Boss, Peter John (1989) Death, disintegration of the body and subjectivity in the contemporary horror film. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Preview

PDF WRAP_THESIS_Boss_1989.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (13Mb)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This thesis is an attempt to account for the contemporary American
horror film's increased reliance upon images of bodily dismemberment
and decay. At the core of this exploration is an inspection of the
body's capability as a metaphor by which our understanding of the
relation of self to society is articulated. The horror film is shown
to be a genre traditionally disposed towards the interrogation of
categories of human identity,and one which is now responding to the
kind of cultural developments often referred to by the expression
postmodernism. As such the genre is placed in a context of other
social discourses about the body, death, disease and decay.In proposing the body as the central metaphor of the modern horror film,
and pursuing its significance in a range of recent film texts, the
thesis triesto provide a positive basis for understanding an aspect
of popular culture often left 'explained' by accusations of exploitation
or dismissed by the traditionalists as aberrant.
The thesis does not attempt to be a theory of genre per se, nor does
it offer an exhaustive account of the field; the outlining of the emergence
of a new tendency is not meant to imply that more conventional material
has been discontinued. 'Body Horror' is argued to be the most important
development in the field however, and the work concludes after demonstrating
its vitality in recent examples where its deployment takes radically varied
positions with respect to the construction of the masculine subject in
particular.
The work is broken down into five Chapters. In Chapter One the existing
theoretical literature is critically examined. In Chapter Two, the nature of
the contemporary horror film is laid out. In Chapter Three the body as a symbo
is considered in relation to the genre. In Chapter Four this idea is developed
through textual analysis in relation to discourses of death and disease. In
Chapet Five the emergence of a postmodern horror film is considered. A conclusion acts as a summary and as a focus in which the implication of the
work for feminist and psychoanalytical theories of the subject can be drawn.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Horror films -- United States -- History and criticism, Human body in motion pictures, Death in motion pictures, Diseases in motion pictures
Official Date:	February 1989
Dates:	Date Event February 1989 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Film and Television Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Dyer, Richard, 1945-
Extent:	x, 321 leaves
Language:	eng

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads