Book Review: “The Science of Women in Horror,” byMeg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence
The Science of Women in Horror
Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence
Something, it seems, needs to be repeated often: women have always played a part in horror. In The Science of Women in Horror, Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence explore not just the characters and tropes we’ve seen on screen, but the women behind it too, in this fantastic exploration of film and social theories.
Split into the tropes we tend to see on screen, Hafdahl and Florence give us examples, focusing on specific films/TV shows per chapter, while interviewing a variety of women who are involved in creating Horror today. We get essays on recent films like Us (Revenge) and A Quiet Place (Kick-Ass Women) as well as classics of the genre, like What Happened to Baby Jane? (The Innocent) and Halloween (which, of course, falls under The Final Girl).
The positives and negatives of each trope are examined, and the interviews included give a great insight into the industry today. The social sciences are explored here, combining personal experience with more in-depth analysis, and the interviews are guaranteed to make anyone reading really sit back and consider the future of Horror. We need better representation on screen, across the board. Not just when it comes to portraying complicated, nuanced women, of all races, but also LGBTQIA representation, where being anything other than cis het male is not a plot point, but simply a part of the character.
The authors point to both the negatives and positives of the women on screen, celebrating the best while gently explaining why other portrayals aren’t that great once you dig deeper. The interviews are illuminating, and this book has given me a number of films I now feel the need to check out. It’s a fantastic book, and a must-read for anyone interested in the genre beyond fiction.
Grade: A
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
I received this paperback from author Meg Hafdahl for review consideration