Current PhD Students

Summer Sapiano

Thesis Title:

‘Making Mincemeat’: Abjection and the Queer Politics of Contamination in 21st Century Spectacle Horror Cinema

Supervisor:

Dr Melissa Oliver-Powell

Description:

Drawing from the work of Julia Kristeva and Mary Douglas, my study seeks to examine the queer politics of the intersections between contamination, hygiene and abjection in 21st century spectacle horror films. Frequently interwoven with the visceral spectacle of blood and gore in these films are representations of dirt and hygiene practices, attacking the dichotomy between filth and ‘purity’ through horrific imagery and implication.

Sterilising rituals represented within the films do not effectively separate the subjects from queerness or rejected materials, demonstrating that as long as there is a normative social order, there will always be ‘matter out of place’ (Douglas, 1966). Through their traversal of bodily boundaries and their use of both literal and symbolic ‘cleanliness’ and ‘dirt’, spectacle horror films uproot hegemonic constructions of gender and sexuality and demonstrate that striving for ‘purity’ conceals - and often aids - deep societal rot.

I hold a BSc in Film and Television Production from the University of York and an MA in Death, Religion and Culture from the University of Winchester. Prior to my PhD, I worked as a pop culture writer for Collider, primarily focused on horror cinema.