Proof of Concept

Frankie Sutton
 Proposal Idea

Use of Abject Imagery in Horror and the

provocation of men's castration anxiety
 Case Studies

Alien (1979) - Intentional use of abject imagery (genitalia and

bodily fluid) in the monster's design to trigger sexual fear.

Jaws (1975) - A Symbol of the castrating mother and vagina

dentata.

Psycho (1960) - Freudian perspective on boy's abjection of his

mother and fear of being castrated, resulting in him taking on her
role to become the castrator.

Teeth (2007) - A literal representation of the vagina dentata in a

horror film.
 Key Themes/Issues

• Abject Imagery and repression

• The popularity of Horror
• Freudian theory and Psychosexual development
• Men's desire, yet fear towards the female genitals
• Vagina Dentata and the monstrous feminine
• Castration and emasculation
 Theoretical Frameworks and
their theorists

Julia Kristeva – Abjection

Barbara Creed – The Monstrous Feminine

Jacques Lacan – The Unconscious Desire

Sigmund Freud – Castration Complex and the Uncanny

Carl Jung – The Terrible Mother Archetype

 Books
Barbara Creed – The Monstrous-Feminine (1993)

Julia Kristeva – Powers of Horror (1980)

Michael Khan – Basic Freud: Psychoanalytic Thought for

the 21st Century (2002)

Sigmund Freud – Totem and Taboo (1913)

H.R. Giger – Giger's Alien (1979)

Sigmund Freud – The Uncanny (1919)

 Articles

"Fearing our mothers": An overview of the

psychoanalytic theories concerning the vagina dentata
motif F547.1.1. (Otero, 1996)

'Dung, guts and blood': sodomy, abjection and Gothic

fiction in the early nineteenth century. (E. Haggerty,
2006)

What is the Uncanny? (Windsor, 2018)

 Websites

The Dasein Project – Freud's Medusa

Representations of The Body in Alien: Mother and the

Other

The Great Mother vs. the Terrible Mother: the dual

nature of the Jungian archetype
 Key Images

Fig. 1. Payne Sculpture Fig. 2. Alien monster design Fig. 3. Medusa oil
painting
 Bibliography
Creed, B. (1993) The Monstrous-Feminine. Abingdon: Routledge

E. Haggerty, George. (2006) 'Dung, guts and blood': sodomy, abjection and
Gothic fiction in the early nineteenth
century. http://go.galegroup.com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=uc
ca&id=GALE|A392573463&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon [Accessed 02/02/19]

Freud, S. (1919) The Uncanny. London: The Hogarth Press

Freud, S. (1913) Totem and Taboo. London: Routledge

Giger, H. (1979) Giger's Alien. London: Big O Publishing

Khan, M. (2002) Basic Freud: Psychoanalytic Thought for the 21st Century.
New York: Basic Books

Kristeva, J. (1980) Powers of Horror. New York: Columbia University Press.

Lazarus, L. (2012) The Great Mother vs. the Terrible Mother: the dual
nature of the Jungian archetype. https://jenniferlinton.com/2012/05/14/the-
great-mother-vs-the-terrible-mother-the-dual-nature-of-the-jungian-
archetype/ [Accessed 03/02/19]

Moore, T. (2011) The Dasein Project – Freud's

Medusa. http://daseinproject.com/freuds-medusa/ [Accessed 02/02/19]

Otero, S. (1996) "Fearing our mothers": An overview of the psychoanalytic

theories concerning the vagina dentata motif F547.1.1. https://search-
proquest-com.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/docview/204614730?pq-
origsite=summon [Accessed 02/02/19]

Plimley, D. Representations of The Body in Alien: Mother and

the Other. http://www.pimley.net/documents/the-body-in-alien.html [Accessed
02/02/19]

Windsor, M. (2018) What is the Uncanny? https://doi-

org.ucreative.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/aesthj/ayy028 [Accessed 02/02/19]
 Illustrations List

Figure. 1. Robert Payne, Fleshlette

Sculpture. http://www.paynesculptures.com/fleshlettes.h
tml [Accessed 21/01/19]

Figure. 2. D. Snyder, D, Alien monster

design. https://psmag.com/social-justice/horrible-
philosophy-behind-star-alien-h-r-gigers-xenomorph-
81641 [Accessed 02/02/29]

Figure. 3. Caravaggio, Medusa oil painting

(1598) https://www.florence.net/painting-medusa-uffizi-
gallery.aspx [Accessed 02/02/19]