Little terrors : the child antagonist in the horror film

摘要

Since the 1950s children have proven to be among the most effective and enduringudantagonists in the popular horror film, beginning with Rhoda Penmark (PattyudMcCormack) of The Bad Seed (1956) and the space-invader infants of Village of theudDamned (1960), and progressing to the possessed child (Linda Blair) of The Exorcistud(1973) and, more recently, the psychic ghost-girl Samara (Daveigh Chase) of The Ringud(2002). Using theoretical approaches adopted from Marxism, feminism, film theory andudcultural studies, this thesis analyses representations of the "child antagonist" in theudhorror film across the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.udIn contrast with the traditionally innocent characterisations of the child inudWestern film and literature, the child antagonist brings to the surface the complexitiesudand contradictions underlying the apparently hannless meanings readily attributed toudthe child. This thesis identifies the social and cinematic discourses in which the horrorudfilm situates children. In particular, it demonstrates that the portrayal and behaviour ofudchild antagonists enables theorisation of the key discourses that construct popularudunderstandings of childhood, including innocence, class, gender, sexuality, consumerudculture, and parenting. Readings of The Bad Seed and Village of the Damned discussudthe use of child antagonists as representatives of class conflict; an examination of It 'sudAlive (1974) considers monstrous offspring as reflections of paternal masculinity;uddiscussions of The Brood (1979) and The Ring demonstrate the child antagonist'sudgrounding in ideas of motherhood; an analysis of Alien (1979) considers the film'sudcreature as a manifestation of anxieties about reproductive technologies; and a chapterudon Hard Candy (2005) addresses the evolution of the child antagonist in light ofudcontemporary panic over paedophilia. These analyses emphasise the unconsciousudsymbolic value of the figure of the child, and the crises provoked when that symbolismudis subverted.udRepresentations of children in popular film are of great cultural and politicaludsignificance because of their capacity to reflect and influence public perceptions. TheudAbstract Little Terrorsudunique prevalence of the child antagonist in the horror film, along with the exclusion ofudchildren as viewers, renders the genre perhaps the primary domain for the examinationudof those representations. Through investigation of the child antagonist in horror, thisudthesis seeks to construct a clearer view of the cultural conceptualisation of"childhood,"udand the role of horror in charting the relationship between children and adults.