Avenging the Body

Abstract

The unexpected reveal of the phantom's face in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), along with his cry reveals the capacity for the human body itself to generate fear and horror. This chapter identifies disability stereotypes that have been taken up by horror iconography, particularly the Obsessive Avenger and the Sweet Innocent, and how these images serve both the plot and tone of a horror narrative; additionally, these images reinforce cultural ideas about ability and disability, particularly in the way dominant heteronormative and able-bodied assumptions conflate disability and queerness. A Hollywood movie such as Freaks marginalizes disabled characters as a queer community and dramatizes the conflict between dominant and marginal spaces, potentially challenging cultural assumptions in the process. Perhaps, surprisingly, an independent horror film such as Deafula (1975) reimagines dis/ability standards only to rely upon the formulas and iconography of the genre that predictably reinforce heteronormative and able-bodied ideals.

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