James Gracey
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781911325314
- eISBN:
- 9781800342262
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325314.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explains how werewolves have traditionally been a masculinised beast associated with cultural concepts of masculinity. It explores Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves as an atypical ...
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This chapter explains how werewolves have traditionally been a masculinised beast associated with cultural concepts of masculinity. It explores Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves as an atypical werewolf film that uses the figure of the lycanthrope to explore notions of adult sexuality from a distinctly feminine vantage point. It also mentions Angela Carter, who described The Company of Wolves as a menstrual film in which the wolves stand for the girl's own sexuality, rather than rough, hairy male sexuality. The chapter discusses female werewolves that have been used as the vehicle to discuss various 'human' anxieties for many centuries. It looks at Rosaleen's encounter and seduction of the huntsman as a significant and influential moment in the history of horror cinema that challenges the traditional representation of the werewolf that is inherently masculine.Less
This chapter explains how werewolves have traditionally been a masculinised beast associated with cultural concepts of masculinity. It explores Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves as an atypical werewolf film that uses the figure of the lycanthrope to explore notions of adult sexuality from a distinctly feminine vantage point. It also mentions Angela Carter, who described The Company of Wolves as a menstrual film in which the wolves stand for the girl's own sexuality, rather than rough, hairy male sexuality. The chapter discusses female werewolves that have been used as the vehicle to discuss various 'human' anxieties for many centuries. It looks at Rosaleen's encounter and seduction of the huntsman as a significant and influential moment in the history of horror cinema that challenges the traditional representation of the werewolf that is inherently masculine.