Research Catalog

Title

Monstrous nature : environment and horror on the big screen / Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann.

Author

Murray, Robin L.

Publication

• Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2016]
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Heumann, Joseph K.

Description

xxiii, 244 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"Godzilla, a traditional natural monster and representation of cinema's subgenre of natural attack, also provides a cautionary symbol of the dangerous consequences of mistreating the natural world--monstrous nature on the attack. Horror films such as Godzilla invite an exploration of the complexities of a monstrous nature that humanity both creates and embodies. Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann demonstrate how the horror film and its offshoots can often be understood in relation to a monstrous nature that has evolved either deliberately of by accident and that generates fear in humanity as both character and audience. This connection between fear and the natural world opens up possibilities for ecocritical readings often missing from research on monstrous film, the environment, and the horror film. Organized in relation to four recurring environmental themes in films that construct nature as a monster--anthropomorphism, human ecology, evolution, and gendered landscapes--the authors apply ecocritical perspectives to reveal the multiple ways nature is constructed as monstrous or in which the natural world itself constructs monsters. This interdisciplinary approach to film studies fuses cultural, theological, and scientific critiques to explore when and why nature becomes monstrous"--Dust jacket.

Subjects

• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Nature in motion pictures
• Environmental protection and motion pictures
• Horror films > History and criticism

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-235), filmography (pages 209-218) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Film, environment, horror -- Anthropomorphism and the "big bug" movie. The Hellstrom chronicle and Beetle queen conquers Tokyo : anthropomorphizing nature for humans ; "As beautiful as a butterfly"? : monstrous cockroach nature and the horror film -- Human ecology and the horror film. The earth bites back : vampires and the ecological roots of home ; Through an eco-lens of childhood : Roberto Rossellini's Germany year zero and Guillermo del Toro's The devil's backbone -- Evolution and monstrous nature. Zombie evolution : a new world with or without humans ; Laughter and the eco-horror film : the Troma solution ; Parasite evolution in the eco-horror film : when the host becomes the monster -- Gendered landscapes and monstrous bodies. Gendering the cannibal : bodies and landscapes in feminist cannibal movies ; American Mary and body modification : nature and the art of change -- Conclusion: Monstrous nature and the new cli-fi cinema.

Call Number

MFL 16-5090

ISBN

• 9780803285699
• 0803285698

LCCN

2015044552

OCLC

930364282

Author

Murray, Robin L., author.

Title

Monstrous nature : environment and horror on the big screen / Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann.

Publisher

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2016]

Copyright Date

©2016

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-235), filmography (pages 209-218) and index.

Added Author

Heumann, Joseph K., author.

Other Form:

Online version: Murray, Robin L., author. Monstrous nature. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2016] 9780803294905 (DLC) 2015046477

Research Call Number

MFL 16-5090