Hideous progeny : disability, eugenics, and classic horror cinema / Angela M. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Angela M.

Series:

Film and culture.

Film and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Horror films--History and criticism.

Horror films.

People with disabilities in motion pictures.

Grotesque in motion pictures.

Eugenics in motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (356 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2011.

Summary:

Twisted bodies, deformed faces, aberrant behavior, and abnormal desires characterized the hideous creatures of classic Hollywood horror, which thrilled audiences with their sheer grotesqueness. Most critics have interpreted such traits as symptoms of sexual repression, or as metaphors for other kinds of marginalized identities, but Angela M. Smith conducts a richer investigation into the period's social and cultural preoccupations. Presenting an altogether different reading, she finds in the narrative and spectacle of classic 1930s horror a fascination with eugenics and physical and

Contents:

Introduction: disability, eugenics, and classic horror cinema

Eugenic reproduction: chimeras in Dracula and Frankenstein

Enfreaking the classic horror genre: freaks

Revelations and convulsions: spectacles of impairment in classic horror film

Mad medicine: disability in the mad-doctor films

Shock horror and death rays: disabling spectatorship

Conclusion.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613792150

9781281862839

1281862835

9780231527859

0231527853

OCLC:

785776569