Halee Turner

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Wallace, Miriam

Keywords

Horror, Film, Literature

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

Horror, as a genre, has been and continues to be very popular. In part this is because it contains titillating and shocking material that has thrilled readers and viewers for hundreds of years, but there is something more significant at work here. The sensational aspects of horror allow for more complex but controversial subjects to be explored in a way that non-threatening to readers/viewers. This phenomena is first evident in the nineteenth century literary works. Bram Stoker's Dracula and Joesph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla use vampires to mask an underlying discussion of sexuality and what was, at the time, sexual deviance. Similarly, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus delves into the issue of creation and questions the existence or purpose of a god, and Robert Louis Stevenson's iconic work, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, alludes to the horrors of substance abuse and addiction, as well as an evil inherent in humanity. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries these stories have been recreated on film. These adaptations show these monster myths have maintained their early purpose, but also how they have changed to speak to more modern social anxieties. The relatively recent appearance and growing popularity of zombies further illustrates this point as an example of how the horror genre adapts to meet the needs of its audience.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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