How Nottingham’s Monstrous Flesh: Women’s Bodies in Horror Film Course is Exploring the Genre Through a Feminist Lens

Home to a plethora of female narratives while also notorious for its sexist bank of tropes, horror has a complicated and contradictory relationship when it comes to women. Trying to capture the complexities of a genre that both celebrates and punishes women is Clelia McElroy, facilitator of Monstrous Flesh: Women's Bodies in Horror – the feminist horror film course currently being held at Sherwood Community Centre.  

“I take a few films that people know and love, and dissect them to an inch of their lives,” Clelia jokes, referring to the ten-week course which deep dives into a new trope every session. “In the first session we talked about the origin of horror, for example, then in week two we looked at the vampire trope and how it was used to demonise female sexuality and female desire.”

What inspired this course? “I’ve always loved horror films. I grew up in the nineties and loved slashers and all that kind of stuff,” she says. “I spent some time starting community cinema initiatives, so I’ve always been interested in that community aspect and teaching film. I’m also really new to Nottingham, and I thought the best way to meet my people would be to start a little course like this.”

Horror is a subject Clelia is passionate about, and after many years of hearing the genre referred to as a lesser subject of film study, she’s quick to defend it. “There’s an idea that horror doesn’t have any cultural value, but that’s not true. When you can contextualise a film, you can see which societal fears they are addressing,” Clelia says, eager to illustrate that horror is a mirror to society, reflecting the cultural thoughts and mores of its time.

In this way the film course acts as a social history lesson, tracking attitudes towards women through the medium of horror films. As expected, the misogynistic history of the genre is unignorable and violence against women is often a visceral and central part of many of these films. “There’s no denying that horror depicts violence against women a lot more,” Clelia says. “There was a study done that showed it takes twice as long to kill a female victim on screen. Horror is a sensation genre, it’s like pornography, those genres make people feel both horrified and titillated. It’s not fair, but it’s there.”

Nonetheless, horror also has a deep history of female involvement. Many of the first Gothic writers were women, from early contributors like Ann Radcliffe to iconic novelists along the likes of Mary Shelley and Shirley Jackson. And in the modern era, we’re seeing a new cohort of exciting female directors and writers. “You can see the representation of women is changing a lot, women are getting involved behind the camera a lot more,” Clelia asserts. While ‘lazy horror’, as McElroy calls it, continues to employ sexist tropes, the genre is starting to move away from its derogatory past, with films like Censor (2021), Candyman (2021), Raw (2016), The Fear Street Trilogy (2021), and Jennifer’s Body (2009) given as examples of great films created by female directors.

The course, which plans to run until mid February, has received a positive response so far. “I started with eight students and then four more people joined. It’s been just lovely, everybody has joined for very different reasons; either they love film, or they want to do something different, or they’re interested in feminism,” Clelia says. “We have a noticeboard on Facebook where everyone is sharing films, podcasts, suggestions, and readings. I’ve never had this kind of response, so that’s a real testament to how Nottingham is a creative city.”

I ask Clelia what the future holds for the horror genre. “Horror is getting a rebranding, certainly, which is great,” she says. “The concept of elevated horror started not too long ago, with films like Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), and The Witch (2015). I have nothing against it, it’s giving the middle-class audience an excuse to go and watch films which they would previously think of as low brow.” Nevertheless, Clelia refuses to dismiss the work of old horror directors, despite all the flaws they may present to a modern viewer. “If you look at the themes, horror has always been talking about societal fears. If we put them back in social cultural context, we will see it’s always been doing the work that it’s doing now.” In this sense they are important social and historical documents, alongside works of art in their own right.

Looking forward to her own future, Clelia is excited at the prospect of running this course again, as well as following new creative ventures. Upon asking for final thoughts, Clelia guides the conversation back to her sense of gratitude. “I’ve been blown away by the support of the community so far. Nottingham is clearly a vibrant place creatively, and I can’t wait to do more here.”

Find out more about the film course on the Monstrous Flesh Facebook page

Due to popular demand, Monstrous Flesh will be running again in April 2022. You can book here.