Transcorporeal Identification and Strategic Essentialism in Eco-Horror: Mother!'s Ecofeminist Rhetorical Strategies

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2020

Publication Title

Environmental Communication

First page number:

1

Last page number:

15

Abstract

The eco-horror film mother! tells the story of mother, who navigates a tenuous relationship with her husband, Him, while an increasing number of people invade their home. mother! deploys strategic essentialism and identification as ecofeminist rhetorical strategies to show the dual exploitation of women and nature. The character of mother is a strategic essentializing of the Mother Nature archetype, which I call "womanature," that evokes the interconnectedness of oppression and audience complicity in womanature's suffering. Additionally, the film enacts "transcorporeal identification" to identify the audience with both mother and her home and to demonstrate how to listen, understand, and acknowledge nonhuman life. mother! warns us of the consequences if we fail to listen to mother (nature) and illustrates how horror films can function as vehicles for environmental rhetoric.

Keywords

Ecofeminism; Transcorporeal identification; Eco-horror; Womanature; Environmental rhetoric

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Communication | Environmental Studies | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Language

English

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