Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film (Princeton Classics): Gender in the Modern Horror Film - Updated Edition: 15 (Princeton Classics, 15)

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Jenna stood carefully with the box, made her way over to the Camaro, and reached that photo in, held it up until all the edges lined up, even the now-empty yoke of a six-pack, still hanging on the passenger-side window crank. Though they will be familiar to the experienced horror audience by now, the author takes us through the tropes and traditions of horror films and from the commonalities of a broad survey we emerge with three separate subgenres that will be relevant to her treatment of gender: the slasher film, the possession film, and the rape-revenge film.

awesome read, chock-full with slasher knowledge and backed with a lot of film theory (especially affect and audience/spectator theories). Gender in slasher films is not very straightforward, and slippages and mutations within gender representations can occur throughout a slasher film. the new prominence of women is the structural effect of a greater investment in the victim function… modern horror seems especially interested in the trials of everyperson, and everyperson is on his or her own in facing the menace, without help from the authorities…it is not only in their capacity as victims that these women appear in these films. Halloween is an exceptional example, however, because the Final Girl, Laurie, appears alongside the killer Micheal in the sequel.I would LOVE a modern re-evaluation of a lot of the gender concepts in this as a nonbinary reader in 2022, but it was excellent for its time and mostly now too, really interesting and riveting to listen to. stars rounded down, primarily because I've only seen a handful of the films examined in the text (of note, Carrie and the original I Spit On Your Grave), so it was a bit difficult to really get into it.

Short stories are generally hit or miss for me, but Stephen Graham Jones is always on point within this format. for me, the strongest aspect of the book is the way she traces the origins of these sub-genres and their influence on later "high-brow" films that garnered more critical acclaim. I love stories by Stephen Graham Jones; he's a horror fan, writing for horror fans, and he knows just when to lean into a trope - and when to use it to subvert your expectations. She did provide us with the idea of the Final Girl, and there are other moments where she highlights quite intriguing ideas about horror films (her analysis of Peeping Tom is notable).

Not only was she one of the more well known actors in the film, but the marketing of the film made it appear that she could have been the final girl (admittedly, Neve Campbell does show up quite a bit in the trailer as well). Clover asserts that this is most likely not due to audience’s fear of castration, but rather because of Western pop culture’s requirement that a hero be male. If you squint, then the world can look a whole lot better than it does with your eyes all the way open. There’s also brief discussions around various portrayals in horror linked to LGBT+ themes, and the appeal of horror outside a cis, het, white, male audience, though Clover doesn’t hugely go into these topics.