Rotten Bodies, Rotten Blood: Medical Crises and Controversies as Reflected through Horror Cinema (LA) – CANCELLED

We regret to announce that David J. Skal has had to cancel his Miskatonic LA class. We will notify ticket holders of this cancellation by email and will also notify you if the class is rescheduled at any point. We have however scheduled a separate class for November to make up for the cancellation – “School of Shock: Pain and Pleasure in the Classroom Safety Film,” taught by Kier-La Janisse – and you can either have your tickets transferred over to this new class or receive a refund.

The horror genre has always been informed by bottomless displaced anxieties about the body, disease, and medicine. In this lecture, David J. Skal, the author of THE MONSTER SHOW and HOLLYWOOD GOTHIC explores the pop culture underpinnings of modern horror in real-life medical crises and controversies, including the preoccupation with demon children that took hold as thalidomide, birth control, and abortion changed the reproductive landscape; the poisoned Tylenol crisis of 1982; the vogue in visceral, transformative special effects that paralleled the development of the plastic surgery industry; the link between the AIDS epidemic and a resurgent fascination with vampires; and much more.