Malice in Wonderland

"Malice in Wonderland" is a study of the American horror film during a period of tremendous change in American society. Discussing ten landmark horror films made in the 1970s 'The Brood', 'Dawn of the Dead', 'The Hills Have Eyes', 'The Exorcist', 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', 'It s Alive', 'Rabid', 'Shivers', 'The Omen' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Bojan Ba a identifies the content of the form of the horror narrative. As a result, the focus of horror studies is shifted from its primary unit of analysis, a figure of the monster, toward unresolvable antagonistic relationship between the Order and the Other. The aim of this study is not to present the monster as a progressive or reactionary critique of the dominant order, but as a necessary and positive support for any social order. An intriguing combination of social theory, cultural studies and film analysis, "Malice in Wonderland" uses theories of Jacques Derrida, Slavoj i ek and Fredric Jameson in order to utilize the notion that horror films provide space for non-ideological contemplation on ideology.

Autorentext

Bojan Baca (1984) is an aspiring anthropologist and cultural theorist from Montenegro. He graduated from Central European University in 2009 with an M.A. in Sociology and Social Anthropology. Bojan is currently employed as a teaching fellow at University of Donja Gorica (UDG), Podgorica.

Klappentext

"Malice in Wonderland" is a study of the American horror film during a period of tremendous change in American society. Discussing ten landmark horror films made in the 1970s - 'The Brood', 'Dawn of the Dead', 'The Hills Have Eyes', 'The Exorcist', 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', 'It's Alive', 'Rabid', 'Shivers', 'The Omen' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' - Bojan Baca identifies the content of the form of the horror narrative. As a result, the focus of horror studies is shifted from its primary unit of analysis, a figure of the monster, toward unresolvable antagonistic relationship between the Order and the Other. The aim of this study is not to present the monster as a progressive or reactionary critique of the dominant order, but as a necessary and positive support for any social order. An intriguing combination of social theory, cultural studies and film analysis, "Malice in Wonderland" uses theories of Jacques Derrida, Slavoj Zizek and Fredric Jameson in order to utilize the notion that horror films provide space for non-ideological contemplation on ideology.