Publisher Description

This timely study breaks new ground in exploring how recent film and television horror texts articulate a female rite of passage, updating the cautionary concerns found in fairy tales of the past, particularly in warning against predatory men, treacherous females and unhappy family situations.

Notes

1 Appeal to both film studies and gender studies readership
2 First work of its kind to marry feminist fairy tale scholarship with screen horror
3 Challenges assumption that horror films and their representation of women are primarily targeted at a male audience
4 Originality - the only book that focuses on the idea of female rite of passage and accompanying questions regarding female identity and aspirations

Author Biography

SUE SHORT lectures in Film and Media at Birkbeck College, University of London and the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She has written on a variety of science fiction and horror-related themes. She is the author of Cyborg Cinema and Contemporary Subjectivity.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Telling Tales: Fairy Tales and Female Rites of Passage Narratives Sex and the Final Girl: Surviving the Slasher Maternal Monsters and Motherly Mentors: Failed Initiations in Carrie and Carrie II Misfit Sisters: Female Kinship and Rivalry in The Craft and Ginger Snaps Fighting Demons: Buffy, Faith, Willow and the Forces of Good and Evil Demeter's Daughters: Wronged Girls and the Mother Avenger Conclusion Bibliography Filmography Index

Long Description

"Misfit Sisters "assesses female characterization in recent screen horror, examining how a female rite of passage can be seen to operate in such texts as "Scream, The Craft, Ginger Snaps" and "The Ring," Drawing parallels with folk tales it evaluates the trials female protagonists undergo in their journey to womanhood, arguing that the focus given to female characters and experiences, the powers they are given, and the ways in which they are tested demand that the genre be critically re-appraised.

Description for Bookstore

This book assesses female characterization in recent screen horror, examining how a female rite of passage can be seen to operate in such texts asScream, The Craft, Ginger SnapsandThe Ring.

Details