Cinematic Possessions: Colonialism, Horror, and Documentary Open Access

Abstract

In a world of increasing complexity and abstraction, how do we as film spectators, critics, theorists, and/or filmmakers engage responsibly with a rapidly expanding corpus of media? This thesis addresses the ethical dimensions of filmmaking and spectatorship through a primarily post-colonial lens of possession while examining The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017), and Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston, 1990). Possession is understood through two intertwined perspectives: first, as a narrative trope within horror and documentary films, in which possessed figures and characters  relay otherness for the spectator; and second, through questions of language and translation in relation to power structures and the oppressed. Given the prominence of identity, subjectivity, and positionality in the discourses surrounding issues of representation, the possession framework attempts to facilitate a greater understanding of the relationship of these issues to colonialism, as well critical theories of race, gender, and sexuality. Although the question of ethical representation and spectatorship has no single definitive answer, this project pursues self-reflexive practices of theory that counter the passive perpetuation of oppressive ideologies. 

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1

        Project Genesis & Theoretical Groundwork….…………………………………………...3

        Subjectivity, Language, and the Other ..……....…………………………………………..6

Chapter 1 – Horrific Possessions: Horror, Race, and Colonialism …………………………14

        Colonial Other, the Fantastic & Temporal Critique……………………………………...15

        The Exorcist…………………………………………………………………………… ...22

        Demonic Possession & Racialized Violence…………………………………………….23

        Medical Objectification & Gendered Violence………………………………………….27

        Gender, Race & Magic…………………………………………………………………..31

        Get Out: The Inversion of Otherness?.…………………………………………………..38

        The Reception……………………………………………………………………………39

        Subversive Horror in Get Out……………………………………………………………44

        Language of Horror and Marginality…………………………………………………….48

Chapter 2 – Paris is Burning: Gender, Colonialism & Documentary……………………….51

        Subjectivity, Language & Gender………………………………………………………..52

        Ambivalence, Translation, and Performance…………………………………………….59

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………66

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….69

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Film and Media Studies
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Language, Linguistics Cinema
Keyword	colonialism horror possession
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Holland, Timothy, Emory University
Committee Members	Lee, Nathan, Emory University Blizzard, Mónica García, Emory University Cordova, Chad , Emory University

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