As long as there have been depictions of Christ, his fragility has been expressed through horror, his body, violated and destroyed, has long represented the utmost symbol of devotion. The body is destroyed as a symbol of the liberation of humanity from sin.

Normal and healthy devotion can lead to a more meaningful life, yet it can also take on monstrous and self-destructive forms. Yet, the line between both forms of devotion is often blurred as we cannot help but admire those willing to sacrifice their body and self for what they believe in.

To understand devotion within the realm of body horror is to understand the body as the landscape of belief and sacrifice. What changes when acts of violence are enacted through love rather than hate? A theme consistent within religious-themed horror, it also extends to stories of sexual or romantic obsession. In particular, in the works of filmmakers like Clive Barker, we see an intersection of both ideas; the way that the flagellation of the body attains an almost spiritual practice, even if it is devoted not to God but to another person or even an idea.

By drawing on ideas from art history and the philosophy of devotion, this course aims to examine body horror in a way that underlines a long history of body disfigurement and annihilation as part of spiritual practice—broadening the scope to include secular interpretations of devotion, such as celebrity worship like Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral, which re-appropriates the communion literally as fans literally consume the meat of their favourite celebrities.

With a strong focus on art history and gender studies, the course aims to draw a throughline between the violence and devotion of Renaissance art, which was informed far more by a collective religious experience, into contemporary worship of the self and individual desires.