The Wounds of Nations : Horror Cinema, Historical Trauma and National Identity

This book explores the ways in which the unashamedly disturbing conventions of international horror cinema allow audiences to engage with the traumatic legacy of the recent past in a manner that has serious implications for the ways in which we conceive of ourselves both as gendered individuals and as members of a particular nation-state. Exploring a wide range of stylistically distinctive and generically diverse film texts, its analysis ranges from the body horror of the American 1970s to the avant-garde proclivities of German Reunification horror, from the vengeful supernaturalism of recent Japanese chillers and their American remakes to the post-Thatcherite masculinity horror of the UK and the resurgence of hillbilly horror in the period following 9/11 USA. In each case, it is argued that horror cinema forces us to look again at the wounds inflicted on individuals, families, communities and nations by traumatic events such as genocide and war, terrorist outrage and seismic political change, wounds that are all too often concealed beneath ideologically expedient discourses of national cohesion. Thus proffering a radical critique of the nation-state and the ideologies of identity it promulgates, horror cinema is seen to offer us a disturbing, yet perversely life affirming, means of working through the traumatic legacy of recent times. The Wounds of Nations: Horror Cinema, Historical Trauma and National Identity explores the ways in which the unashamedly disturbing conventions of international horror cinema allow audiences to engage with the traumatic legacy of the recent past in a manner that has serious implications for the ways in which we conceive of ourselves both as gendered individuals and as members of a particular nation-state. Exploring a wide range of stylistically distinctive and generically diverse film texts, its analysis ranges from the body horror of the American 1970s to the avant-garde proclivities of German Reunification horror, from the vengeful supernaturalism of recent Japanese chillers and their American remakes to the post-Thatcherite masculinity horror of the U.K. and the resurgence of 'hillbilly' horror in the period following September 11th 2001. In each case, it is argued, horror cinema forces us to look again at the wounds inflicted on individuals, families, communities and nations by traumatic events such as genocide and war, terrorist outrage and seismic political change, wounds that are all too often concealed beneath ideologically expedient discourses of national cohesion. By proffering a radical critique of the nation-state and the ideologies of identity it promulgates, horror cinema is seen to offer us a disturbing, yet perversely life affirming, means of working through the traumatic legacy of recent times Front matter Contents Introduction: traumatic events and international horror cinema Part I: German and Japanese horror: the traumatic legacy of the Second World War Introduction The horror of the Nazi past in the reunification present: Jörg Buttgereit’s Nekromantiks Nihonjinron, women, horror: post-war national identity and the spirit of subaltern vengeance in Ringu and The Ring Part II: The traumatised 1970s and the threa tof apocalypse now Introduction ‘Consumed out of the good land’: George A. Romero’s horror of the 1970s All hail to the serial killer: America’s last frontier hero in the age of Reaganite eschatology and beyond Part III: From Vietnam to 9/11: the Orientalist other and the American poor white Introduction ‘Squealing like a pig’: the War on Terror and the resurgence of hillbilly horror after 9/11 Part IV: New Labour new horrors: the post-Thatcherite crisis of British masculinity Introduction Zombies, dog men and dragons: generic hybridity and gender crisis in British horror of the new millennium Conclusion: horror cinema and traumatic events Filmography Bibliography Index 'The wounds of nations explores the ways in which horror films allows international audiences to deal with the horrors of recent history - from genocide to terrorist outrage, nuclear war to radical political change. Far from being mere escapism or titillation, it shows how horror (whether it be from 1970s America, 1980s Germany, post-Thatcherite Britain or post-9/11 America) is in fact a highly political and potentially therapeutic film genre that enables us to explore, and potentially recover from, the terrors of life in the real world.Exploring a wide range of stylistically distinctive and generically diverse film texts, Blake proffers a radical critique of the nation-state and the ideologies of identity it promulgates, showing that horror cinema can offer us a disturbing, yet perversely life affirming, means of working through the traumatic legacy of recent times' --Back cover The wounds of nations explores the ways in which horror films allows international audiences to deal with the horrors of recent history? from genocide to terrorist outrage, nuclear war to radical political change. Far from being mere escapism or titillation, it shows how horror (whether it be from 1970s America, 1980s Germany, post-Thatcherite Britain or post-9/11 America) is in fact a highly political and potentially therapeutic film genre that enables us to explore, and potentially recover from, the terrors of life in the real world. Exploring a wide range of stylistically distinctive and ge