The Monstrous-Feminine

Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis

Barbara Creed

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English

Routledge
09 September 1993

Film, TV & Radio; Film theory & criticism; Feminism & feminist theory

Series: 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 by arguing that the prototype of all definitions of the monstrous is the female reproductive body. Women as castrator constitutes the most significant face of the monstrous-feminine in film and Creed challenges the mythical patriarchal view that women primarily terrifies because of a fear that she might castrate . With close reference to a number of classic horror films including Alien, The Brood, The Hunger, The Exorcist, Sisters, I Spit on Your Grave and Psycho she presents the first sustained analysis of the seven faces' of the monstrous-feminine from a feminist and psychoanalytic perspective, discussing woman as monster in relation to woman as archaic mother, monstrous womb, vampire, witch, possessed body, monstrous mother and castrator. Her argument disrupts Freudian and Lacanian theories of sexual difference as well as existing theories of spectatorship and fetishism in relation to the male and female gaze in the cinema to provide a challenging and provocative re-reading of classical and contemporary film and theoretical texts.

By: Barbara Creed
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 376g
ISBN: 9780415052597
ISBN 10: 0415052599
Series: Popular Fictions Series
Publication Date: 09 September 1993
Audience: College/higher education , A / AS level , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

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

Reviews for The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis

By reinstating the repressed mother and femme castratice in classic Freudian theory, and by extending Julia Kristeva's discussion of horror and abjection to fresh critical objects, Barbara Creed accessibly and convincingly demonstrates the relevance and productivity of psychoanalytic theory for cultural analysis. -Annette Kuhn, University of Glasgow A substantial contribution to knowledge of the horror film . . . the first study to concentrate specifically on the monstrous-feminine. -E. Ann Kaplan Witty, succinct, a pleasure to read. The critique of Freudian theory comprises a total re-conceptualization of the status of the feminine within psychoanalytic debate. -Sneja Gunew