#and aligning themselves with the killers in slasher movies - it also is still filtered through a young male perspective

[devilsskettle]

idk if you care about the Academia views on horror but for a long time there was the idea pushed by second wave feminists that horror was and will always be inherently reactionary and misogynistic because the act of viewing could only be enjoyed by a sadistic male viewer who liked to watch men suffer. but in the 90s that view began being disputed by people like eve kosofsky sedgwick who pointed out how essentialist and flat that view was and horror studies has bloomed since then to include the queer viewer (benshoff 1997, “monsters in the closet”) and expand beyond the simplistic view that horror is inherently bad and “low art” because of its violence. so basically this is all to say that anon is stuck in 1990

fuck yeah. that's really interesting

#i should read more horror film theory shit tbh #i've only read men women and chainsaws and while she does make a point that viewers weren't only watching with sadism #and aligning themselves with the killers in slasher movies - it also is still filtered through a young male perspective #as the target audience for slasher movies #but yeah i think both the genre and criticism of the genre has expanded to take into account a wider range of viewers #since the 90s #although i do think about what bela lugosi said about women and horror movies: #'it is women who love horror. gloat over it. feed on it. are nourished by it. shudder and cling and cry out - and come back for more.'