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3 The Hills Have Eyes as Folk Horror: a Discursive Approach

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ReFocus: The Films of Wes Craven
This chapter is in the book ReFocus: The Films of Wes Craven
c h a p t e r 3The Hills Have Eyes as Folk Horror: a Discursive ApproachMikel J. KovenAcross the past ten years, folk horror has emerged as perhaps the most fash-ionable topic in horror scholarship. Paul Newland calls this enthusiasm for folk horror, for films old and new, “a contemporary ‘cultification’” of the sub-genre.1 However, as amateur groups online who likewise engage with folk horror have illustrated, pretty much anything old and vaguely weird can get thus labelled, and uncritically too. Rather than offer a concrete definition of what folk horror is, I would like to suggest a discursive methodology to see what signification befalls a text when labelled “folk horror.”2Folk horror exists at the convergence of three discourses—the Pagan, the Rural, and the Folklore. By discourse, I refer to those ideas initially suggested by Michel Foucault in The Archaeology of Knowledge, wherein discourse analysis is a means of qualitative study which enables us to explore beyond the surface meaning of a text; to explore not only what a text says, but more significantly to recognize the power inequity of those discussions and look-ing to what the text cannot say. Discourse refers to what can be said about a topic; it is determined by dominant, that is hegemonic, power imbalances that limit the possibilities about what can be said/uttered. We can only discuss something—anything—in ways and to the ends that our society allows us. We cannot think beyond the limits of our society, despite any alternative pos-sibilities, since such cannot be uttered because language, as a social construct, does not permit it. Any discourse, when manifested through analysis, must be viewed as a product, or limitation, of those who control it. To illustrate this, I will first define and discuss these three discourses as a kind of discursive methodology. Secondly, I will apply this methodology to one of Wes Craven’s most famous early films, The Hills Have Eyes (1977). 8203_Waddel.indd 5215/06/23 11:18 AM
© 2023, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

c h a p t e r 3The Hills Have Eyes as Folk Horror: a Discursive ApproachMikel J. KovenAcross the past ten years, folk horror has emerged as perhaps the most fash-ionable topic in horror scholarship. Paul Newland calls this enthusiasm for folk horror, for films old and new, “a contemporary ‘cultification’” of the sub-genre.1 However, as amateur groups online who likewise engage with folk horror have illustrated, pretty much anything old and vaguely weird can get thus labelled, and uncritically too. Rather than offer a concrete definition of what folk horror is, I would like to suggest a discursive methodology to see what signification befalls a text when labelled “folk horror.”2Folk horror exists at the convergence of three discourses—the Pagan, the Rural, and the Folklore. By discourse, I refer to those ideas initially suggested by Michel Foucault in The Archaeology of Knowledge, wherein discourse analysis is a means of qualitative study which enables us to explore beyond the surface meaning of a text; to explore not only what a text says, but more significantly to recognize the power inequity of those discussions and look-ing to what the text cannot say. Discourse refers to what can be said about a topic; it is determined by dominant, that is hegemonic, power imbalances that limit the possibilities about what can be said/uttered. We can only discuss something—anything—in ways and to the ends that our society allows us. We cannot think beyond the limits of our society, despite any alternative pos-sibilities, since such cannot be uttered because language, as a social construct, does not permit it. Any discourse, when manifested through analysis, must be viewed as a product, or limitation, of those who control it. To illustrate this, I will first define and discuss these three discourses as a kind of discursive methodology. Secondly, I will apply this methodology to one of Wes Craven’s most famous early films, The Hills Have Eyes (1977). 8203_Waddel.indd 5215/06/23 11:18 AM
© 2023, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures vii
  4. Notes on Contributors x
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I The Early Wes Craven
  7. 1 In Search of Pandora Experimentia 17
  8. 2 Censorship in Liberal Times? The Legacy of Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left in Germany 32
  9. 3 The Hills Have Eyes as Folk Horror: a Discursive Approach 52
  10. 4 “Why Are You Doing This!?” Flashbacks in Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes Part II 70
  11. Part II Freddy Krueger and Beyond
  12. 5 The American Nightmare Continued: Individualism, Feminism, and Freddy Krueger 87
  13. 6 The “Nightmare” on Elm Street: The Failure and Responsibility of Those in Authority 102
  14. 7 Controlling the Souls in the Machine: Wes Craven Directs for the 1985 Twilight Zone Revival 118
  15. 8 From Friends to Monsters: The Horrors of Technology, Friendship, and the Monsters Next Door in Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend 133
  16. Part III “Craven” in the Mainstream—The “Hollywood” Nightmares of Wes Craven
  17. 9 Self-fulfilling Prophecies and Metaphysical Chastisement in The Serpent and The Rainbow 149
  18. 10 Death is Not the End: Electric Dreams and Mass Media Manipulation in Wes Craven’s Shocker 162
  19. 11 The People Under the Stairs at the Intersection of Black Horror and Children’s Horror 177
  20. 12 “I’m a whole other thing”: The People Under the Stairs and Systemic Racism in the Reagan/Bush Era 190
  21. 13 A Nightmare on Video: The Terrors of Home Viewership in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare 204
  22. 14 Not Quite Blacula: Locating Vampire in Brooklyn 217
  23. Part IV Lineage and Legacies
  24. 15 The Unlikely Urban Undertaking: Music of the Heart and its Curious Craven Consistencies 233
  25. 16 “Blessed Be America for Letting us Dominate and Pray the Lord Our Soul to Keep.” Wes Craven’s Legacy in The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy 248
  26. 17 “How Meta Can You Get?” Scream 4 and Wes Craven’s Final Nightmares 262
  27. Filmography 277
  28. Bibliography 283
  29. Index 297
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399507028-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of Figures vii
  4. Notes on Contributors x
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I The Early Wes Craven
  7. 1 In Search of Pandora Experimentia 17
  8. 2 Censorship in Liberal Times? The Legacy of Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left in Germany 32
  9. 3 The Hills Have Eyes as Folk Horror: a Discursive Approach 52
  10. 4 “Why Are You Doing This!?” Flashbacks in Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes Part II 70
  11. Part II Freddy Krueger and Beyond
  12. 5 The American Nightmare Continued: Individualism, Feminism, and Freddy Krueger 87
  13. 6 The “Nightmare” on Elm Street: The Failure and Responsibility of Those in Authority 102
  14. 7 Controlling the Souls in the Machine: Wes Craven Directs for the 1985 Twilight Zone Revival 118
  15. 8 From Friends to Monsters: The Horrors of Technology, Friendship, and the Monsters Next Door in Wes Craven’s Deadly Friend 133
  16. Part III “Craven” in the Mainstream—The “Hollywood” Nightmares of Wes Craven
  17. 9 Self-fulfilling Prophecies and Metaphysical Chastisement in The Serpent and The Rainbow 149
  18. 10 Death is Not the End: Electric Dreams and Mass Media Manipulation in Wes Craven’s Shocker 162
  19. 11 The People Under the Stairs at the Intersection of Black Horror and Children’s Horror 177
  20. 12 “I’m a whole other thing”: The People Under the Stairs and Systemic Racism in the Reagan/Bush Era 190
  21. 13 A Nightmare on Video: The Terrors of Home Viewership in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare 204
  22. 14 Not Quite Blacula: Locating Vampire in Brooklyn 217
  23. Part IV Lineage and Legacies
  24. 15 The Unlikely Urban Undertaking: Music of the Heart and its Curious Craven Consistencies 233
  25. 16 “Blessed Be America for Letting us Dominate and Pray the Lord Our Soul to Keep.” Wes Craven’s Legacy in The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy 248
  26. 17 “How Meta Can You Get?” Scream 4 and Wes Craven’s Final Nightmares 262
  27. Filmography 277
  28. Bibliography 283
  29. Index 297
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