Abstract
Huunan-Seppälä offers an original view on the relation between grotesque media imagery and society. Enlightening the needs the grotesque satisfies within the viewer, the chapter explores the variety of functions that grotesque monsters, bodies and violence perform within a representation. Through an analysis of a classic science fiction horror film, Alien: Resurrection (1997), Huunan-Seppälä demonstrates how grotesque imagery functions in dynamic interaction with cultural norms, taboos and ideals, redrawing the lines between what is considered as normal or abnormal, desirable or despicable. As discovered by the author, the grotesque may efficiently teach the valuation of otherness, incompleteness and humanity. The study of the grotesque may also enhance the ability to discern ideological meanings embedded in images.
The current chapter is based on my doctoral dissertation, Huunan-Seppälä, H. (2018). Unfolding the unexpressed: The grotesque, norms and repressions (Doctoral dissertation). Helsinki, Finland: Aalto ARTS Books.
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Huunan-Seppälä, H. (2019). Hybrid Creatures and Monstrous Reproduction: The Multifunctional Grotesque in Alien: Resurrection. In: Tavin, K., Kallio-Tavin, M., Ryynänen, M. (eds) Art, Excess, and Education. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21828-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21828-7_9
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