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Men, Women, and Chain Saws

Gender in the Modern Horror Film - Updated Edition
By Carol J. Clover
Series: Princeton Classics
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Men, Women, and Chain Saws offers a groundbreaking analysis of horror cinema from the mid-1970s onwards, focusing on slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Carol J. Clover reveals how these movies align viewers with the "final girls"—female characters who endure terror and degradation before triumphing—challenging the traditional notion that such films cater solely to male sadistic pleasures. This insightful work explores the empowerment of women within horror's low-budget tradition and its influence on mainstream thrillers.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5300

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for students of film theory, gender studies scholars, and fans of horror cinema interested in cultural analysis. Its academic yet accessible approach will also appeal to filmmakers and anyone fascinated by the intersection of gender and popular culture.

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From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s. Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditiona

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From its first publication in 1992, Men, Women, and Chain Saws has offered a groundbreaking perspective on the creativity and influence of horror cinema since the mid-1970s.

Investigating the popularity of the low-budget tradition, Carol Clover looks in particular at slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films. Although such movies have been traditionally understood as offering only sadistic pleasures to their mostly male audiences, Clover demonstrates that they align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the females tormented—notably the slasher movie's "final girls"—as they endure fear and degradation before rising to save themselves.

The lesson was not lost on the mainstream industry, which was soon turning out the formula in well-made thrillers. Including a new preface by the author, this Princeton Classics edition is a definitive work that has found an avid readership from students of film theory to major Hollywood filmmakers.

Series: Princeton Classics

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Men, Women, and Chain Saws has been praised as a brilliant and compelling study of gender in horror films. Linda Ruth Williams of Sight and Sound highlights Clover's argument that horror movies centre on feminism and a "victim-identified" perspective rather than a controlling gaze. Andrea Walsh from The Boston Globe notes the book's challenge to simple gender assumptions, praising its exploration of gender ambiguity and subversion. Misha Berson of the San Francisco Chronicle acknowledges Clover's convincing encouragement to view exploitation horror as reflecting contemporary psychological concerns.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691166292

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 May 2015

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Edition: Updated Edition

Illustration: 23 halftones.

Contributors:

  • Preface by Carol J. Clover

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 227g

Pages: 276

Collections

Arts & Culture Carol J. Clover Education & Reference Non-Fiction Series: Princeton Classics

About the Author

Carol J. Clover is the Class of 1936 Professor Emerita in the departments of rhetoric, film, and Scandinavian at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of The Medieval Saga.

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