Description
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.
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 sexuality and reproductive body to justify her subjugation. Although a projection of male fears and paranoid fantasies, the monstrous-feminine is nonetheless a terrifying figure. Creed's argument contests Freudian and Lacanian theories of sexual difference to offer a provocative rereading of classical and contemporary horror.
This updated edition includes a new section examining contemporary feminist horror films in relation to nonhuman theory. Creed proposes a new concept of radical abjection to reinterpret the monstrous-feminine as a figure who embraces abjection by reclaiming her body and re-defining her otherness as nonhuman - while questioning patriarchy, anthropocentrism, misogyny and the meaning of the human. Films discussed include Ginger Snaps, Teeth, Atlantics, The Girl with All the Gifts, Border and Titane.
Barbara Creed's classic remains as relevant as ever and this edition will be of interest to academics and students of feminist theory, nonhuman theory, critical animal studies, race, and queer theory.
Author: Barbara Creed
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 11/02/2023
Pages: 266
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780367209452
ISBN10: 0367209454
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Media Studies
- Performing Arts | Film | General
About the Author
Barbara Creed is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of seven books, including The Monstrous-Feminine: film, feminism, psychoanalysis (1993), The Return of the Monstrous-Feminine (2022); Darwin's Screens: evolutionary aesthetics, time & sexual display in the cinema (2009); and Stray: human-animal ethics in the Anthropocene (2017). Her writings have been translated into eleven languages for publication in academic journals and anthologies. She is the director of the Human Rights and Animal Ethics Research Network (HRAE). Barbara has been invited to participate in international research events by various bodies, including the Courtauld Institute (UK), the Yale Centre for British Art, and the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of the Sciences (US). She is active in the wider community and has been on the boards of Writers Week, the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.
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