Fluxes of desire: queer monstrous becomings in contemporary horror cinema

Abstract

This thesis re-evaluates the intersection of queerness and monstrosity in contemporary horror cinema by moving beyond identity-based and representational frameworks that have dominated queer horror studies. Presenting an alternative to psychoanalytic and structuralist approaches rooted in binary oppositions (e.g., self/other, male/female, human/non- human), it critiques their heteronormative biases and highlights their inadequacy in accounting for the fluidity and ambiguity of real-life queer experiences and their manifestations in monstrous figures. In search of a more affirmative approach, this thesis draws on Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of becoming, as well as insights from contemporary Deleuzian scholars like Rosi Braidotti, Patricia MacCormack and Verena Conley to reconceptualize queerness and monstrosity as fluid, indeterminate, and liminal processes that challenge rigid categorizations and interpretations within anthropo-phallogocentric order. Engaging with six contemporary horror films, Raw (2016), Bones and All (2022), The Lure (2015), The Untamed (2016), Titane (2021), and Hellraiser (2022) and bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives in horror film studies, queer theory, and Deleuzoguattarian philosophy, this thesis shifts the analytical focus from representational and identitarian readings to the affirmative and transformative potential of queer-becoming, reframing monstrosity as an open-ended and dynamic process of radical creativity that produces alternative modes of existence beyond the confines of majoritarian discourses on identity, gender, sexuality, and subjectivity.