On 7th of May I will be speaking at the University of Sterling’s Politics and Horror Conference! I am very excitted by all the panelists we have this year. There will be talks on Horror and Immigration, the Feminist Activism in Occult Britain, the Ideologies of Zombie cinema, and many others! It’s worth checking out all of the talks, but here is a taste of mine:
As early as King Kong, horror cinema has utilised the fear of man vs. nature to suggest the true monster is man. Nature horror has, for decades, brought to life the dangers and deepest fears of what humanity has wrought in its manhandling of nature, from over-farming to climate change. As our relationship with the climate has evolved, and our awareness of climate change expanded, so too has a niche within nature horror films: Plant Horror.
My talk will follow the trajectory of the little-recognised sub-genre of Plant Horror from its Victorian roots in Gothic literature through recent Gothic horror films and unpick the response of Plant Horror to the politics of climate change and the politicization of nature. This will take into account early concerns over nuclear testing, the growing fear of over-farming, followed by the initial understanding of global warming and into the current climate change crisis. In doing so, this talk will reveal how Plant Horror has captured our evolving fears while critiquing the political and social responses to the climate crisis, asking: what will we truly have to sacrifice to save the world?
The conference runs 7-8 May 2021. Due to COVID-19 the conference will be online and accessible via Zoom. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Lauren Jane Barnett 