The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film (Texas Film and Media Studies Series)
An undying procession of sons of Dracula and daughters of darkness has animated the horror film genre from the beginning. Indeed, in this pioneering exploration of the cinema of fear, Barry Keith Grant and twenty other film critics posit that horror is always rooted in gender, particularly in anxieties about sexual difference and gender politics. \ The book opens with the influential theoretical works of Linda Williams, Carol J. Clover, and Barbara Creed. Subsequent essays explore the...
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An undying procession of sons of Dracula and daughters of darkness has animated the horror film genre from the beginning. Indeed, in this pioneering exploration of the cinema of fear, Barry Keith Grant and twenty other film critics posit that horror is always rooted in gender, particularly in anxieties about sexual difference and gender politics. The book opens with the influential theoretical works of Linda Williams, Carol J. Clover, and Barbara Creed. Subsequent essays explore the history of the genre, from classic horror such as King Kong and Bride of Frankenstein to the more recent Fatal Attraction and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Other topics covered include the work of horror auteurs David Cronenberg, Dario Argento, and George Romero; the Aliens trilogy; and the importance of gender in relation to horror marketing and reception. Other contributors include Vera Dika, Thomas Doherty, Lucy Fischer, Christopher Sharrett, Vivian Sobchack, Tony Williams, and Robin Wood. Writing across a full range of critical methods from classic psychoanalysis to feminism and postmodernism, they balance theoretical generalizations with close readings of films and discussions of figures associated with the genre. The Dread of Difference demonstrates that horror is hardly a uniformly masculine discourse. As these essays persuasively show, not only are horror movies about patriarchy and its fear of the feminine, but they also offer feminist critique and pleasure.
Introduction11When the Woman Looks152Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection353Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film664"It Will Thrill You, It May Shock You, It Might Even Horrify You": Gender, Reception, and Classic Horror Cinema1175Bringing It All Back Home: Family Economy and Generic Exchange1436Trying to Survive on the Darker Side: 1980s Family Horror1647Genre, Gender, and the Aliens Trilogy1818Taking Back the Night of the Living Dead: George Romero, Feminism, and the Horror Film2009Gender, Genre, Argento21310"Beyond the Veil of the Flesh": Cronenberg and the Disembodiment of Horror23111The Horror Film in Neoconservative Culture25312Horror, Femininity, and Carrie's Monstrous Puberty27913The Monster as Woman: Two Generations of Cat People29614Here Comes the Bride: Wedding Gender and Race in Bride of Frankenstein30915King Kong: The Beast in the Boudoir - or, "You Can't Marry That Girl, You're a Gorilla!"33816The Stepfather: Father as Monster in the Contemporary Horror Film35217Burying the Undead: The Use and Obsolescence of Count Dracula36418Daughters of Darkness: The Lesbian Vampire on Film37919From Dracula - with Love38820The Place of Passion: Reflections on Fatal Attraction40121Birth Traumas: Parturition and Horror in Rosemary's Baby412Selected Bibliography433Notes on Contributors439Index443
