Barbara Creed (born 30 September 1943) is a professor of

cinema studies Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for unde ...

in the School of Culture and Communication at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. She is the author of six books on

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

feminist film theory Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory influenced by second-wave feminism and brought about around the 1970s in the United States. With the advancements in film throughout the years ...

, and the

horror genre Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

. Creed is a graduate of Monash and La Trobe universities where she completed doctoral research using the framework of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

and

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

to examine horror films. She is known for her

cultural criticism Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these gro ...

Early life

Barbara Creed is a well-known Australian commentator on film and media. She is a graduate of Monash and

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

, completing her doctrinal thesis and research on the cinema of horror. Creed pursued the use of feminist theory and psychoanalysis in her examination of horror films. She currently works within the School of Culture and Communication at the

where she is a professor of

Cinema Studies Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for unde ...

. Her current research includes human rights and

animal ethics Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, an ...

on screen. Overall, Creed's work is of interest to

and

and how these theories can be applied to horror films. Her work seriously considers the subjects of feminism, psychoanalysis, and post-culturalism. Her themes of investigation incorporate, horror cinema, depictions of sex, and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. Creed's work relies on a number of theorists including

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

, and

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; ; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, ; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Colum ...

is one of Creed's major feminist influencers, as she studied Kristeva in great depth, particularly with her examination of the abject. Creed wrote an essay on Kristeva and film in 1985 for the British Film Journal. Creed's ''The Monstrous-Feminine'' was published in 1993 and clearly draws inspiration from her earlier work on Kristeva.

Key focuses

Women in horror films have been consistently represented and portrayed as weak, submissive, and highly sexualized. Creed argues that within horror films, the male gaze is oftentimes the central focus. isonceptions of female sexuality are inherent within the horror genre, as a common motif is that virtuous or "pure" women survive to the end of the film, and women who exhibit sexual behaviour commonly die early into the narrative. This exemplifies how sexually active women are harlots, who warrant their own death, wherein only the "pure" women deserve to live. On the other hand, women depicted as villains are portrayed as innately evil, and their monstrosity is connected to their

reproductive The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

bodily functions.

Kristeva's Abjection

Creed further acknowledges the influence of

, by examining the notion of

abjection In critical theory, abjection is the state of being cast off and separated from norms and rules, especially on the scale of society and morality. The term has been explored in post-structuralism as that which inherently disturbs conventional ident ...

. According to Kristeva, abjection is the failure to distinguish what constitutes as "self", and what is "other". It is a breakdown of borders between human existence and non-existence. Creed argues that abjection theory is profoundly engrained within the horror genre. She explains this by focuses on how horror emphasizes boundaries of humanity and beyond. Within horror films this theory of a border and the breaking of rules and norms is important as it relates to the formation of the monstrous, which suggests that anything that navigates or exists across this "border" is abject. Kristeva's theory therefore can be applied to the monstrous feminine, particularly the themes of the mother-child relationship and the mother's womb, which both relate to the ‘

archaic mother In psychoanalysis and analytic psychology, the archaic mother (primal mother or ''Ur-mutter'') is a construct or representation of the mother of earliest infancy, embodying maternal authority and sexuality in the subconscious mind. In psychoanal ...

’. In her 1987 paper, "From Here to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism", Creed's approach to understanding the monstrous male figure also draws on Kristeva's notion of abjection. Creed examples that in examples where the monster is clearly defined as male, its status as male identifies it with a lack, and hence defines it as feminized. In this, "lack" signifies the female, wherein male monsters are identified as abject, lacking; ultimately feminine.

Work

Primarily, Barbara Creed's works focus on the

, and the impact of patriarchal ideologies upon the genre. Creed focuses on

Freudian psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...

and

's work on semiotics. Creed's work using the

framework validates its usefulness in the feminist film theory field.

The Monstrous-Feminine

The Monstrous Feminine refers to the interpretation of horror films conceptualizing women, predominantly, as victims. Throughout the book, Creed observes how women are positioned as victims within the horror film genre, and challenges this overriding

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

and one-dimensional understanding of women. Creed challenges this

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...

viewpoint by arguing that when the feminine is fabricated as monstrous, it is commonly achieved through association with emalereproductive bodily functions, or through

matriarchal Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...

traits and tasks. Creed uses the expression "monstrous feminine" because it accentuates the significance of gender in relation to the construction of monstrosity. Creed refrains from using the term "female monster" as it suggests a mere "role reversal of the ‘male monster". Creed argues that the monstrous feminine horrifies her audience through her sexuality, as she is either constructed as a virgin or a whore. She explains that concepts of the monstrous feminine within horror arose from male concerns regarding female sexual difference and castration. Creed asserts that there are a variety of different appearances of the monstrous feminine which all reflect female sexuality: archaic mother, monstrous womb,

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

, possessed monster,

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

, and castrating mother.

Monstrous-Feminine and the Types of Monsters

Barbara Creed's ''The'' ''Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis (1993)'' investigates the types of monsters that women are portrayed as in horror films, particularly examining

s, and mythological adaption's of characters. Creed analyses women as monstrous through their roles in horror movies playing

witches Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

s, archaic mothers, possessed monsters and mythical creatures, such as

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; ), also called Gorgo () or the Gorgon, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a woman with living snakes in place of hair; her appearance was so hideous that anyone who looked upon her wa ...

. In her discussion of the many "faces of the monstrous-feminine", she draws on Kristeva's concept of

to describe how patriarchal society separates the human from the non-human, and rejects the "partially formed subject". Creed first considers women as

Vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

s in such films as ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

(1992) and The Hunger (1983),'' wherein she discusses the image of the ‘archaic mother’ with the female vampire being ‘mother’ and her lover or victim as ‘child’ whom she promises eternal life to. Creed also interrogates at the portrayal of desire and lesbianism in the horror film '' the Hunger (1983),'' arguing that when the two female vampires kiss there is an eruption of blood in the women's mouths, which represents how lesbian relations are deadly and consequential. The ''Monstrous-Feminine'' also investigates the monstrous figure of witches. Creed critically examines the history of the "witch" from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

to the rise of

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. She identifies that early historical definitions of ‘

’ were associated with healers and users of magic, but during the fourteenth century in the period of

witch trials A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. ...

and

witch hunts A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East ...

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

was believed to be a sin and in service to the devil. Barbara Creed examines '' Carrie'' and T''he Exorcist'', and critiques the way in which they represent adolescent young women as ‘possessed’ or ‘demonised’ during

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

and

menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and Mucous membrane, mucosal tissue from the endometrium, inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized ...

. Creed argues that the use of blood and gore are meant to depict women as demonized or monstrous. Moreover, oftentimes possessed women are on the verge of menstruation and their blood is meant to symbolize or suggest a fear of

castration Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical cas ...

. Another prominent monstrous figure that Creed discusses in her work is

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

and her severed head.

is a mythological creature whose stare can turn people to stone, particularly men, and who has a head covered in snakes, which Creed argues is a deadly symbol of the

vagina dentata ''Vagina dentata'' (Latin for 'toothed vagina') is a folk tale tradition in which a vagina is said to contain teeth, with the associated implication that sexual intercourse might result in injury, emasculation, or castration. The topic of ''vagin ...

. The term

was coined by

and follows the myth that female genitalia are monster-like, having teeth. Creed discusses how this creates a fear that women are allegedly actively trying to castrate men. Barbara Creed frequently mentions in her work that horror movies play on this fear of the

and even include it visually in films, through enormous toothed

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

s or

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, a lifeform with ext ...

, to settings such as dark and narrow hallways, deadly traps and doors, and spaceships such as that in '' Alien.''

Types of Monstrous-Femininity

Archaic mother In psychoanalysis and analytic psychology, the archaic mother (primal mother or ''Ur-mutter'') is a construct or representation of the mother of earliest infancy, embodying maternal authority and sexuality in the subconscious mind. In psychoanal ...

in ''Alien'' (1979). * Possessed Monster in ''The Exorcist'' (1973). * Monstrous Womb in ''

The Brood ''The Brood'' is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. Its plot follows a man and his mentally ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a ...

'' (1979). * Vampire in ''The Hunger'' (1983). * Witch in ''Carrie'' (1976). * Femme Castratrice in ''I'' ''Spit on Your Grave'' (1978) and ''Sisters'' (1973). * Castrating Mother in ''Psycho'' (1960).

The Monstrous Womb

A woman's reproductive system has long been depicted as abhorrent and intimidating. Creed places emphasis on this idea of the monstrous-womb, as the maternal body has been considered a source of anxiety to the

male gaze In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosex ...

. Creed argues that a woman's deep connection to natural events such as reproduction and birth is considered ‘quintessentially grotesque’. Creed reflects back to the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

where the

uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the hollow organ, organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic development, embryonic and prenatal development, f ...

is depicted in connotation with evil and the devil. The

reproductive system The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

within horror movies is often depicted as monstrous, for example, the 1979 film Alien clearly depicts this theory. These ideals are clearly imbedded within phallocentric philosophy. Creed's ideology of the woman's reproductive system is similarly analyzed within the works of Kristeva.

Freud, Psychoanalysis and Women as Castrator

The ''Monstrous Feminine'' discusses the psychoanalysis theories of

, primarily ideas of

and the female genitalia as monstrous. Creed examines Freud's

psychoanalytic theory Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of the innate structure of the human soul and the dynamics of personality development relating to the practice of psychoanalysis, a method of research and for treating of Mental disorder, mental disorders (psych ...

of sexual difference, and the marking of female sexuality as dangerous, as Freud believed women had

and that they were castrators of men. The idea of

is derived from Freud's concepts of sexual difference, believing that women are substantially different from men, and that all women desire to be a man or masculine-like, suffering from a penis-envy.

's works on

theorizes that women once had penises, and are themselves castrated, resulting in the formation of female genitalia, and due to this "penis envy", seek to castrate men of their penises to make them as lacking as women. Freud applies this theory to

, as Creed explains that Freud's compares the female genitalia to Medusa as men fear castration from the sight of her.

Other works

Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality

Barbara Creed's ‘''Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality’'' explores the impact of media and technology on subjects such as the self, identity,

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

and representation in the public sphere. She includes a definition of "Matrix" in the book's introduction, which she describes as a, "

womb The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', : uteri or uteruses) or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans, that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more fertilized eggs until bi ...

; place in which thing is developed", which closely relates to her discussion of the monstrous feminine. In the beginning of this piece, she discusses '' The Matrix (1999)'' and '' Strange Days (1995)'' in relation to the concept of ‘jacking-in’, that is the use of technology to alter reality and experience life in other people's minds much like virtual reality. Creed argues that the development of technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has allowed people to experiment with reality and time, and disassociate one's self from their own reality, as well as challenge ideas of "fixed personal identity". ''Media Matrix'' also examines the role of media and news in the modern era, with a particular interest to how an overwhelming majority of fiction showcases the horrific, evokes fear, and the

abject In critical theory, abjection is the state of being cast off and separated from norms and rules, especially on the scale of society and morality. The term has been explored in post-structuralism as that which inherently disturbs conventional ident ...

. Creed defines this "crisis TV", wherein news reporters focus on disasters to provoke anxiety and immediacy, and bring the abject into reality.

Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny

In ''Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny'', Barbara Creed reflects on the representation of men in the horror genre, with a specific focus on how they are portrayed in comparison to women. This piece offers a feminist analysis on sex difference in the horror genre, as well as the order in which male monsters innate

masculinity Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there i ...

and is "caught between the opposing forces of culture and nature, the civilized and primitive". Throughout this piece, she makes connections to the notion of the ‘primal uncanny’, which suggests that men as monsters. The ‘primal uncanny’, as Creed looks at, was firstly discussed in

Freud's Freud (aka Freud's) is a café- bar in a Victorian former church building at 119 Walton Street in Jericho, Oxford, England. The Freud café is located opposite Great Clarendon Street and the Oxford University Press is also opposite to the so ...

work as just the ‘uncanny’ that linked to ideas of psychoanalysis and castration. Yet,

Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

only really considered death and the feeling of horror in relation to male monsters and didn't examine the role of women, nature and animals. ''Phallic Panic'' draws on many examples of male monsters from the classic film adaption of

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

and the male

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

, to vampires and mad scientists, as well as the relationship between ‘beast’ and man.

Darwin's Screens

In ''Darwin's Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics, Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema,'' Barbara Creed examines the uncanny through

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

's works regarding

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...

and origins. Creed uses films that were influenced by Darwin in the nineteenth century to analyze film techniques related to Darwin's works.

Awards and committees

In 2006 Creed was elected a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

. She is on a variety of worldwide editorial panels. At the University of Melbourne in 2013, Creed establishe
the Human Rights and Animal Ethics Research Network.

Publications

Barbara Creed has published a multitude of material on gender and horror, including: ''The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism. Psychoanalysis'' (1993), ''Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality'' (2003), ''Phallic Panic: Film, Horror & the Primal Uncanny'' (2005) and ''Darwin's Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics'', ''Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema'' (2009).

Notes

Bibliography

*''The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis'' (London and New York: Routledge, 1993) *''Media Matrix: Sexing the New Reality'' (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2003) *''Pandora’s Box: Essays in Film Theory'',

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

, (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2004) *''Phallic Panic: Film, Horror and the Primal Uncanny'' (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005) *''Darwin's Screens: Evolutionary Aesthetics, Time and Sexual Display in the Cinema'' (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2009)

Filmography

*''Homosexuality – a Film for Discussion'' (1975)

External links

Barbara Creed's Staff Page
at the University of Melbourne.
Human Rights and Animal Ethics Research Network (HRAE)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Creed, Barbara 1943 births Living people Monash University alumni La Trobe University alumni Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities