989; Carroll, 1990). Contemporary horror films are variously seen as popular cultural embodiments of a nihilistic form of postmodern theory and as an expression of postmodern cultural practices lOpinions vary slightly as to when contemporary horror began; PSYCHO and the EXORCIST are alternately cited as marking a shift in both the character and the feel of the genre. See: Boss (1986); Carroll (1990);