The Monstrous-Feminine

Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-138-12770-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 216 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 485 g

Reihe: Popular Fictions Series

In almost all critical writings on the horror film, woman is conceptualised only as victim. In The Monstrous-Feminine Barbara Creed challenges this patriarchal view by arguing that the prototype of all definitions of the monstrous is the female reproductive body.
With close reference to a number of classic horror films including the Alien trilogy, The Exorcist and Psycho, Creed analyses the seven `faces' of the monstrous-feminine: archaic mother, monstrous womb, vampire, witch, possessed body, monstrous mother and castrator. 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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Creed, Barbara

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologie: Allgemeines

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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, 7 'LITTLE HANS' RECONSIDERED: OR THE TALE OF MOTHERS TERRIFYING WIDDLER' 8 MEDUSA'S HEAD: THE VAGINA DENTATA ANDFREUDIAN THEORY 9 THE FEMME CASTRATRICE: I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, SISTERS 10 THE CASTRATING MOTHER: PSYCHO 11 THE MEDUSA'S GAZE

Über Autor(innen)

Barbara Creed (Author)