https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.084
Crippling and Crawling: Motherhood and Pregnant Bodies in Body-Horror Films
SHIMI SHAJAN A
Research Scholar
PG and Research Department of English
All Saints’ College, University of Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Abstract: Body-horror films have abundantly relied on the trope of pregnancy and its aspects- physical and psychological, to bring out the nuances of visceral horror. As the Frankenstein author Mary Shelley accounts in her journal, “how frightful it must be to give life to a creature,” pregnancy is an appalling journey in terms of female physiology as well as both mental and psychological well-being. Motherhood is deemed as a means to ensure woman’s acceptance and validation in her family and social circle. The paper attempts to study the depiction of pregnancy in body-horror films and how it dismantles the mythical narratives that surround motherhood. The films chosen for the study include the French film Titane (2021) directed by Julia Ducournau, winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival (July, 2021) and the Mexican-Peruvian film Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) directed by Michelle Garza Cervera. A close reading of the selected films has been done to understand the intricacies of the nuanced representation of “pregnant female bodies” on screen. The films are placed within the theoretical framework of Mikhail Bakhtin’s “Grotesque Realism” for better analysis of the visceral shocks implied in the films. While exploring the depiction of the physiological and psychological aspects of motherhood in these films, the study also analyses the social, political, cultural, and religious aspects associated with pregnancy and motherhood.
Keywords: Body-Horror, Body Politics, Pregnancy, Domestication, Grotesque, Motherhood, Representation of Female Body
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