Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror

by Johanna Isaacson

In Stepford Daughters , Johanna Isaacson explores an emerging wave of horror films that get why class horror and gender horror must be understood together .  In doing so, Isaacson makes the case that this often-maligned genre is in fact a place where oppressed people can understand, navigate and confront an increasingly ugly and horrifying world. Films like Hereditary and The Babadook show women coming apart at the seams as the promises of both the family and waged work fail them. In Get Out , we see how poor women and women of color perform the invisible labor that holds up our society, experiencing domestic work as a kind of possession. In “coming of rage” films such as Assassination Nation and Teeth , we see the ways social reproduction leads to a futureless horizon. Robbed of their dreams but not their power to resist, these heroines emerge as the monsters and avengers we need.

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Film, Feminism

208 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Branomander YT · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contemporary Marxist and intersectional feminist survey of some popular and some obscure recent horror movies. The book's economic analysis is nothing particularly novel or startling, but thats kind of to be expected since it's really the background for the movie readings, and really, the feminism and Marxism is a kind of literature review of well established scholarship, which I appreciated. Isaacson takes great care to ground her work and cite her sources, making the book feel very academic, and is, otherwise, pleasantly, very readable.

The book lives and dies on its interpretations, of course. Overall, I'd say they are pretty good. Like, I disagree with a few points here and there... and some sentences just struck me as kind of contentless, but overall I think this is certainly a worthwhile read to fans of horror, feminist theory, and Marxist philosophy. My favorite sections were on the Babadook, Get Out, and It Follows. Those were the movies here that Ive had the most experience with, so I was able to engage the most with the analysis. The other ones, I kind of just had to take her at her word, and just scrutinize whether the evidence was "enough".

Anyways, this is a good book, very readable, and will probably shed some new angles on a few of your favorite horror movies!

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 /5

My reviews are typically not-so organized but for this book I feel a responsibility to give it the thoughtful response it deserves, whether or not I am intellectually capable in this moment of doing so, as wow, just wow, my brain has been feasting on this delectable analysis of horror film as the radical artform it has become.

Johanna Isaacson expertly blends discussions of gender, race, class, and structural and systemic oppression with contemporary horror films that are commonly discussed solely on the surface level. Instead, Isaacson gives depth to these films that I, honestly, was not expecting.

Look, I love horror films, and I love casual discussion of Marxist-feminist theory as much as the next person, but I have to say I've never given much thought to the presence of feminist theory within the horror films themselves. I picked this book up on a whim from my local book store months ago, and my only regret is that I didn't read this sooner. Not only do I feel I've gained a renewed respect for films and horror as an art capable of deep, relatable commentary, but I've also got a short list of film recommendations that I can watch with this newfound perspective.

As a woman who loves horror films, I can absolutely relate to the side-eye and suppressed shudders of my peers when I mention this affinity. In Stepford Daughters, I found myself immersed in a discourse that left me feeling seen, and seeing the constructs of our capitalist, patriarchal society in a new way. This book makes me want to watch more films, it makes me want to write, it makes me want to look introspectively on my life as a feminist and educator, and it makes me want to throw myself into my community. This is an excellent read.

By honoring monsters, we honor disruption, we refuse to quietly follow the parade of oppressors who demand our compliance and who insist their continued victory is inevitable.

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a super readable book which i spent a year on because i wanted to watch all the movies it referenced. feminist horror isn't a new topic by any means, but Isaacson distinguishes a bit by referencing only movies from the last 20 years, and most from the last 10. some I had seen but many i had not, and while there were a few true stinkers i think Isaacson gives a generous reading to, I found three or four solid films among the upper echelon of horror movies i've seen in recent years (probably the standoutis La Llorona - on the haunted past of the Guatemalan genocide). to these twenty movies, Isaacson brings an analysis which draws on both contemporary academic feminism and the independent blogosphere and journal world (e.g., Blind Field, where she was an editor). the four thematic chapters concern motherhood, house work, service work, and adolescence. i'd say the tendency she brings is one informed by contemporary marxist feminism's anti-work and autonomist tendencies, but it is also informed by social reproduction theory, global south feminisms, and a bit of the classic sort of feminist theory of monstrosity and abjection. the writing is good and generally pretty readable for a more-than-academic audience. if you are curious about the films referenced, i made this list https://letterboxd.com/kai__/list/ste...

[Phoebe Liebling]

Realizing I love genealogy (or I guess family systems) as a tool of analysis. I’m slouching toward reading Silvia Federici…

[katelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this book for my “critical and cultural communications” class. it wasn’t something i would’ve reached for on my own, but i think it actually included some interesting insights

[J. Moufawad-Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book in 2022, started it, and then was overwhelmed by work and whatever project I was working on at the time. (I was reminded of my failure to finish this book when the author and some other scholars released a special Post45 issue on the 50th anniversary of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) I'm glad I came back to it, although I had to start from the beginning again since it had been around 4 years since my initial start. It probably would have made more sense to finish it before or during the time I read Brinkema's *Life-Destroying Diagrams* last year, because I think the two books could be in conversation although I'm a little hazy on what this conversation would be.

This is a great treatment of horror film from the perspective of Marxist Feminism, but a Marxist feminism informed by anti-racism, LGBTQ+ politics, and a holistic conception of oppression/exploitation. Isaacson treats multiple horror films as avenues to discuss complex political issues. I found myself nodding along with her reading of the films with which I was familiar; I also enjoyed the way she discussed the films (and the connected politics) with which I was not familiar. Isaacson is a horror connoisseur: at the end she rattles off a whole bunch of films she could have discussed but did not––and I was like "oh damn I wished she had discussed *this* one"––but in a project like this you have to limit yourself to what best fits the book's flow. Also, I really wish she could have discussed *Frontier(s)* and *Martyrs* and *Raw*… I want to know what she would have said about *Titane*, but that came out a year after the book.

The ending about "becoming monster" was pretty good, especially when she brought Benjamin's *Theses On The Philosophy of History* into her discussion. I return to that essay every now and then (i.e. my engagement with it in *Methods Devour Themselves*), and am in fact in the midst of writing something else connected to it––so it was very a propos.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stepford Daughters provides a multi-faceted exploration of domestic horror rooted in a feminist lens that is both accessible yet thoughtful. The range of texts here covers many well-known films but also includes more niche texts that may or may not provoke the reader’s interest.

[Frende Lorentzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

nydelig kombo av queer postkolonial skrekk-teori, hvem er monsteret??? kommer det fra inni huset? kan vi bare lage en egen monsterverden hvor alle kapitalismens småtroll kan leve? håper det.