Horrors in the Closet: Horrifying Heteronormative Scapegoating

[Natasha]

Horrors in the Closet: Horrifying Heteronormative Scapegoating

PopMatters
Marco Lanzagorta
8/22/2008

Our previous installment of Dread Reckoning: Horrors in the Closet: A Closet Full of Monsters described how, within the context of horror culture, the construction of non-heteronormative sexual identities exhibits a telling duality. That is, because of the impurity and dangerousness commonly associated to the practitioners of "non-normative" sexual habits, a large segment of conservative modern society sees them as monstrous.

Most horror narratives present narratives that neatly conform to the Freudian structure of repression and their monsters have strong homosexual, bisexual, and autosexual connotations.  Therefore, those who do not conform to the rules established by traditional heteronormative society are seen as monsters, and fictional monsters encompass traits that challenge the foundations of such heteronormative society.

[soldierjane]

Cool article. I usually hate when in movies or anime the bad character somehow jumps the gender or sexuality line. I was reading The Ultimates not too long ago, which comic fans will know as a reimagining of the Marvel Avengers with more modern, "movie-like" origin stories, there's an evil body-snatching villain who looks like an old man and is "eager to experiment the female form". Cue the horrified scream.

[glendagladwitch]

That reminds me of the "human monsters" subtitles for the transgendered persons in the Chinese documentary that was reported here a few weeks ago.  Maybe it means "abnormal," and the literal translation was a bit unfortunate.