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lyc4nthropes's review
"since homosexuality cannot be spoken forthrightly, it must manifest itself through Dorian's monstrosity and clever connotative types . . . the "H" word itself cannot be spoken, and not even a 'queer' or a 'gay' is slyly bandied about. perforce, 'monster' stands in for 'homosexual.'"
benshoff's monsters in the closet details an extensive knowledge of the history of homosexuality and homosexual subtext within the specific subgenre of horror known as "monster horror" and its frequent conflation of homosexuality and monstrosity. benshoff explores both the impact these themes have had on the social understanding of homosexuality (in the u.s. specifically) and how, in turn, ideas about homosexuality informed the horror genre. this book covers all the major points of u.s. horror film history from the ambiguity that the hays code brought upon movies of its time conflating sexual desire and violence (both unable to be shown on-screen due to the code's regulation laws), to understanding homosexuality as a strictly european endeavor adopted by "confused" or "preyed upon" u.s. americans which resulted in depictions of nazis in u.s. american film as predatory in a flamboyantly gay sense (informed by news articles at the time that claimed homosexuals and nazis to be a one-in-the-same moral deviance, even claiming they consorted with one another), to modern depictions of more open gayness by outwardly gay film writers and directors.
i learned a lot from this book. not just about the history of the horror genre, but also the history of the u.s. things i never really knew, but things that ultimately didn't surprise me. sure, there's outdated-ness to this book (it was published in 1997), but ultimately what benshoff has to say is unfortunately still extremely relevant. a lot of the ways in which right-wing and/or christian people in the u.s. discuss their issues with anyone different than them have been informed a lot by narratives pushed in hollywood film. fiction affects and is affected by reality. while discussing the real life bigotry these themes in horror fuel, benshoff acknowledges that many gay and trans audience members will feel a connection to horror and these flawed (or usually downright hateful) depictions of their otherness: "identification can mean many different things to many different people, and is not necessarily always a negative thing for the individual spectators in question, even as some depictions of queer monsters undoubtedly conflate and reinforce certain sexist or homophobic fears within the public sphere." he doesn't condemn the spectator's interpretations of the subject, simply asserts that this is on an individual basis, and that while these individuals may feel this way, other spectators (ones entering these movies with preconceived negative notions of queerness) will utilize the film's conflation of homosexual and monster very differently. as someone in the camp of personally enjoying these types of depictions (with exceptions, of course), i appreciated the distinction.
even though it took me forever and a day to actually finish this book, i enjoyed it from beginning to end. i'm really glad i picked this up. i'll be referring back to it a lot in the future.
benshoff's monsters in the closet details an extensive knowledge of the history of homosexuality and homosexual subtext within the specific subgenre of horror known as "monster horror" and its frequent conflation of homosexuality and monstrosity. benshoff explores both the impact these themes have had on the social understanding of homosexuality (in the u.s. specifically) and how, in turn, ideas about homosexuality informed the horror genre. this book covers all the major points of u.s. horror film history from the ambiguity that the hays code brought upon movies of its time conflating sexual desire and violence (both unable to be shown on-screen due to the code's regulation laws), to understanding homosexuality as a strictly european endeavor adopted by "confused" or "preyed upon" u.s. americans which resulted in depictions of nazis in u.s. american film as predatory in a flamboyantly gay sense (informed by news articles at the time that claimed homosexuals and nazis to be a one-in-the-same moral deviance, even claiming they consorted with one another), to modern depictions of more open gayness by outwardly gay film writers and directors.
i learned a lot from this book. not just about the history of the horror genre, but also the history of the u.s. things i never really knew, but things that ultimately didn't surprise me. sure, there's outdated-ness to this book (it was published in 1997), but ultimately what benshoff has to say is unfortunately still extremely relevant. a lot of the ways in which right-wing and/or christian people in the u.s. discuss their issues with anyone different than them have been informed a lot by narratives pushed in hollywood film. fiction affects and is affected by reality. while discussing the real life bigotry these themes in horror fuel, benshoff acknowledges that many gay and trans audience members will feel a connection to horror and these flawed (or usually downright hateful) depictions of their otherness: "identification can mean many different things to many different people, and is not necessarily always a negative thing for the individual spectators in question, even as some depictions of queer monsters undoubtedly conflate and reinforce certain sexist or homophobic fears within the public sphere." he doesn't condemn the spectator's interpretations of the subject, simply asserts that this is on an individual basis, and that while these individuals may feel this way, other spectators (ones entering these movies with preconceived negative notions of queerness) will utilize the film's conflation of homosexual and monster very differently. as someone in the camp of personally enjoying these types of depictions (with exceptions, of course), i appreciated the distinction.
even though it took me forever and a day to actually finish this book, i enjoyed it from beginning to end. i'm really glad i picked this up. i'll be referring back to it a lot in the future.
kitewithfish's review
This is a very readable academic book on the history of monsters in cinema as a metaphor for queer people. Solid work, covers 1920s to late 1980s
ectoplasmjames's review
4.0
It's a crying shame that this was published too early to cover Scream, but the good news is that the book teaches you how to read these movies so well that I don't even need to know Benshoff's thoughts on it
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