Return of the Oppressed: Race and Gender in American Horror Films

Abstract

Horror, a genre that has been home to many mainstream and cult classic films, is surrounded by thoughtful and engaging research that has interrogated the genre's ability to confront trauma, often through abstract representations and allegories. This paper seeks to examine exactly whose trauma is represented and confronted in popular American horror films, and then compare these representations against three specific films: Alien, directed by Ridley Scott (1979), Candyman, directed by Bernard Rose (1992), and The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers (2016). Alien, Candyman, and The Witch, are unique amongst the mainstream horror canon both for the traumas they confront and how those traumas are represented. Sexual assault, the legacy of racism, and misogyny are central themes in each of these films respectively. Close analysis of specific scenes will underscore the ways in which certain themes are expressed in the films. By engaging with and critiquing works by horror film scholars - including Carol Clover, Adam Lowenstein, and Michelle Raheja – this paper will investigate the ways in which these three films specifically subvert or break away from traditions of the genre.