Horror and the Body Politic
In this section of FYRS, we will analyze the ways in which the human body in horror films from the 1970s to the present serves as a multivalent site of pleasure, pain, excess, danger, and transformation. We will read critical texts on corporeality in popular film, examining the metonymic function of the individual body (monstrous and otherwise) in this incredibly popular genre, and watch films ranging from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (Dir. Hooper, 1974) to Jordan Peele’s "Get Out" (2017). Students will be required to watch films weekly, read film and cultural criticism, and develop research topics which may include an analysis of a particular horror film or a broader examination of the relationship between horror and the politics of immigration, sexuality, the family, etc.
Class Readings
Horror and the Horror Film by ISBN: 9780857284556Publication Date: 2012'Horror and the Horror Film' conveys a mature appreciation for horror films along with a comprehensive view of their narrative strategies, their relations to reality and fantasy and their cinematic power.
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Featured Books
Body Gothic by ISBN: 9781783160938Publication Date: 2014-01-01Body Gothic assesses the role and relevance of corporeal transgression in literature and film of the last three decades, from splatterpunk and body horror to torture porn and surgical horror.
The Dread of Difference by ISBN: 9781477302415Publication Date: 2015-02-19Informative and enlightening, this updated classic is an essential reference for fans and students of horror movies.
Gender and Contemporary Horror in Film by ISBN: 9781787698970Publication Date: 2019-03-13This volume, one of three by the same editorial team examining the horror genre, focuses on gender and contemporary horror in film, asking questions about how and if representations of gender in horror have changed. In these readings and re-readings, the authors examine developments in films about vampires, zombies, werewolves and ghosts, in films made internationally.
Hearths of Darkness by ISBN: 9781626740600Publication Date: 2014-11-27Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film traces the origins of the 1970s family horror subgenre to certain aspects of American culture and classical Hollywood cinema.Horror Zone by
ISBN: 9781441657336In "Horror Zone," leading international writers on horror take horror out into the world beyond cinema screens to explore the interconnections between the films and modern media and entertainment industries, economies and production practices, cultural and political forums, spectators and fans.
Jordan Peele's Get Out : political horror by ISBN: 9780814277812Publication Date: 2020Essays explore Get Out's cultural roots, including Shakespeare's Othello, the female gothic, Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, and the zombie, rural, suburban, and body-swap subgenres of the modern horror film.
Queer Horror Film and Television by ISBN: 9781786721372Publication Date: 2016-09-30In recent years, the representation of alternative sexuality in the horror film and television has "outed" itself from the shadows from which it once lurked, via the embrace of an outrageously queer horror aesthetic where homosexuality is often unequivocally referenced.
Robin Wood on the Horror Film by ISBN: 0814345247Publication Date: 2018-11-12Robin Wood--one of the foremost critics of cinema--has laid the groundwork for anyone writing about the horror film in the last half-century.
Skin Shows by ISBN: 0822316633Publication Date: 1995-08-22In this examination of the monster as cultural object, Judith Halberstam offers a rereading of the monstrous that revises our view of the Gothic.
White Terror by ISBN: 9780253060402Publication Date: 2022-04-05Horror film has a long history of radical, political commentary, and Russell Meeuf reveals how racial resentments represented specifically in horror films produced during the Obama era gave rise to the Trump presidency and the Make America Great Again movement.
Reference Books
Historical dictionary of horror cinema by ISBN: 9781538102442Publication Date: 2018The Historical Dictionary of Horror Cinema traces the development of the genre from its beginnings to the present. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries.
Horror by ISBN: 9780203882184Publication Date: 2009-02-09In this Routledge Film Guidebook, audience researcher and film scholar Brigid Cherry provides a comprehensive overview of the horror film and explores how the genre works.
Gather Background Information
Use broad reference materials to find out background information about your topic. This will help you narrow your future searches and will also give you keywords to find the most relevant sources. Credo can be a good place to start for that first step in research.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
Databases
Below are suggested databases with scholarly articles on these topics.
Need more options? Library Databases A-Z
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - Communications and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides articles in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 500 journals, and selected coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 690 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for over 380 journals. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall).
Scholarly Articles
- “Biological Dystopias: The Body in Contemporary French Horror Cinema.”Austin, Guy. L’Esprit Créateur, vol. 52, no. 2, 2012, pp. 99–113. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26378787. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
- “Desublimating Monstrous Desire: The Horror of Gender in New Extremist Cinema.”Coulthard, Lisa, and Chelsea Birks. Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 25, no. 4, 2016, pp. 461–476, https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2015.1011100.
- “Horror Vérité: Politics and History in Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017).”Landsberg, Alison. Continuum, vol. 32, no. 5, 2018, pp. 629–642, https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2018.1500522.
- “Monster Pains: Masochism, Menstruation, and Identification in the Horror Film.”Briefel, Aviva. Film Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 3, 2005, pp. 16–27. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2005.58.3.16. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
- “Revenge of the Cheese Grater: ‘Housebound’ and the Domestic Horror-Comedy.”Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra. Metro Magazine: Media & Education Magazine, vol. 184, no. 184, 2015, pp. 24–27.
- “Sunset with Chainsaw.”Williams, Evan Calder. Film Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 4, 2011, pp. 28–33. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2011.64.4.28. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
- “Torture Born: Representing Pregnancy and Abortion in Contemporary Survival-Horror.”Jones, Steve. Sexuality & Culture : An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 3, 2015, pp. 426–443, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-014-9260-3.
- “ZOMBIE PEDAGOGY: RIGOR MORTIS AND THE U. S. BODY POLITIC.”Moraru, Christian. Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 34, no. 2, 2012, pp. 105–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23416401. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
Videos
- Discovering Horror on FilmInfobase and 3DD Entertainment (Firm), directors. 3DD Entertainment, 2019. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
- The Vocabulary of Film and TVFilms for the Humanities & Science (Firm), et al., directors. Films Media Group, 2006. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.
- The FlyPogue, Charles Edward, et al. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2005.
News & Magazines
Log into your Transy Google account in a Chrome browser for full-text access to articles.
- The New York TimesActivate your free digital pass
- Wall Street JournalActivate your free digital pass
