This dissertation explores how the concepts of ambivalence, horror, monsters and
mise-en-scène can be used to interpret the ambivalent predator-monster/victim
relationship of the characters Sonja Daneel, Adele and Maggie Joubert from the film
Wolwedans in die Skemer (2012). In doing so, this dissertation investigates how
Noël Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror or Paradoxes of the Heart (1990) and Jeffery
Cohen's Monster Theory (1996) can be used as a theoretical foundation to analyse
and interpret the characters Sonja, Adele and Maggie.
This research argues that within the horror genre, viewers are presented with two
classic characters, namely that of the monster (often male) and the victim (often
female), each with their own set of characteristics and traits that set them apart.
However, I postulate that in Wolwedans in die Skemer these characteristics and
traits are often blurred into one character, giving rise to a monster-victim
ambivalence.
This study also investigates the connection that the characters Sonja, Adele and
Maggie have in relation to werewolves and to the characters of the Little Girl and the
Wolf from the Red Riding Hood tales. Jones (2012:140) proposes that the wolf is the
projection of her own inner predator - this suggests that the Little Girl and the Wolf
can be seen as one character, a combination of victim and predator. Red Riding
Hood can possibly be interpreted as recognising her inner self as the Wolf or a
werewolf. A werewolf is a person who has been transformed, by force of will and
desire, from a human (victim) into a predatory and monstrous wolf-like state. When
women are werewolves, the traditional coding of horror - monster as male, victim as
female, no longer applies. The "female werewolves" of Wolwedans in die Skemer
each become, in some way, Little Red Riding Hood, Wolf, and Woodcutter fused into
one. By analysing the characters Sonja, Adele and Maggie through the lens of the
monster and victim with regards to the concepts of ambivalence, horror, and miseen-
scène, it becomes clear that the roles of the monster and the victim in
Wolwedans in die Skemer dissolve into one body, creating an ambivalent fluctuation
between the two. / MA (History of art), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/15229 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Foster, Wendy Elizabeth |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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