Dr. Laura Hall Publishes New Book “Bloodied Bodies, Bloody Landscapes: Settler Colonialism in Horror”
Congratulations to Dr. Laura Hall, Associate Professor of Sociology, for publishing a new book titled Bloodied Bodies, Bloody Landscapes: Settler Colonialism in Horror!
The publisher describes the book as
Turning a lens on the dark legacy of colonialism in horror film, from Scream to Halloween and beyond
Horror films, more than any other genre, offer a chilling glimpse鈥攍ike peering through a creaky attic door鈥攊nto the brutality of settler colonial violence. While Indigenous peoples continue to struggle against colonization, white settler narratives consistently position them as a threat, depicting the Indigenous Other as an ever-present menace, lurking on the fringes of 鈥渃ivilized鈥 society. Indigenous inclusion or exclusion in horror films tells a larger story about myths, fears, and anxieties that have endured for centuries.
Bloodied Bodies, Bloody Landscapes traces connections between Indigenous representations, gender, and sexuality within iconic horror classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. The savage killer, the romantic and doomed Indian, the feral 鈥渕ad woman鈥濃攏o trope or archetype escapes the shadowy influence of settler colonialism. In the end, horror both disrupts and uncovers colonial violence鈥攐nly to bury its victims once more.