The slasher film to some viewers has been written off and categorized as a film not worth watching. Typically viewers decide that this genre may be too violent, graphic, or misogynistic. However, slasher films, like many horror movies, may offer a commentary on society or the human condition. An approach to understanding such films is through the concept of the ‘abject’. It is the disturbance of boundaries that threaten things such as an individual’s identity or societal order Abjection describes our reaction to the threat of borders that are meant to protect the individual. This concept is especially applicable to horror movies because these films often depict the monster as crossing these boundaries. The abject allows us to understand why
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It may seem as if this type of film has nothing to offer other than violence and gore. For example, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre tells the story of five teenagers that get stranded in rural Texas at their grandparents’ old house. All of them end up wandering to the house next door, which harbors cannibals that end up killing all but one of them. However, most of these deaths are short and do not occur until the latter half of the film. Yet because this film manages to encompass the abject, viewers are disturbed or uneased when watching the transgression of boundaries we may not be aware …show more content…
One of the first images that viewers see in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the cadaver. In the film’s opening, viewers see a rotting corpse out in the open, which is a shocking way to begin a film. The corpse in this film elicits disgust as we see the rotting body mounted for everyone to see. The corpse is considered abject because it shows the boundary between life and death. It is one of the ultimate reminders of our mortality. The corpse is “death infecting life” (Kristeva, 1982). The potential for us becoming corpses is within us at all times. It shows how our bodies are constantly doing everything to live and yet inevitably this will all stop as death “infects” the body. This film makes use of this reaction and uses it to leave viewers disturbed and weary as to what will follow
It may seem as if this type of film has nothing to offer other than violence and gore. For example, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre tells the story of five teenagers that get stranded in rural Texas at their grandparents’ old house. All of them end up wandering to the house next door, which harbors cannibals that end up killing all but one of them. However, most of these deaths are short and do not occur until the latter half of the film. Yet because this film manages to encompass the abject, viewers are disturbed or uneased when watching the transgression of boundaries we may not be aware …show more content…
One of the first images that viewers see in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the cadaver. In the film’s opening, viewers see a rotting corpse out in the open, which is a shocking way to begin a film. The corpse in this film elicits disgust as we see the rotting body mounted for everyone to see. The corpse is considered abject because it shows the boundary between life and death. It is one of the ultimate reminders of our mortality. The corpse is “death infecting life” (Kristeva, 1982). The potential for us becoming corpses is within us at all times. It shows how our bodies are constantly doing everything to live and yet inevitably this will all stop as death “infects” the body. This film makes use of this reaction and uses it to leave viewers disturbed and weary as to what will follow