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Reviews
Recreational Terror: Women and the Pleasures of Horror Film Viewing by Isabel Cristina Pinedo
americattt's review
informative
slow-paced
4.0
"The power of the single-bullet theory that violence in the media causes violence in everyday life is that it is able to direct anger and fear about real-life atrocities into a concrete and emotionally satisfying target. Simplistic though it may be, this argument appeals because it lends itself to scapegoating and thus to the tunnel vision that allows its adherents to ignore the complex web of institutionalized social relations which underlie violence in a society. Attacks against violence on film and in other media not only displace attention from the underlying social causes of violence onto visible forms of controversial entertainment but also provide a condensed and comforting explanation for social problems that are in actuality vastly more difficult to address than this discourse would have us believe. To accord horror films the power of inducing real-life violence is to make film bear the blame for the larger social processes in which film participates as only one of many factors, while letting larger political and economic practices off the hook."
octavia_cade's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.5
I like that this book puts the focus on female audiences of horror films: what's in it for them, basically, as if the thought of enjoying blood and screams and slasher films is somehow unfeminine. Given that I'm part of that audience type myself, it's interesting to be analysed in this way! And it's safe to say that feminist criticism of some horror films does have valid points. It's pretty well known by now that when comparing male and female deaths in horror films, for instance, the latter tend to be longer and more explicit and more sexualised.
Pinedo, however, argues that women enjoy horror films like these because of the subversive lens of that horror. Slasher films may emphasise women's deaths, for instance, but the phenomenon of the Final Girl prioritises women's rage and vengeance as an explicit survival tool, allowing for a cathartic expression of emotions that are frequently less welcome in daily life. It's all very interesting and well-argued and I do feel somewhat understood, which is nice. The final chapter is a little bit disconnected, though - it's a very readable account of race in horror films, but the focus on the audience drops off, and there's very little acknowledgement of intersectionality going on there. Race is treated as separate from feminism, as if the intersection between the two doesn't manifest in a number of complex ways, so it would have been nice to see a little more done with that, I think.
Pinedo, however, argues that women enjoy horror films like these because of the subversive lens of that horror. Slasher films may emphasise women's deaths, for instance, but the phenomenon of the Final Girl prioritises women's rage and vengeance as an explicit survival tool, allowing for a cathartic expression of emotions that are frequently less welcome in daily life. It's all very interesting and well-argued and I do feel somewhat understood, which is nice. The final chapter is a little bit disconnected, though - it's a very readable account of race in horror films, but the focus on the audience drops off, and there's very little acknowledgement of intersectionality going on there. Race is treated as separate from feminism, as if the intersection between the two doesn't manifest in a number of complex ways, so it would have been nice to see a little more done with that, I think.
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
4.0
Man, this was just so fun. Reinforced my viewpoint that sexual porn and torture porn might be as nominally different as imaginable, but both are functionally just porn.
voya_k's review against another edition
5.0
This book is full of answers. Pinedo really nails the appeal of 80s horror and anticipates the 90s boom for self-aware horror. The text is readable and approachable. Great for any feminists who feel weird about loving horror movies sometimes.
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