The monstrous man-boy: white masculinity’s uncanny immaturity in contemporary horror
2021; Routledge; Volume: 69; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/01463373.2021.1879887
ISSN1746-4102
Autores Tópico(s)Media Influence and Health
ResumoThe “monstrous man-boy” is an uncanny white male villain in the horror genre who, despite his adult appearance and age, acts childishly and violently toward others. His monstrosity is reminiscent of the white male immaturity that has defined the politics of the Trump presidency. Utilizing feminist critical age and psychoanalytic revisionist theory in combination with critical media communication studies, this essay examines the monstrous man-boy in the film The Boy (2016) and the Apocalypse season of American Horror Story (2018). Within these narratives, white women are often framed as mother figures who are blamed for having nurtured the man-boy, but who are also granted the opportunity to redeem themselves by defeating him. However, people of color who enable the man-boy are denied any chance at redemption and are fatally punished. Thus, even when these texts critique and challenge the monstrousness of white patriarchal immaturity, whiteness itself remains problematically uncontested.
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