Branching out from the flower-woman : The woman-plant hybrid in contemporary English-speaking horror

Details

Supervisors

De Bruyn, Ben

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation générale, à finalité didactique

Abstract

The comparison of flowers with women has been a staple of our human societies for centuries, if not more. It is well studied by ecofeminist scholars that women and the environment have suffered similarly at the hands of the patriarchy, which leads to these nature/plant and women connections we see in our culture. This study analyzes the horror genre’s plant-woman hybrid in different variations to find their common characteristics, as well as to explore the common ground between ecofeminism and queer ecology. The hypothesis is that these plant-women and fungus-women are actually derived from the patriarchal idea that women should act like flowers. To test this idea, this thesis explores different characters fitting the idea of the plant/fungus-woman in the horror genre through the lens of ecofeminism and queer ecology. The results of this analysis show that these characters represent transgressions on many different fronts – biologically, sexually, reproductively, amongst others –, transgressions that counter ideals of both the patriarchy and heteronormativity and show that the further away these female characters' hybridity goes from the flower – for instance by crossing into carnivorous plant or fungus territory –, the more monstrous the world around her defines her as. Some characters, although very transgressive, are received more positive roles in recent years, however. We can also see from this thesis that there is an interest in exploring ecofeminism and queer ecology together, as they can help deepen the analysis of the same text, giving different perspectives to the characters’ oppression.