Dissertation
A Technology of Violence: Materiality, Discourse, and Victim Functionality in the Contemporary Horror Genre
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/12170
Abstract
This dissertation examines the function and role of the victim in the contemporary horror genre. By looking at a number of important films over the course of the genre’s history, such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Psycho, Halloween, and The Cabin in the Woods, this work aims to show how the victim’s function has shifted in the genre from one of narrative importance to one of material importance. This shift has resulted in the development of regressive body discourse within the genre, that views and treats the human body less as a subject with narrative depth and more as an object of materiality. At one time a fringe element of the genre, through a series of semantic and syntactic changes, the discourse has become the definitional mark of the genre’s contemporary form.
Metrics
15 File views/ downloads
21 Record Views
Details
- Title
- A Technology of Violence
- Creators
- Timothy John Hetland
- Contributors
- Jon Hegglund (Advisor)Carol Siegel (Committee Member)Michael Delahoyde (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 147
- Identifiers
- 99900581635701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation