The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film

560 Pages·2015·20.62 MB·english

by  Barry Keith Grant

The Dread of Difference
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Texas Film and Media Studies Series
Thomas Schatz, Editor
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Edited by
Barry Keith
Grant
Dread
T he

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Dif ference
of

Gender
and the Horror Film
Second Edition
University of Texas Press, Austin
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Copyright © 1996, 2015 by
the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 1996
Second edition, 2015
Requests for permission to reproduce material from
this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form
The paper used in this book meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
doi:10.7560/771376
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The dread of difference : gender and the horror
fi lm / edited by Barry Keith Grant. — Second
edition.
pages cm — (Texas fi lm and media studies
series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-292-77137-6 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-292-77245-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Horror fi lms—History and criticism. 2. Sex
role in motion pictures. 3. Women in motion
pictures. I. Grant, Barry Keith, 1947– editor.
II. Series: Texas fi lm and media studies series.
pn1995.9.h6d74 2015
791.43'6164—dc23 2014031553
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For Lila and Habib
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And I’ve got no defense for it
the heat is too intense for it
what good would common sense for it do?
’C ause it’s witchcraft, wicked witchcraft,
and although I know it’s strictly taboo
when you arouse the need in me
my heart says “yes indeed” in me
“Proceed with what you’re leading me to” . . .
“Witchcraft”
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh
Music by Cy Coleman
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Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
Part One
1 When the Woman Looks
Linda Williams 17
2 Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine:
An Imaginary Abjection
Barbara Creed 37
3 Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film
Carol J. Clover 68
4 The Monster and the Homosexual
Harry M. Benshoff 116
Part Two
5 “It Will Thrill You, It May Shock You,
It Might Even Horrify You”: Gender,
Reception, and Classic Horror Cinema
Rhona J. Berenstein 145
6 Bringing It All Back Home:
Family Economy and Generic Exchange
Vivian Sobchack 171
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