What is it about?
We argue that extreme horror films derive their horrific nature from the fact that they show how human beings are systematically treated as if they were animals. That is, the bad guys in the films hunt them, kill them, cage them, and abuse them in ways traditionally reserved for animals. The three horror films analyzed are Wolf Creek (McLean 2005), Calvaire/The Ordeal (Du Weiz 2004), and the Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Hooper 1974).
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Why is it important?
Our paper contributes to (1) Conceptual Metaphor Theory by showing how structural metaphors occur not just in language, but also in other media, such as film; (2) the characterization of the extreme-horror film as a genre; (3) the awareness that it is telling that the worst nightmare humans can have is being treated in the way our species routinely treats animals.
Perspectives
Since publishing this paper I have realized that the films under scrutiny not only feature the metaphor HUMAN VICTIM IS ANIMAL but also HUMAN VICTIMIZER IS ANIMAL. That is, it is not only the victims that are "animalized," but so are the perpetrators.
Dr Charles Forceville
Universiteit van Amsterdam
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This page is a summary of: Chapter 18. Multimodal expressions of the HUMAN VICTIM IS ANIMAL metaphor in horror films, September 2009, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/9783110215366.7.429.
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