Feminism in Mythology Monstrous Horror Films - Term Paper Example

Monstrous Mythology Introduction: We find them in the silhouette of movies with the genre ‘horror’ which truly represent their visual appearance or perhaps the possibility of their existence. We name them ‘Monsters’ who are nothing but a depiction of unearthly creatures with inhumane behaviour and who every now and then become a source of fear for us. Horror movies and text play an extremely significant role in shaping up these monsters and their appearance which may be the only way for us to acknowledge and perceive their existence as either fictional or real. Either way, monsters cater to the fearful side of every human being and perhaps that is why people often tend not to forget or ignore the monster in a particular horror film or text because they usually take these creatures as a creative yet soulful part of the film or a book. A monster when defined through literal terms comes from a Latin word ‘Monstrum’ which means an indication of what is yet to come, however, the Romans usually used this word to describe a series of unusual occurrences. It is very important for us to acknowledge the apparent relationship between the mythological notion of monstrous and the representation of it in the contemporary culture. The contemporary culture has adopted the mythological existence of monsters mostly through visualization or imagery which serves as a possibility inside human minds regarding the existence of these creatures. Mythology has well preserved the concept of monstrous which holds two attributes for their identification, one of which is that they are not human beings and the other saying that they are an evil force with their distinct objectives to kill humans. Monsters as per mythology: Classical mythology has a deep significance in the representation of what really a monster is with all the description that has something or the other constituting an animalistic nature. It is believed that the monsters in classical mythology usually existed either in the form of humans with unnatural attributes or absurd creatures that are part human and part animal. According to classical mythology, monsters were the creatures that violated the cultural values and norms and had their own inhumane and cruel motives. Myth makers and fiction writers have created many monsters but we cannot look through the deep-rooted significance of myth making itself and how it describes the appearance of the monster and the extent of its cruelty, for instance the people in New Guinea promoted a myth that involves monster traits such as shape transformation, inhumane union, thirst for blood and human flesh and other forms of cannibalism. Moreover, Greek Mythology has many relevant monstrous illustrations which prominently include the Stymphalian and evil birds in the Hercules period. Monsters according to a culture can be the evil force that has all the wrong and manipulative objectives and perhaps this is why people following distinct cultural and moral values consider people who end up doing or even start believing in evil/malicious paths as the monsters or demons regardless of how a typical horror monster may look like. Classical mythology has preserved monsters time and time again such as the Cerberus, Centaurs, Chimaera, Medusa, Cyclopes, hydra etc. Below is an image of a monstrous creature in Norse mythology which was in the form of a savage wolf named ‘Fenrir’. All these monsters were either humans or with a body or skull of an animal which depicts brutality and a hunger for blood gushing inside human bodies. Mythology as an explanation to monstrous creatures that once existed suggests that these creatures were perhaps a translation as to what fear is inside human minds or more like the image of fear and horror. Moving ahead it is extremely notable to understand the human psychology and how they perceive the monsters that they see on television screens or read and imagine about, it is believed that monsters are a representation of evil and savagery and human minds conceive the idea quite well when it comes to horror films and texts. Horror movies and texts are remembered because of the evil characters in them that are the centre of plot rather than the hero that fights against the evil and stands for humanity. The significance of monsters in horror films and texts and how evil always has a motive to destroy humanity and nature usually creates a vague existence of these monsters inside human minds and this is how they become much more important for human beings because they can experience an evil through these movies and books which they have never seen and the possibility of their existence as God’s definition of inhumane and punishment. Relevant Illustrations of Horror mythology and feminism: 1) Monstrous Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis by Barbara Creed: This book is among the most significant theoretical and argumentative texts written on horror cinematography and the controversial role of women in these films as the mother who gives birth to the evil or generally a supporter of the demonic characters. Barbara Creed has discussed and thoroughly argued over the fact that horror movies usually visualize women as the victims along with many illustrations that she presents within the text to support the idea which included the movie ‘Alien’, ‘Jaw’, ‘I spit on your grave’, ‘Psycho’, ‘The exorcist’ etc. This book examines very carefully both negative and positive roles of women in horror movies and most eminently the projection of motherhood as evil along with the seven facets of female hidden evil which are enlisted in the text as the archaic mother, a vampire, a witch, castrate mother, a possessed monster, a demonic womb and the femme castratrice. These monsters have something or the other in common that leads people to think and perceive women negatively and mostly persuades them to believe in the evil that lives inside every woman. Barbara Creed has written about many concepts that have emerged against women as a psychoanalytic approach towards women and their monstrous roles in horror movies that convince men to think in a rather feminist manner which is highly unacceptable for the women of modern era. Through the book, Barbara Creed was able address her views regarding the Freudian concept of ‘Fetishism’, which according to the horror visualization and writing captures women as a source of terror overall and particularly for the men because of castration and witchcraft. Following Freud’s footsteps is Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytical film theory presented by him in the form of ‘Mirror stage’ which represents an infant’s self-deception when they look at themselves in the mirror which is a source of ego development for him. The Book discusses in detail the impact of this concept especially through visuals of such feminist horror movies along with a clear explanation of eminent clues regarding masculinity in the same horror movies and texts. As a consequence, men started believing that women are one of the major sources of evil and even if it isn’t and women themselves would not realize that but underneath it all they are supportive of everything that might be related to cruelty or monstrance. The feminism was quite apparent in horror movies back in 1950 when the monster of the movie would appear to be as a woman and to save the world by his heroic capabilities is a man who ruthlessly get rids of the monster by the end of the movie. The faces of monstrous maternal: The monstrous feminine represents the seven faces of monstrous mother which represent the monster living inside every woman targeted through the women monsters that appear on screen. The first face is that of an ancient immoral mother which can be seen through the movie ‘Alien’ along with another face of a blood-sucking vampire which is represented on screen in a film named ‘The hunger’. The third face is of a cruel witch that has malicious and evil motives which are showcased in a movie named ‘Carrie’, another very eminent face is of the monstrous womb which is well visualized in the movie ‘The Brood’. Moving ahead is the face of a possessed monster in the film ‘The exorcist’ which has been considered as one of the hallmarks representing horror movies, The castrating mother is the other face which is projected through the movie ‘Psycho’ which was another big smash in horror movies and last but certainly not the least is the face of the horrifying femme castratrice which was there in the movie ‘I Spit on your grave’. These faces overall represent the fact that women have been the main source of inspiration when it comes to monsters for many years now and somehow it doesn’t seem to affect the feminist theory which should quite apparently include the women monster era in horror movies which exists up till now. The implications of these facets of women in horror movies include the negative portrayal of women in every way along with the inclusion of feminism when it comes to a woman monster which is very differently perceived and showed when compared with the male monster that is portrayed as far lesser of an evil through little details, which clearly depicts feminism or gender discrimination. 2) Julie Kristeva: Power of Horror: This text is based on the concept of horror individually through the help of distinct sources which are very significant for each one of us to understand in order to identify the psychological affects of ‘horror’ in both movies and literature. Julie Kristeva provides us with an in-depth hypothesis as an analysis of the woman portrayal as monsters in horror movies in the form of the concept of ‘Abjection’ introduced by her. Abjection as per Kristeva was a concept that could explain the female-monster image and its relation with the multi faceted maternal monsters; however, this concept originally was to differentiate human beings from the inhumane creatures/living beings. According to Kristeva, the horror movies represent abjection in three distinct ways starting with the visuals of abjection such as the corpse, blood, mutilation, tears and human-flesh which are among the most controversial. The second way of portraying abjection is through the construction of female-monsters itself in the horror movies with its many controversial sub-categories of humanistic monster or good or evil which gives birth to the upraised subject of gender discrimination. The third and the last way through which abjection is projected in horror movies is through the different faces of maternal monster which are as images a source of abjection in horror movies and literature. Vision and Screen leading to ‘Psychoanalysis’: The psychoanalysis of horror movies may lead us to many conclusions with the help of many theorists writing about their own understanding of a psychoanalytic approach when it comes to horror movies. We can take up Stephen Neale’s illustration, who believes according to the concept presented by him that the monsters in most of the horror films can be identified as men who look for women as their prey which can be acknowledged as one of many concepts against or in favour of this one introduced as psychoanalysis on horror movies. Nevertheless, there are many ways as to how a viewer can perceive the role of women in horror movies along with the concept of horror movies which tends to have distinct affects on people which is usually recorded as the psychoanalysis through what is on the screen. Bibliography: Barbara Creed, the Monstrous-feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Routledge, 1993 Clare L. Taylor, Women, writing and Fetishism 1890-1950: Female cross-gendering, Oxford University Press, 2003 Rosemarie Tong, Feminist thought: a more comprehensive introduction, West view press, 1998 Julie Kristeva, Power of horror, Columbia university press, 1982 Noelle McAfee, Julie Kristeva, Routledge, 2004 Stephen Neale and Murray Smith, Contemporary Hollywood cinema, Routledge, 1998 Stephen Neale, Facing facts, Oxford university press, 2001 Phillip Cole, The myth of evil: demonizing the enemy, Greenwood publishing group, 2006 Elaine Aston, An introduction to Feminism and theatre, Routledge, 1995 Gregory W. Mank, Women in horror films, McFarland, 1999 Read More