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Beschreibung

The subgenre of body horror, associated with directors such as David Cronenberg and Coralie Fargeat, depicts the human body's susceptibility to disease and change. Preoccupied with anatomy, pathology, and corporeality, it portrays contagion, mutilation, mutation, and metamorphosis. As organs, growths, and pustules proliferate, so do questions about the consequences of technology, the effects of trauma, and ultimately what it means to be human. Since emerging in the 1970s, the subgenre has not only bridged grindhouse and arthouse but also increasingly taken on ageism, sexism, racism, and ableism.

Xavier Aldana Reyes provides an engaging introduction to the inner workings of body horror, tracing its evolution from foundational works such as The Fly (1986) and Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) to recent films like Raw (2016) and The Substance (2024). He argues that the subgenre's concern with the body as both anatomical reality and cultural construction links it to the interdisciplinary field of body studies, which examines the relationship between embodiment and culture. Surveying a wide range of films, Aldana Reyes shows how the transformation of the body opens paths to resist dominant understandings of identity and to imagine alternatives. Compelling and accessible, this book offers new insights for both film studies courses and general readers interested in the role the body plays in horror cinema.

The subgenre of body horror, associated with directors such as David Cronenberg and Coralie Fargeat, depicts the human body's susceptibility to disease and change. Preoccupied with anatomy, pathology, and corporeality, it portrays contagion, mutilation, mutation, and metamorphosis. As organs, growths, and pustules proliferate, so do questions about the consequences of technology, the effects of trauma, and ultimately what it means to be human. Since emerging in the 1970s, the subgenre has not only bridged grindhouse and arthouse but also increasingly taken on ageism, sexism, racism, and ableism.

Xavier Aldana Reyes provides an engaging introduction to the inner workings of body horror, tracing its evolution from foundational works such as The Fly (1986) and Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) to recent films like Raw (2016) and The Substance (2024). He argues that the subgenre's concern with the body as both anatomical reality and cultural construction links it to the interdisciplinary field of body studies, which examines the relationship between embodiment and culture. Surveying a wide range of films, Aldana Reyes shows how the transformation of the body opens paths to resist dominant understandings of identity and to imagine alternatives. Compelling and accessible, this book offers new insights for both film studies courses and general readers interested in the role the body plays in horror cinema.
Über den Autor
Xavier Aldana Reyes is reader in English literature and film at Manchester Metropolitan University and copresident of the International Gothic Association. His books include Contemporary Body Horror (2024), Gothic Cinema (2020), and Body Gothic: Corporeal Transgression in Contemporary Literature and Horror Film (2014).
Details
Erscheinungsjahr: 2026
Genre: Importe, Kunst
Rubrik: Kunst & Musik
Thema: Theater & Film
Medium: Taschenbuch
Inhalt: Einband - flex.(Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780231220965
ISBN-10: 0231220960
Sprache: Englisch
Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert
Autor: Aldana Reyes, Xavier
Hersteller: Columbia Univers. Press
Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Libri GmbH, Europaallee 1, D-36244 Bad Hersfeld, gpsr@libri.de
Maße: 211 x 137 x 11 mm
Von/Mit: Xavier Aldana Reyes
Erscheinungsdatum: 11.08.2026
Gewicht: 0,228 kg
Artikel-ID: 135945724