The Creature from the Black Lagoon Seduces Us

I feel that when horror movies make us laugh instead of scream we are oftentimes laughing at the women in them, just as we are so often screaming because of them in the scary ones. I think Carol Clover’s idea about the double identification of the male audience of the horror film is interesting to bring to this, as she explains that when the Final Girl takes back her autonomy and wields the phallic weapon, males root for her, whereas earlier in the film they were rooting for the slasher to kill her. In the funny horror film (not horror comedy, mind you) a similar dynamic is at work. Male audiences might spend most of the movie laughing at the implausibility or bad filmmaking, but the object of their laughter is first and foremost the woman, the Final Girl. When she regains her autonomy, they laugh with her, but don’t stop laughing at her either, creating an almost triple identification.

How does this fit with The Creature from the Black Lagoon? Well, that’s complicated. It is one of the films where the object of our laughter is actually the men, because the men look foolish and ridiculous throughout, particularly the two main ones. Which isn’t to say that the main female character is served much better, for she is the main object of the camera’s eye, but male bodies are also put on display in this film in a rather homoerotic fashion. 

We are seduced by stories of horror because they place the body first, and we like looking at bodies and whether they’re fucking each other or getting ripped to shreds, all of it is fascinating to us. Horror films are in the unique position of providing visceral thrills, be it horror or comedy (intentional and not) that, when looked at from this angle, NEVER disappoint. That’s all I've got for this blog, thanks for reading.