Date of Award
1-1-2020
Language
English
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School/Department
Department of English
Content Description
1 online resource (iv, 66 pages)
Dissertation/Thesis Chair
Mary Valentis
Committee Members
Rae L Muhlstock
Keywords
Horror tales, Abjection in literature, Abjection in motion pictures, Women, Oppression (Psychology)
Subject Categories
English Language and Literature
Abstract
Women live and lead pathologized lives, as evidenced by past diagnoses of women’s disorders like “hysteria” and more modern issues surrounding beliefs in women’s hormones and biological inferiority. In analyzing women’s relationships with a wider male society and the role Kristevean abjection takes in patriarchal views on women’s minds and bodies, I aim to show how female characters in horror fiction – namely Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Ari Aster’s 2019 film, Midsommar – take that abject view and reclaim it for their own power. Through this reclamation, women are able to gain control from patriarchal oppression, demonstrating that male created feminine ideals are a form of oppression, that women can obtain freedom from through abject forces.
Recommended Citation
Schultz, Diana Gem, ""She is finally free" : an analysis of women's pathologized oppression and reclamation of the abject in "The yellow wallpaper" and Midsommar" (2020). Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024). 2575.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/legacy-etd/2575