Halloween (1978)

Gothic tradition/pasts

Catherine and Laurie are avergey, virgins, Laurie seems separate from sexual subjectivity, "think about things like that"

questions about seeing horror: expecting Gothic tropes in the Abbey; Laurie thinking she's seeing Michael

Gothic spaces: the Abbey and the Meyers house: sets up connections between characters and space; can't "make it a home"

Music: musics set up expectations

non-diegetic motif is frustrating?

minimalistic, minor, it doesn't progress, the use of dissonance, aggressive time

plot and repetition: the same thing over

the soundscape of Michael's breathing

builds subjectivity

playing and perverting on the idea of safe suburbs

DEATH SCENES

Judith Meyers--what's the difference between sex and death? Features her bloody breasts (from PoV shot); no gorey open wounds (allows audiences to feel not too violated)

playing with ideas of "normal" families

Mental illness/able-mindedness/neurodiversity and sexual deviancy? (ableism)

mental illness AS explanation

sexual repression? Sexual perversion?

Othering people with disabilities: gibbersih, raving, etc

Dr. Loomis using "it" rather than "him" or Michael--dehumanizes him (makes him a monster); Clover's point about lacking masculinity (non gendered pronoun)

staking out of sexual normalcies

Laurie's paranoia, Laurie's sexuality

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a middle class/upper class white neighborhood--whiteness isn't safe

violence as product of the suburbs returning home; violence can come from anywhere; affects middle class audiences who "see" themselves/their homes

renders Haddonfield (suburbs) as The Terrible Place

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Ending identifications: are we rooting for Laurie or Michael?

For Clover, male audience-oriented, but the Final Girl promotes cross-gender identifications.

Laurie's mistakes frustrate easy identifications

Dr. Loomis' interventions

questions of judgement about action v. inaction