Craven, Allison (2024) Suzy, we always knew you: The timeless terror of witches in old and new Suspiria. In: Brode, Douglas, and Deyneka, Leah, (eds.) Something Wicked Witchcraft in Movies Television and Popular Culture. Bloomsbury, New York, NY, USA, pp. 143-155.

PDF (Published Version) - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

[Extract] Historically, as Barbara Creed argues, witches inspired both “awe” and “dread” (1993, 74). She cites various historians who have suggested that this may possibly stem from the early role of women as healers and mothers, and the magical properties attributed to pregnancy, menarche, and menstruation in early societies (Creed 1993, 74). Further, Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject provides a hypothesis for the source of this fear of maternity and the manner in which the mother—child relation is fundamentally abject in so many cultural and religious traditions. “Although the subject must exclude the abject, it must, nevertheless, be tolerated, for that which threatens to destroy life also helps to define life” (Creed 1993, 69). This “abject relation” was often demonized in the medieval literature of witch persecution, such as the fifteenth-century witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum. Therein, the Witch was associated with the suckling of familiars or Satan himself, with whom she was assumed to fornicate. This infamous book “is permeated by an extreme hatred of women and fear of their imaginary powers of castration” (Creed 1993, 75).

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page