1.

Paragraph One: History of Horror

o “For some time, horror films had comparatively little serious…in the late 1960s,
two books appeared by Carlos Clarens and Ivan Butler arguing for the horror
film as art, pointing to the long literary tradition of ‘the art of terror’...the chief
route to cultural legitimation has been through popular anthropological of
Freudian/Jungian reference,” (Cook, 2007: 347-349). I will use this quote to
explain that the horror genre in cinema was not always taken seriously despite its
history in literature beforehand.

2. Paragraph Two: The Difficulties Surrounding the Horror Film

o “It is not surprising that the genre has been of such consistent concern to film
theory and criticism, for horror texts possess great potential for widely divergent
readings…horror is hardly a simplistic or limited genre…it is simply too versatile
and complex to be contained by any one theory or interpretation. As Stephen King
puts it, ‘The horror genre is extremely useful,’” (Grant, 1996: 8). In this
paragraph I want to briefly reiterate that horror is not simplistic or easy but it is a
useful, complex, and adaptive genre due to the limitless ways of interpreting a
film.

3. Paragraph Three: What is ‘Horror’ as a Film Genre

o “The appeal of horror film has always been about confronting death and in their
various ways these movies help us cope with that, which is why this has been such
a long lived genre from literary times on,” (Nightmares in Red, White and Blue:
The Evolution of the American Horror Film, 2009). Now that I have discussed the
difficulties surrounding the genre, I will attempt to explain what the overall genre
is – including its common themes (violence, death, the abject, monsters, etc.) and
how they vary depending on the sub-genre.

4. Paragraph Two: The Horror Sub-Genres

o “Various sub-genres of the horror film seem to correspond to religious categories
of abjection. For instance, cannibalism…is central to the ‘meat’ movie (Night of
the Living Dead), the corpse as abomination becomes the abject of ghoul and
zombie movies (The Evil Dead); blood is central to the vampire film (The
Hunger)…bodily disfigurement…is central to the slasher movie, particularly
those in which woman is slashed, the mark a sign of her ‘difference’, her
‘impurity (Psycho),” (Creed, 1993:11). This further introduces the abject and how
this helps separate horror sub-genres. The diagram (see fig 1.) will also be present
near this paragraph to show the different sub-genres. This also introduces the idea
of woman being ‘impure’ for later discussion.

5. Paragraph Four: Horror as a Reaction to World Events

o “It seems that horror comes back with every social discomfort. Even the horror
movies and novels that aren’t as political today as they were in the 60s, 70s and
80s, maybe they will look that way in retrospect.” (Nightmares in Red, White and

Paragraph Plans - 4
Dissertation Proposal: Female Representation In The Horror Film – Woman As Witch

Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film, 2009). This paragraph will
explain more about how the horror film is the product of events going on within
the society. I will use the example of Carrie (1976) in relation to Women’s
Liberation Movement, Roe vs. Wade, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

6. Paragraph Five: Horror and Misogyny – Violence Against Women, Castration

Anxiety & The Male Gaze
o “The cinematic gaze is not gender-free but is structured by male or masculine
perceptions…the cinematic apparatus has two ways of looking at a woman, both
organized around defending against her ‘castration’: a sadistic-voyeuristic look
where the gazer salves his unpleasure that female lack by seeing the woman
punished, and the fetishistic-scopophilic look, whereby the gazer salves his
unpleasure by fetishizing the female body,” (Clover, 1993:8) This quote will help
me explain how some feel that the horror genre is misogynistic by means of the
male gaze through camera shots that include nude women and/or the murder or
mutilation of the female body.

7. Paragraph Six: Woman as Monster & as The Witch - What is a Witch?

o “There is one incontestably monstrous role in the horror film that belongs to the
woman – that of the witch…Historically and mythologically, the witch has
inspired both awe and dread…the witch in earlier centuries was her role as
healer…the witch sets out to unsettle boundaries between the rational and
irrational, symbolic and imaginary. Her powers are seen as part of her ‘feminine’
nature; she is closer to nature than man,” (Creed, 1993:74-76). In this paragraph
I will discuss different monsters that women tend to represent in comparison to
men. I will specifically address the witch and explain what a witch actually is and
why women are represented as witches (in film and historically).

8. Paragraph Seven: Horror as a Reaction to The Female Body

o “Monsters typically disrupt and challenge the presumed homogeneity of human
identity by confusing or transgressing boundaries between human and nonhuman.
Like sexual difference, then, the monster introduces a threatening
heterogeneity…Nonhuman and nonmale are confused as equivalent threats to the
human identity; bodily difference becomes, in both cases, the locus of the
nonhuman,” (Grant, 1996:333). I will conclude this chapter with a discussion of
how the horror genre is often a reaction the female body (as victim or monster). I
will propose that Freud, Lacan, Kristeva, and Creed can shed some light on why
women are represented this way.

Dissertation Proposal: Female Representation In The Horror Film – Woman As Witch

answers in every way to what is expected of the higher nature of man” (Freud,
2010:22-24, 29, & 34). In this paragraph I aim to introduce psychoanalysis and
define/explain what the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego are according to Freud’s idea and
how they function within the human mind.

2. Paragraph Two: The Conscious and Unconscious

o “The term conscious is… a purely descriptive one, resting on a perception of the
most direct and certain character. Experience shows… that a mental element (for
instance, an idea) is not permanently conscious…thus, unconscious in this sense
of the word coincides with latent and capable of becoming conscious,” (Freud,
2010: 1-3). In this paragraph I will expand upon the paragraph above, explaining
the roles of both the conscious and unconscious, why they are important, and how
they work alongside the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego.

3. Paragraph Three: Repression

o “In the case of a drive, flight is of no avail, since the ego cannot escape from
itself. At a later stage, judicious rejection (disapproval) is found to be a good
measure against drive impulses. A preliminary stage of this disapproval,
something between flight and disapproval, is repression,” (Freud, 2005:35). Now
that the Id, Ego, Super-Ego, conscious and unconscious has been discussed, I will
then be able to explain repression – what it is, what it does, and some reasons why
it happens.

4. Paragraph Four: The Uncanny

o “…the German word unheimlich [the nearest equivalents in English are
‘uncanny’ and ‘eerie’, but which etymologically corresponds to ‘unhomely’]…the
uncanny is that species of frightening that goes back to what was once well known
and had long been familiar…among the various shades of meaning that are
recorded for the word Heimlich [homely] there is one in which it merges with its
formal antonym, unheimlich [unhomely], so that what is called Heimlich becomes
unheimlich,” (Freud, 2003:124 & 132). In this paragraph I will analyze the
‘uncanny’ by first explaining its relation to the relevant German terms. I will
identify its relation to the unconscious, repression, and childhood beliefs and how
the uncanny affects our view of things normally perceived as familiar.

5. Paragraph Five: Jacques Lacan’s Theory of the ‘Other’, the Subject, and the
Symbolic Order
o “The Other is manifest not only in language, but also in the whole set of
hypotheses that exert their influence upon the Subject. The Law, societal rules,
taboos, mores and expectations, even Time are different faces of the Other. The
Other is constituted by the entirely symbolic realm of human productions,”
(Bailly, 2009:71). In this paragraph I’ll examine how Jacques Lacan built upon
Freud’s theories. Here I will attempt to briefly explain the ‘other’, the ‘Other’, the
Symbolic order, and other aspects of his ideas.

Paragraph Plans - 6
Dissertation Proposal: Female Representation In The Horror Film – Woman As Witch

6. Paragraph Six: Introduction to Julia Kristeva’s Theory of Abjection – The Body

o “A wound with blood and pus, or the sickly, acrid smell of sweat, of decay, does
not signify death. In the presence of signified death – a flat encephalograph, for
instance – I would understand, react, or accept…refuse and corpses show me
what I permanently thrust aside in order to live,” (Kristeva, 1982:3). In this
paragraph I’ll begin to explore Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject/abjection.
First, I will introduce and explain the basics of abjection in regards to the
‘unclean’ such as bodily fluids, waste, corpses, etc.

7. Paragraph Seven: Abjection in Relation to Borders, Order, and Identity

o “It is thus not lack of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs
identity, system, order. What does not respect borders, positions, rules…the
traitor, the liar…the killer who claims he is a savior…any crime because it draws
attention to the fragility of the law, is abject… hypocritical revenge, is even more
so…” (Kristeva, 1982: 4). In this paragraph I will continue discussing the abject
in relation to things beyond the body such as - disrupting order/border/identities
and how actions/crime and people can be considered abject, not just corpses,
blood, vomit, etc.

8. Paragraph Eight: The Uncanny, the ‘Other, and The Abject’s Relationship with
Women
o “It often happens that neurotic men state that to them there is something uncanny
about the female genitals. But what they find uncanny [‘unhomely’] is actually the
entrance to man’s old ‘home’, the place where everyone once lived.” (Freud,
2003: 151). I will apply all of the above (psychoanalysis, repression, uncanny, the
‘Other’, the abject) and apply it to gender – specifically women. I will use
writings from Freud, Lacan, and Kristeva to draw parallels on how women are
represented as abject, uncanny, or ‘Other’ due to repression and castration
anxiety.

9. Paragraph Nine: The Monstrous-Feminine

o “I have used the term ‘monstrous-feminine’ as the term ‘female monster’ implies
a simple reversal of ‘male monster’. The reasons why the monstrous-feminine
horrifies her audience are quite different from the reasons why the male monsters
horrifies his audience.” (Creed, 1993: 3) I will now relate all of this theory to
Barbara Creed’s term ‘monstrous-feminine’. This will help me show how the
information in previous paragraph applies to how women are represented in film
as the monster or victim in different ways.

Chapter 3:
1. Paragraph One: Introduction to Carrie – Women’s Liberation & Short Plot
Summary
o “The film (Carrie) is in essence a melodramatic rendering of female puberty…yet
the film surrounds such ‘familiar’ issues with an aura of terror, grafting onto this
plot of supernatural horror dealing with Carries telekinetic powers. Conflating

Paragraph Plans - 7