Abstract
As a probing and licking appendage that has agency inside and beyond the mouth, the tongue is capable of being both an intrusive and erotic organ. This chapter explores the penetration of boundaries by the extended tongue in the films La lengua asesina (Killer Tongue 1996) and Sien nui yau wan (A Chinese Ghost Story 1987). The mouth split open is discussed using Victor Hugo’s novel L’homme qui rit (1869) and its film adaptation, The Man Who Laughs (1928), while the lips sealed shut are addressed using the films House of Wax (2005) and Ouija (2014). Lips suspended during ventriloquism is discussed using Edgar Allan Poe’s 1845 short story ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’ and the film Dead Silence (2007).
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Conrich, I., Sedgwick, L. (2017). The Tongue, Mouth and Lips. In: Gothic Dissections in Film and Literature. Palgrave Gothic. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-30358-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-30358-5_7
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