Return of the Monstrous-Feminine

"In her new book Barbara Creed identifies a radical new cinema arising in the 2000s that centres the monstrous-feminine - the focus of her groundbreaking 1993 book The Monstrous-Feminine - but no longer as the object and victim of the male horror film, rather as the subject and agent of a Feminist New Wave Cinema, as ‘a liberating and transformative figure’. She presents a fascinating and original study of the horrific in of a wide range of films, mainly directed by women but some also by men, extending and enriching our understanding of horror in film. Central to Creed’s study of these films is the idea of abjection developed by Julia Kristeva that Creed drew upon in her earlier book, but now emphasising its role in a journey of revolt and transformation, an ‘intimate revolt’ in Kristeva’s words, that is a ‘questioning of one’s own being’. It is feminism’s focus on the social and ethical, Kristeva suggests, that has led to a revalorising of sensory experience and which is central to Creed’s claim that this new cinema is feminist for, she argues, these films ‘constitute a key terrain for the exploration of ethics and lived sensory experiences of women and others who are oppressed’. The monstrous-feminine that she explores is not necessarily the conventionally ‘horrific’ but rather the unassimilable to conventional ideas of the feminine in film - in Nomadland the widowed woman, in Carol, the lesbian mother. The Monstrous-Feminine in FeministNew Wave Cinema re-writes how we may think of feminist cinema and feminine agency. It is essential reading."

- Elizabeth Cowie, Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, University of Kent, author of Representing the Woman: Psychoanalysis and Cinema

"Through a series of illuminating and inspiring analyses of queer and feminist revolt, The Return of the Monstrous-Feminine provides a compelling demonstration of the continuing relevance of the concept of the monstrous-feminine for the study of cinema. Working at the cutting-edge of psychoanalytically informed feminist film criticism, Creed offers invaluable insights into the emancipatory potentials of what she identifies as Feminist New Wave cinema. Through nuanced and sophisticated readings of a wide range of films engaging with monstrosity, Creed traces how Feminist New Wave cinema embodies a vital force for social change. This timely book, which is composed of a series of case studies of films by contemporary women directors, represents a major addition to feminist film theory and an important contribution to broader debates about gender and sexuality."

- Nicholas Chare, Professor of Art History, Université de Montréal, author of Sportswomen in Cinema

"Across a range of genres that deal with the horrific, Barbara Creed demonstrates that the concept of monstrosity has transformed into a tool of empowerment in the hands of female directors of the ‘feminist new wave cinema’. She revisits Kristeva’s notion of abjection to address the revolts against ‘the abject male’ in sexual, racial, and class aggression. In her characteristic clear writing style, in depth analyses of films and television series, as well as theoretical and feminist insights Creed manages once more to capture the spirit of the times and has written another classic book in film studies that matches the first iteration of The Monstrous-Feminine."

- Patricia Pisters, Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, author of New Blood in Contemporary Cinema: Women Directors and the Poetics of Horror