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Phantom Ladies: Hollywood Horror and the Home Front
Defying industry logic and gender expectations, women started flocking to see horror films in the early 1940s. The departure of the young male audience and the surprise success of the film Cat People convinced studios that there was an untapped female audience for horror movies, and they adjusted their production and marketing strategies accordingly.
Phantom Ladies reveals the untold story of how the Hollywood horror film changed dramatically in the early 1940s, including both female heroines and female monsters while incorporating elements of “women’s genres” like the gothic mystery. Drawing from a wealth of newly unearthed archival material, from production records to audience surveys, Tim Snelson challenges long-held assumptions about gender and horror film viewership.
Examining a wide range of classic horror movies, Snelson offers us a new appreciation of how dynamic this genre could be, as it underwent seismic shifts in a matter of months. Phantom Ladies , therefore, not only includes horror films made in the early 1940s, but also those produced immediately after the war ended, films in which the female monster was replaced by neurotic, psychotic, or hysterical women who could be cured and domesticated. Phantom Ladies is a spine-tingling, eye-opening read about gender and horror, and the complex relationship between industry and audiences in the classical Hollywood era.
Phantom Ladies reveals the untold story of how the Hollywood horror film changed dramatically in the early 1940s, including both female heroines and female monsters while incorporating elements of “women’s genres” like the gothic mystery. Drawing from a wealth of newly unearthed archival material, from production records to audience surveys, Tim Snelson challenges long-held assumptions about gender and horror film viewership.
Examining a wide range of classic horror movies, Snelson offers us a new appreciation of how dynamic this genre could be, as it underwent seismic shifts in a matter of months. Phantom Ladies , therefore, not only includes horror films made in the early 1940s, but also those produced immediately after the war ended, films in which the female monster was replaced by neurotic, psychotic, or hysterical women who could be cured and domesticated. Phantom Ladies is a spine-tingling, eye-opening read about gender and horror, and the complex relationship between industry and audiences in the classical Hollywood era.
- GenresHorror
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 3, 2016
Snelson has some good ideas in this book, that identifies a cycle of female-centered horror movies during the Second World War.
Unfortunately, his writing is stuffed with academic jargon. "Cat People," one may be delighted to find out, has a "hegemonic" plot. (Why he couldn't say the plot is "conformist" is beyond me.)
A second irritation comes when Snelson shifts from the horror movies of wartime to the film noir of the postwar era. To me, he steers perilously close to the old idea that film noir was something of a conspiracy to drive women out of the workforce.
However, his ideas on the horror film are interesting, and he has done good research into how these movies were perceived at the time.
Unfortunately, his writing is stuffed with academic jargon. "Cat People," one may be delighted to find out, has a "hegemonic" plot. (Why he couldn't say the plot is "conformist" is beyond me.)
A second irritation comes when Snelson shifts from the horror movies of wartime to the film noir of the postwar era. To me, he steers perilously close to the old idea that film noir was something of a conspiracy to drive women out of the workforce.
However, his ideas on the horror film are interesting, and he has done good research into how these movies were perceived at the time.
Displaying 1 of 1 review