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Monsters, Witches,
Ghosts,
and Goblins |
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Both male and female homosexuality or homosexual elements appear
throughout the broad scope of
ghost and
horror fiction. Particularly since the nineteenth
century, ghosts, goblins, witches, vampires, and other demonic
creatures symbolize the radically different and are ascribed thoughts
and deeds that are marginalized or suppressed in daily life.
Gothicism,
which originated in the 18th Century, offers writers and readers of
such works as Frankenstein and
Dracula the chance to
experience the excitement of transgressive sexuality including
male and female homosexuality.
More recently, many of the monsters of
horror
films may be read as mirrors of societal views of homosexuals
as predatory, amoral, perverse, and threatening to "normal life." |
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Frontispiece from Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market
Clive
Barker
(b. 1952) is perhaps best known as the writer and director of the
horror film Hellraiser, which spawned multiple sequels, and as
the executive producer of the Oscar-winning film
Gods and Monsters, based on the
Christopher Bram
novel Father of Frankenstein.
Maureen Duffy
(b. 1933) included a half-human half-gorilla protagonist in her novel
Gor Saga to express her concern with animal rights.
Writer
Jewelle Gomez' (b. 1948) best known work is
The Gilda Stories.
While the novel is ostensibly about vampires, the work reimagines black
lesbians as witnesses to, and creators of, the history and future of
America.
F. W. Murnau
(1881-1931), a German film director, created the first masterpiece of
the horror film, his exquisitely stylized Nosferatu, a screen
adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Christina
Rossetti (1930-1894) was a poet whose sexuality was repressed
by her religious fervor. In her most powerful sustained work,
Goblin
Market, Rossetti uses goblins to set the stage for erotic interactions
between the poem's two female characters.
The artistic
vampire
has been linked with homosexuality since its inception in the
nineteenth century, a connection that has been explored in a number of
films.
Gay film director
James Whale (1889-1957) is best remembered as the creator of
four stylish horror films which have been interpreted as allegories of
a man grappling with his homosexuality.
Ed Wood
(1924?-1978) is called the world's
worst film director by his fans and his detractors alike. The
unapologetically transvestite director made several campy, low-budget
horror and science fiction films including Bride of the Monster and the
classic exploitation film Plan 9 from Outer Space.
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