Strange Vices: Transgression and the Production of Difference in the Giallo

Authors

  • Seb Roberts Humanities, York University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.p70s.9.1.9

Keywords:

giallo, horror movie, Italy, 70s

Abstract

The giallo, an Italian genre of horror film that peaked in the 1970s, is infamous for peddling shock and slaughter. Under the graphic sex and violence, however, the giallo expresses popular anxiety surrounding the transgression of social and sexual norms in modern Italy. Superficially, the giallo seems to suggest that social and cultural turmoil necessarily produces death. Yet the giallo foregrounds the obvious excitement and attraction of transgression, allowing that transgression could in fact be generative of positive, invigorating difference.

Author Biography

Seb Roberts, Humanities, York University

Seb Roberts is a composer and sound engineer based in Toronto, Canada. He is currently completing his MA studies at York University’s Humanities Department. In November of 2018, his improvisation duo with Juliana Pivato, Private Robots, will release their debut album, Poets Barrio TV, on Montréal’s Squint _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Press.

Seb Roberts est un compositeur et ingénieur du son basé à Toronto au Canada. Il termine actuellement ses études de maîtrise au départment des humanités à York University. En novembre 2018, son duo d’improvisation avec Juliana Pivato, “Private Robots”, sortira son premier album, Poet Barrio TV, chez Squint _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Press de Montréal.

Still from All the President's Men

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Published

2018-11-10

How to Cite

Roberts, S. (2018). Strange Vices: Transgression and the Production of Difference in the Giallo. Imaginations: Journal of Cross-Cultural Image Studies, 9(1), 115–131. https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.p70s.9.1.9

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2018): The Mise-en-scène of a Decade: Visualizing the 70s | La mise en scène d’une décennie : visualiser les années 1970

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License
This work by https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/imaginations is licensed under a  Creative Commons 4.0 International License although certain works referenced herein may be separately licensed, or the author has exercised their right to fair dealing under the Canadian Copyright Act.