Mother’s Milk and Menstrual Blood in Puncture: The Monstrous Feminine in Contemporary Horror Films and Late Medieval Imagery

Abstract

This film essay Puncture, by Rachel Frances Sharpe, and accompanying paper, by Sophie Sexon, examine the abject qualities of blood and breastmilk. The film and paper make comparisons between late medieval imagery of Christ’s wounds and feminine tropes found recurrently in horror movies such as Suspiria (1977) and Possession (1981). The application of Julia Kristeva’s theoretical notion of the abject and Barbara Creed’s concept of the monstrous-feminine will demonstrate how blood and milk inspire a particular horror of the female body that renders the body monstrous. This can be seen trans-historically by comparing medieval to modern conceptions of abject maternity. The analysis will look at the fungible quality of milk and blood in historical contexts and their ability to create feelings of fear and repulsion towards maternal icons and women’s bodies. This paper has been adapted from the original, presented at the Fluid Physicalities symposium at Birkbeck, University of London, in 2017.