Monday, January 13th from 3:30-5:00pm in Allen Auditorium Sarah Thomas of Brown University will be giving a lecture, “Horror, the Child and the Political: Killing Children in Spanish Cinema.”

This talk explores the recurring representation of children as both murderers and murdered in Spanish horror cinema. It shows how horror cinema's use of the child is twofold: on the one hand, these films seek to shock viewers by subverting cultural imaginings of the child’s innocence (in the case of murderous children); on the other hand, they seek viewer sympathy by reifying such ideas of innocence (in the case of child murder). But both of these constructions hinge on the sense that the child is somehow a privileged other unlike the adult, not “supposed” to kill or be killed. The presentation will theorize the child’s exceptionality in the cultural imaginary, connect it to these limit-representations in horror cinema, and suggest how these might be interpreted in a political light, positing that the dual resonance of “killing children” often gestures toward other horrors beyond the cinematic frame that are even more difficult to articulate or address.

About Sarah Thomas:
Sarah Thomas is the William A. Dyer, Jr. Assistant Professor of Humanities and Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at Brown University.