Again, her reading of the terrible place, this time, the destruction of the terrible place, is probably really helpful to ecogothic and ecohorror readings. What happens when gothic nature is gendered? Can we read gothic nature through the monstrous feminine? For what it's worth, I enjoyed this book for the most part. It certainly gave me a lot to think about and analyze, and while it did take me quite some time to read, I attribute that more to my own desire to take my time digesting the topics in this book. There was a lot to take in and think about, especially when accounting for the fact that this book is dated and it prompts a lot of questions about the understanding of gender, coming from a decades-older viewpoint. Jones knows horror and he often uses expectations of the genre to his full advantage. There is a Christine-like car haunting going on here (this is a story where the less you know going in the better so I won’t spoil much) that makes you question if the haunting is real or only in Jenna’s head. Knowing it is horror, you kind of play along but there are a few moments where you can feel him winking at the reader like, oh have I fooled you, or is there more to come? It was delightful. It’s also always satisfying to read a revenge tale against an abusive asshole, so that was fun.

Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film

Clover makes a convincing case for studying the pulp-pop excesses of ‘exploitation' horror as a reflection of our psychic times."—Misha Berson, San Francisco Chronicle Past Stoker Award Nominees & Winners". Horror Writers Association. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008 . Retrieved January 22, 2011.

Introduction: Carrie and the Boys

Clover actually bothers (as few have done before) to go into the theaters, to sit with the horror fans, and to watch how they respond to what appears on screen."—Wendy Lesser, Washington Post Carol Clover's compelling [book] challenges simplistic assumptions about the relationship between gender and culture. . . . She suggests that the "low tradition' in horror movies possesses positive subversive potential, a space to explore gender ambiguity and transgress traditional boundaries of masculinity and femininity. ---Andrea Walsh, The Boston Globe

Carol J. Clover - Wikipedia Carol J. Clover - Wikipedia

I have no idea how harshly to judge a 28-year-old book when it comes to our modern understanding of gender. I’ll be generous and chalk most of these issues up to it just being dated. But regardless, most of it is from a bio-essentialist perspective, which severely tainted my experience and made me wish for a modern, more progressive version.

Customer reviews

Clover, C.J.: Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in Modern Horror Film". Princeton University Press. Archived from the original on April 11, 2015 . Retrieved January 22, 2011. I may have seriously overestimated my appetite for Freudian psychoanalysis! Some real mixed feelings about this thing. I’m thankful that this book gave us the term “Final Girl” and made a serious attempt at analyzing the tropes of the genre. But it’s weighed down by dated views on gender, some truly baffling takes, and just way too much Freud. I like the writing of academic books and I love analysis of horror. There is though, an obsession with identification here (and often in these books), specifically gender identification.

Men, Women, and Chain Saws - De Gruyter Men, Women, and Chain Saws - De Gruyter

Then, eventually, at the end of so many years, they buy a camper, set out to see America, right? Why not. Just, now, instead: this. Bleeding into a magical car for too many nights, gambling on ghosts, and hoping nobody asks too many questions." Various genres are covered (slasher, possession, haunting, revenge-I Spit On Your Grave gets a lot of attention), as well as films that influenced horror, like the Alien movies, Deliverance, and even The Accused. The one thing that majorly bothered me was the essay-chapter "The Eye of Horror." I felt like Clover got rather repetitive and beat her points in that chapter over and over again. Additionally, I took issue with a lot of her analysis of Carrie and Firestarter. My issues with her approach to Carrie started in chapter two, but she grossly misunderstood and skewed the knowledge of Firestarter to the point I felt like she was really reaching for an excuse to include it and force it like a square peg into a round hole for the "Eye of Horror" chapter. Even knowing she didn't read any of the books any of these films she watched were based on, with the exception of The Exorcist, I still don't understand how it is she so horribly misunderstood Firestarter and tried to force it to fit the point of her essay.Judging Audiences: The Trial Movie." Film Studies, ed. Christine Gledhill and Linda Williams. (London: Arnold, 1998). In other words, gender is a result not of the body but of behavior. As explained in the next chapter, final girls survive because of their maleness. By the end of the film they are able to man themselves by taking on a phallic object and penetrating the killer with it, thereby unmanning him. It is through pain and trials that the final girl can become manned, she must pass from victim to hero. There are some great subtle touches including all the - yes you guessed it - horror movie references, especially focusing on the clichés and how they hope they will work out for them. This was such a fun, odd little story full of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 references and a spurned lover's revenge. It wasn't my top favorite story of all time from SGJ, but I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes this fantastic author as much as I do!