Scream with Me: Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980)

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A compelling, intelligent, and timely exploration of the horror genre from one of Columbia Universitys most popular professors, shedding light on how classic horror films demonstrate larger cultural attitudes about womens rights, bodily autonomy, and more.

In May of 2022, Columbia Universitys Dr. Eleanor Johnson watched along with her students as the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade. At the same time, her class was studying the 1968 horror film Rosemarys Baby and Johnson had a sudden epiphany: horror cinema engages directly with the combustive politics of womens rights and offer a light through the darkness and an outlet to scream.

With a voice as persuasive as it is insightful, Johnson reveals how classics like Rosemarys Baby, The Exorcist, and The Shining expose and critique issues of reproductive control, domestic violence, and patriarchal oppression. Scream with Me weaves these iconic films into the fabric of American feminism, revealing that true horror often lies not in the supernatural, but in the familiar confines of the home, exposing the deep-seated fears and realities of womens lives.

While on the one hand a joyful celebration of seminal and beloved horror films, Scream with Me is also an unflinching and timely recognition of the power of this genre to shape and reflect cultural dialogues about gender and power.

Reviews

These movies are some of the most important works of horror in the modern era. You will never look at them the same way again after reading this remarkable book. Johnson offers the keythe skeleton key, one might sayto the real-life horrors that lay, not too deeply buried for those who care to look, underneath the frightful surface of domestic life for American women in the 1970s, and that lies there again in the 2020s. Johnson caresbrilliantly, passionatelyand makes us care, too. Jeremy Dauber, author ofAmerican Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond
These movies are some of the most important works of horror in the modern era. You will never look at them the same way again after reading this remarkable book. Johnson offers the keythe skeleton key, one might sayto the real-life horrors that lay, not too deeply buried for those who care to look, underneath the frightful surface of domestic life for American women in the 1970s, and that lies there again in the 2020s. Johnson caresbrilliantly, passionatelyand makes us care, too. Jeremy Dauber, author ofAmerican Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond

Author Bio

Eleanor Johnsonis a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. She is the author of four books:Scream with Me,Practicing Literary Theory in the Middle Ages,Staging Contemplation, and the award-winningWaste and the Wasters, as well as two collections of poetry,The DwellandHer Many Feathered Bones.