DRtL Episode 52: The Monstrous Feminine!

Don't Read The Latin

Welcome back! Joining us for another episode of Don’t Read the Latin is Jillian Venters from Gothic Charm School! This time, in the wake of election results that are arguably more terrifying than any movie we’ve ever discussed, we decided to get our feminist rant on and sat down to talk about The Monstrous Feminine — the idea of women as monsters in horror movies and pop culture.

Along the way, we discuss Gothic romance novels, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, the role that Mad Max: Fury Road played in the beginning of Jen’s relationship with Handsome Boyfriend Jim, and we wonder why the hell Marvel keeps burying pretty actors under way too much prosthetic makeup, and we wrap it all up with the topic of older women having a voice and taking up space in our society. We don’t necessarily do a great job of sticking rigidly to our topic in this episode, but we sure hope you’ll think it’s an interesting conversation. Check it out.

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Bibliography
Books we mention in this episode:

• The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, by Barbara Creed
• Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, by Carol J. Clover
• Monstrous Bodies: Feminine Power in Young Adult Horror Fiction, by June Pulliam
• Bad Dreams, by Kim Newman
• Angels of Music, by Kim Newman

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Mister Babadook
As mentioned in this episode, Jen’s copy of the crowdfunded prop replica/movie tie-in book from The Babadook has finally arrived! Here are some pictures of just how gorgeous it is. Click to embiggen: