HON 270 - The Rhetoric of Horror Films

What do horror films show us about the cultures that create, contextualize, and watch them? And how do they do this showing? This course examines the rhetorical strategies that horror films use to create meaning, including specific filmic techniques and common tropes. In addition, it considers horror films in the context of theories of mass culture, the history of the genre, and the scholarship of prominent horror film theorists. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, class, and politics are represented in horror films, and the implications of these representations for questions of film authorship and audience reception. Course may focus on a specific horror film sub-genre (e.g., slasher films), topic (e.g., horror films directed by women), or theme (e.g., race and racism in horror films)