from the moleskin


                   thinking about writing 2 poems in prose
each about gender / ambiguity using the filter of tobe hooper's film
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

          1/ leatherface
         the blubbering neutered
         hyperviolent apostate

          2/ sally
         as THE FINAL GIRL
         re: carol clover's 1987 essay
         'gender in the slasher film'

as quoted by critic alan young in his essay 'the final girl in folktale and horror film':

[CLOVER] TRACES THE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THIS GENRE OF
'THE DISTRESSED FEMALE'          WHO STUMBLES UPON THE VIOLATED BODIES OF HER FRIENDS,          REALIZES THE EXTANT OF HER DANGER AND YET HAS THE COURAGE EITHER TO EVADE
THE KILLER[S]          UNTIL SHE IS SAVED          OR TO FINISH HIM OFF          HERSELF.

...

CLOVER'S RATIONALE FOR GIVING SERIOUS ATTENTION TO A HORROR GENRE          DESPISED BY MANY CRITICS          IS THAT ITS VERY DISTANCE FROM ART-HOUSE CINEMA          MAKES IT 'SUCH A TRANSPARENT SOURCE          FOR [SUB]CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEX AND GENDER IN PARTICULAR'.

[flesh & blood compendium; fab press 2003, p. 226]

8/2/08