The Monstrous-Feminine

Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis
2. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-0-367-20945-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 284 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 439 g

Reihe: Popular Fictions Series

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.

Zielgruppe

General

Autoren/Hrsg.

Creed, Barbara

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to the Second Edition

Part I Faces of the Monstrous-Feminine: Abjection and the Maternal

Introduction

1 Kristeva, Femininity, Abjection

2 Horror and the Archaic Mother: Alien

3 Woman as Possessed Monster: The Exorcist

4 Woman as Monstrous Womb: The Brood

5 Woman as Vampire: The Hunger

6 Woman as Witch: Carrie

Part II Medusa’s Head: Psychoanalytic Theory and the

Femme Castratrice

Preface

7 ‘Little Hans’ Reconsidered: or ‘The Tale of Mother’s Terrifying Widdler’

8 Medusa’s Head: the Vagina Dentata and Freudian theory

9 The femme castratrice: I spit on your grave, sisters

10 The Castrating Mother: Psycho

11 The Medusa’s Gaze

Part III Revolt of the Monstrous-Feminine: Embracing the Nonhuman

Introduction: The Nonhuman Turn an Women’s Horror of the New Millennium

12 Coming of Age: The Monstrous-Feminine as Virginal Dentata: Ginger Snaps: (2000), Teeth (2007), Jennifer’s Body (2009).

13 The Monstrous-Feminine as Avenging Zombie: The Girl With All The Gifts (2016), The Dark (2018), Atlantics (2019).

14 The Monstrous-Feminine as Uncanny Creatrix: Border (2018), Little Joe (2019), Titane (2021).

Bibliography

Filmography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Barbara Creed is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of seven books, including Darwin’s Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics, Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema (2009); and Stray: Human- Animal Ethics in the Anthropocene (2017). She is the director of the Human Rights and Animal Ethics Research Network (HRAE). She has been on the boards of Writers Week, the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.