‘What Makes a Monster?’ Female Villains and Violence in Dark Places and We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Keywords:
Monstrous Motherhood, Monstrous Womb, Monstrous Femininity, Domestic Noir, Bodily HorrorAbstract
The figure of the ‘bad’ mother has become more significant in 21st century popular culture - from the obliquely horrific mother of Hereditary to the comic Bad Moms there is a revitalised interest in deconstructing the image of motherhood. In Dark Places and We Need To Talk About Kevin both Gillian Flynn and Lionel Shriver discuss the cultural implications of being a ‘bad’ mother- being violent, uncaring and even murderous, and demonstrate that why someone is monstrous is often more complex than what the monster is in actuality.
References
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