YENİDEN HAYAL EDİLEN MONSTRÖZ KADIN: THE SUBSTANCE

Öz

Bu makale, Coralie Fargeat’ın The Substance (2024) filmini bedensel korku türünde bir feminist müdahale olarak incelemekte ve bu çığır açıcı film üzerine yapılan akademik çalışmaların sınırlılığını ele almaktadır. Güzellik, yaşlanma ve kadın bedenlerinin metalaştırılmasına ilişkin ataerkil normları eleştirerek The Substance, fallosantrik yapılar ve ataerkil sistemlere meydan okuyan kışkırtıcı bir anlatı sunmaktadır. Demi Moore’un dönüştürücü performansıyla güçlenen film, grotesk imgeler ve bedensel parçalanmanın etkileyici tasvirleri aracılığıyla eril bakışı altüst etmekte ve abjekt üzerinden işleyerek monströzlüğü bir direnç ve güçlenme alanı olarak yeniden yapılandırmaktadır. Julia Kristeva’nın abjekt kavramı, Barbara Creed’in monströz kadın kavramı ve Laura Mulvey’nin eril bakış teorisinden yola çıkan bu çalışma, The Substance’ı feminist korku sinemasına önemli ancak yeterince incelenmemiş bir katkı olarak öne çıkarmaktadır. Filmin anlatı ve görsel stratejilerinin analizi yoluyla bu makale, The Substance’ı Feminist Yeni Dalga Sineması bağlamında konumlandırmakta ve marjinalleştirilmiş sesleri güçlendirerek toplumsal normları sorgulama kapasitesini vurgulamaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Eril bakış.
• Grotesk
• Bedensel korku
• Abjekt
• Monströz kadın

THE MONSTROUS FEMININE RE-IMAGINED: THE SUBSTANCE

Öz

This article examines Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024) as a feminist intervention within the body horror genre, addressing the scarcity of academic scholarship on this groundbreaking film. By critiquing patriarchal norms surrounding beauty, aging, and the commodification of women’s bodies, The Substance offers a provocative narrative that challenges phallocentric structures and patriarchal systems. Anchored by Demi Moore’s transformative performance, the film subverts the male gaze through grotesque imagery and visceral depictions of bodily disintegration, operating by the abject, reconfiguring monstrosity as a site of resistance and empowerment. Drawing on Julia Kristeva`s concept of the abject, Barbara Creed’s notion of the monstrous-feminine, and Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, this study foregrounds The Substance as a significant yet underexplored contribution to feminist horror cinema. Through an analysis of the film’s narrative and visual strategies, this article situates The Substance within the broader landscape of feminist New Wave Cinema, highlighting its capacity to interrogate societal norms by amplifying marginalized voices.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Feminist body horror
• The monstrous-feminine
• Abject
• Grotesque
• Male Gaze

Kaynakça

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