What Ever Happened to My Peace of Mind? Hag Horror as Narrative of Trauma

IF 0.2 0 LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Text Matters-A Journal of Literature Theory and Culture Pub Date : 2019-11-01 DOI:10.18778/2083-2931.09.19

Tomasz Fisiak

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract In his pioneering study of Grande Dame Guignol (also referred to as hag horror or psycho-biddy), a female-centric 1960s subgenre of horror film, Peter Shelley explains that the grande dame, a stock character in this form of cinematic expression, “may pine for a lost youth and glory, or she may be trapped by idealized memories of childhood, with a trauma that haunts her past” (8). Indeed, a typical Grande Dame Guignol female protagonist/antagonist (as these two roles often merge) usually deals with various kinds of traumatic experiences: loss of a child, domestic violence, childhood abuse, family conflicts or sudden end of career in the fickle artistic industry, etc. Unable to cope with her problems, but also incapable of facing the inevitable process of aging and dying, she gradually yields to mental and physical illnesses that further strengthen the trauma and lead to her social exclusion, making her life even more unbearable. Unsurprisingly, scholars such as Charles Derry choose to name psycho-biddies horrors of personality, drawing attention to the insightful psychological portrayal of their characters. Thus, it would be relevant and illuminating to discuss films such as Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) and Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971) as narratives of trauma. This will be the main concern of my article.

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我内心的平静到底怎么了?作为创伤叙事的女巫恐怖

彼得·雪莱(Peter Shelley)对20世纪60年代以女性为中心的恐怖电影《贵妇人》(Grande Dame Guignol)(也被称为hag horror或psycho-biddy)进行了开创性的研究，他解释说，贵妇人是这种电影表现形式中的一个固定角色，“可能渴望失去的青春和荣耀，或者她可能被理想化的童年记忆所困，带着困扰她过去的创伤”(8)。典型的《贵妇》女主角/反派(因为这两个角色经常合并)通常要处理各种各样的创伤经历:失去孩子、家庭暴力、童年虐待、家庭冲突或在变幻无常的艺术行业突然结束职业生涯等等。她无法处理自己的问题，也无法面对不可避免的衰老和死亡的过程，她逐渐屈服于精神和身体疾病，这些疾病进一步加剧了她的创伤，导致她被社会排斥，使她的生活更加难以忍受。不出所料，查尔斯·德里(Charles Derry)等学者选择将精神病患者命名为人格恐怖，将人们的注意力吸引到他们对角色的深刻心理刻画上。因此，讨论《去死吧!》死的!我的亲爱的!(1965)和《谁杀了罗阿姨?》(1971)作为创伤的叙述。这将是我文章的主要内容。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Text Matters-A Journal of Literature Theory and Culture LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM-

CiteScore

0.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

23 weeks

期刊介绍： Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, based at the University of Łódź, is an international and interdisciplinary journal, which seeks to engage in contemporary debates in the humanities by inviting contributions from literary and cultural studies intersecting with literary theory, gender studies, history, philosophy, and religion. The journal focuses on textual realities, but contributions related to art, music, film and media studies addressing the text are also invited. Submissions in English should relate to the key issues delineated in calls for articles which will be placed on the website in advance. The journal also features reviews of recently published books, and interviews with writers and scholars eminent in the areas addressed in Text Matters. Responses to the articles are more than welcome so as to make the journal a forum of lively academic debate. Though Text Matters derives its identity from a particular region, central Poland in its geographic position between western and eastern Europe, its intercontinental advisory board of associate editors and internationally renowned scholars makes it possible to connect diverse interpretative perspectives stemming from culturally specific locations. Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture is prepared by academics from the Institute of English Studies with considerable assistance from the Institute of Polish Studies and German Philology at the University of Łódź. The journal is printed by Łódź University Press with financial support from the Head of the Institute of English Studies. It is distributed electronically by Sciendo. Its digital version published by Sciendo is the version of record. Contributions to Text Matters are peer reviewed (double-blind review).