history3650-women-n-horror

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Queer folks and the ties to Horror

Often times we have to ask ourselves what is horror ? What is it that terrifies us? What is it that leaves us shell shocked ? All of these questions in a way tie up together to answer the age old question of The parameters within horror. There is not a single definition that is agreed-upon between filmmakers or authors or enthusiast of horror.

So in a way we have to ask further questions regarding the limitations of whore to begin to conceptualize the genre as a whole. Often times the answer to these questions are things that make us uncomfortable in reality that has somehow shifted and morphed into a fear within our subconscious. And these fears are further shaped and morphed through the rewards and consequences system built by society. That are further enforced through the structures within society.

“OK, but Arlen what are you trying to get at when it comes to the horror genre and queer people?”

Ultimately what I am trying to get people to begin to think about is the way our subconscious minds have been structured through the actions and perspectives of society.

In other words to answer your question with another question it would be, what makes queer people so terrifying? The simple answer is because they are “different“/abnormal. Arguably in 2022 most people understand this answer to lack nuance and critical thinking. Yet, this answer provides a beginning point to understand why a society has structured certain aspects of itself to not be deemed as normal.

Something that I have learned from my history of human rights course at my university is that humans enjoy structure and order. I do not mean this in the sense of authoritarian forms of structure in order, but more in the literal sense. This is simply because as humans we are simply trying to understand our surroundings, and its connection to our existential purpose. Of course I will not dive too deep into this concept as I am a historian and not a philosopher (however as Dr. Dre explained to us, “there is a fine line between history and philosophy “.). The moral consensus is that when these systems of order and structure begin to take form, it is more often than not, that a specific demographic/identity of an individual will be left out of the conversation especially when those folks who are designing, said system, do not represent—nor attempt to connect with—the identities being left out. To them, those identities seem like an abnormality.



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snuggling w my vampire lover……we getting Closeferatu 

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[ID: two men on a bus meme. The smiling man looking out at the scenery is labeled “Jonathan Harker looking at the pretty mountains”. The sad man looking at the cliff face is labeled “Romanian peasants trying to avoid being eaten by vampires”.]

Jonathan Harker’s trip to Castle Dracula, summarized.

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"The New Woman?": Mina Harker in Dracula

Who is Mina Harker?

She is the love interest, and engaged to Johnathan Harker--the protagonist who is selling an estate to Count Dracula, upon his employer's wishes--who is described to be "one of God's women... so true, so sweet, so noble..." (Stoker, 1881).

What is the "New Woman"?

[Pull up notes from class]

How is she new woman?

There are some literary analysis that argue that Mina does represent this potential "New Woman", but explicitly throughout the book by Stoker, she is portrayed to uphold the social norms of women from the 19th century. Which goes against the purpose of the New Woman because the New Woman is embracing the societal norms with the progressive ideals of the turn of the century.

why would "new woman" be feared?

Nonetheless, it does make one ask what could be so scary of a New Woman that Stoker had to bring it up within his book?

Anything to compare to Elizabeth Lavenza from Frankenstein?

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"frankenstein's monster"? um. uh actually. he's not- *holding back tears* please say 'the creature' he's not actually a monster!! he's just a little very tall guy who didn't ask to be born!!! *sniff* he's literally just- why are you calling him a monster???!? it's people like you who made him turn to violence! he's not .... he's not a monster!! *breaks down crying*

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Time-Skip! Gothic Horror Era

The pinnacle idea of what we understand horror to be as it is heavily referenced within pop culture!

There is a lot of argument on whether or not Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), is considered to be gothic horror. As mentioned in an earlier post, Frankenstein is considered to be the foundation of what we now know to be "sci-fi". However, as argued by James Ursini & Alain Silver, that Frankenstein fits more into the gothic horror category due to the fact that Shelley does not go into mass detailing as to Victor Frankenstein's process when creating The Monster. Which is the meat of the bones, if you will, within the sci-fi genre. It leaves us, the reader, to have to believe to some degree magic had to be involved to create The Monster. In their shared book--More Things Than Are Dreamt Of--Ursini & Silver, believe Frankenstein is a gothic horror because it fits into the genre's needed recipe, as defined by Todorov:

"the mood is one of fear and terror, with the creature threatening Victor and his love ones, and fulfilling that threat. He murders Victor's bride, Elizabeth, his brother, William, and his friend Henry, and ultimately causes Victor's own death in the frozen Arctic. The setting are also typical of the genre: blasted expanses of terrain... primeval forests like the one in which the creature hides after he flees Frankenstein's laboratory" (1994, 11).

Whale, James. Frankenstein Lurking. A screen clip of The Monster from Frankenstein. Universal Studios, 1931.

Small note, the mentioned Todorov is referencing Tzvetan Todorov, a well known structuralist literary critic.

Around the same time of Frankenstein within the romantic era of literature, we get Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897).

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Cover of Dracula's First American edition. Dracula. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dracamer99.jpg.

It is important to note that Dracula was not the first vampire story ever written. Yet, "Stoker's vampire narrative works because he was successful in using [his] plot to develop complex characters and address significant social issues while writing and effective horror story" (Cardin, 2017, 340). What are these social issues at play during 1887? According to Cardin, "at the end of the nineteenth century, many European and American readers saw white, patriarchal, Christian, European society under attack from within and without" (341).

If you are interested in learning about how these fears translate into an analysis of Stoker's book Dracula, then I highly encourage you all to check out this video--inserted below--created by Kaz Rowe on Bram Stoker and the Fears that Built Dracula! Overall such a fantastic analysis of the author, author's intentions of their work, and overall the external influences for the creation of the book.

From their analysis, one of the biggest social issue/theme that I will dive into deeper is Homosexuality, or the queer identity, and its ties to the horror genre.

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Where Does Horror Begin? 🤔💭

Some would attribute Mary Shelly, the queen of gothic horror with creations like Frankenstein, to be the attribute to what we know to be horror today.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. Portrait of Mary Shelley. https://library-artstor-org.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822001651510.

In fact, she's not only the gothic icon, but the first IN THE WORLD to create Sci-fi!!! She really went, "yeah horror is nice, but let me just create a whole new genre for fun 😉."

Yet.....

I want us to think back even further regarding the roots of horror. Even further than what you're probably thinking!

I'm talking Ancient times! According to Matt Cardin, editor of Horror Literature Through History, "horror and the supernatural enter literature with one of the earliest extant literary documents, the Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 1700 BCE), which was a product of ancient Mesopotamian culture" (2017, 3).

Muhammed-Amin, Osama Shukir. Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. A photo of a small 11 x 9.5 x 3 cm clay tablet. The Vintage News. Accessed April 25, 2022. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/12/29/epic-of-gilgamesh/.

Following after the Epic of Gilgamesh would be "Homer's Odyssey (c. 800 BCE) [that involved] adventures battling against and array of malevolent monsters, sometimes helped and hindered by the gods" (Jones, 2005, 3).

The Siren Painter. The Siren Vase. Pottery: red-figured stamnos. The British Museum. 480BC-470BC (circa). https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1843-1103-31.

Over time, horror would adapt and change to fit the fears of the era. Matt Cardin does a phenomenal job at editing Horror Literature Through History book because within this source they provide an in-depth timeline. This timeline does a fantastic job a condensing this long history into chucks in order to get a big picture understanding of horror in literature. Moreover, I wanted to begin this research with horror literature because before there was film, there was literature, and before literature, there was oral history-- and heavily tied with folklore--that was shared and pass down through the generations.

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Welcome History Lovers, Horror enthusiasts, and people that simply LOVE women (🏳️‍⚧️) 💖!

I am [REDACTED], but for simplicity’s sake, you may refer to me as Arlen! I am a history major in their senior year and I am creating this blog for a research project that I am working on!

My pronouns are They/them and I am a queer nonbinary historian (in-the-making, still working on my degree).

You’re probably wondering, “Arlen, what’s up with this niche topic?” And to that I will say, I love history and currently have an obsession with horror & the way women interact with this genre!

“So how will this blog work exactly?” Great question! Because this is blog is not necessarily structured like a paper, I will do my best to follow this timeline of posting:

The History of Horror: when did it begin and where?

Historically, how were women portrayed in the horror genre? Looking within literature, film, and art.

Is there a drastic change on women’s portrayal in horror or their engagement within the genre media as a whole in contemporary times?

And this next question is just for “funsies”/my personal interest that I will take into consideration as I research:

What’s up with women’s attraction to horror and how does that connect, if anything, with the queer community?

All things considered, I encourage folks to not only engage with this blog by liking/reblogging my research, but I highly encourage you all to send me your questions—whether clarifying or to propose another research thought—or submit pieces of media (films, literature, art, etc) you would like to see me analyze according to my research questions above!

Tagging system that I will follow (subject to change):

The History of horror —> #horror-his3650

Women in horror, historically —> #women in horror-his3650

Change to women in horror —> #his3650-evolution of women in horror

My Icon source: Little Women (2019) film, of Jo saying “women—”.

Header image description: a portrait of a woman standing alone in a forest while starring straight towards the camera with their hair in their face. This individual is wearing a white gown while barefoot. The image is in black & white so that it sparks the feelings of uneasiness and fear.

Source: Georgi Kalaydzhiev at https://unsplash.com/@jorok