Listen in on the conversation between women's rights in the U.S. and the cinematic world through six classics of the horror film genre in the adept, intelligent pop-culture history Scream with Me: Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980) by Eleanor Johnson. Horror is often cited as a misogynistic genre, but here Johnson, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, points out a golden era of scary stories with a grounding in reproductive rights, domestic violence awareness, and attitudes toward women working outside the home.
Johnson's chapters peel away what the reader thinks they know about each film and point out the subtext, intentional or not. Rosemary's Baby and Alien explore reproductive violence. The Stepford Wives spotlights conflict over women's liberation. This commentary on the horror genre's ability to shape and echo the political landscape is riveting, enlightening, and occasionally scream-inducing in its reminders of the not-so-long past. This deep excavation of art imitating life is more than positive affirmation for horror fans; it is a call--or scream--to action. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads