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Notes
1 For simplicity’s sake, if an entity is described as a demon within the film, then it is not included in the analysis, even if the actions of the “demon” could be seen in terms of those of a ghost. As an example, in Paranormal Activity (Citation2007), the psychic describes the thing that is haunting Katie as a demon. As such, that film is not considered here, despite the fact that all its activities could be described as those of a poltergeist (even the non-human footprints in the talcum powder could have been made to trick the Katie and Micah).
2 Noting, of course, that the being, Zuul, that possesses Dana is either a demi-god, or a demon, so is not discussed further here.
3 Warm Bodies (Citation2013) is an exception here – where R shows rudimentary reasoning skills. But even in this film, it is the emotions that he starts feeling that sets him on the path to change. A captured zombie in Return of the Living Dead (Citation1985) explains that zombies eat brains to ease their pain – again the eating can be seen as either instinctive or reflex (though the fact that the zombie engages in conversation indicates that, for some at least, some cognitive function remains).
4 There is the suggestion that the main antagonist has the assistance of two ‘smaller’ entities – this may suggest that it is more than instinct, but there is nothing to suggest rationality.
5 Fowkes, however, is interested in a gendered reading of Sam’s displays of emotions.
6 While this is an Italian production, the location shooting was done in the Louisiana and the principal actors only spoke English – and so it fits within the scope of this research.
7 While it is not clear which of the characters in the film, who are not related to Jack Torrance, are ghosts or just figments of his writer’s imagination, the two girls most closely fit the description of the victims of the previous caretaker, and they appear early in the film, before Jack’s cabin fever develops.
8 Boyd takes an even broader perspective: from an evolutionary perspective, ‘fictions’, which include screen narratives, ‘foster cooperation by engaging and attuning our social and moral emotions and values’ (Citation2009, 383).
9 There was an emotional aspect in that McLane wanted to reconcile with his wife; however, the narrative is driven by the interaction between him and Gruber.
10 The processes of categorisation also can be seen through a Foucauldian lens – in particular, the ways in which categories themselves order discourses – see, generally, Foucault (Citation1981).
11 To read it generously, Edith’s mother’s love for Edith was so powerful that she defeated time.
12 That is not to say that the only practices transmitted via film relate to emotions. The protagonists also use reason to defeat the spirits, but the empathy the audiences feels is with the emotion of the characters.
13 Two films fall outside these three periods – The Sixth Sense and The Others. Both have the dead as the protagonists. Both also involve a significant twist at the end that tells the audience that the main characters are ghosts. Broadly speaking, the two films adopt the proper conduct of the late twentieth-century family of governmentality, but with an added hint of millennialism – the turn of the century representing a major twist in the narratives of our lives.
14 The role of expertise in governmentality is explored in Johnson (Citation1993).
15 There is also the occasional evidence of more positive emotions – such as the hints of empathy felt, by Arthur, towards the title character near the end of the Woman in Black.
16 This, of course, is a grossly simplified description, but it is sufficient for this analysis of ghosts in film.
17 They also operate as their own Jungian archetype (Iaccino Citation1994, 5).
18 Piaget’s work is not uncontested in the child development literature; however, his ideas fit with broad societal understandings of how children relate to the world.
19 Further reinforced by their insistence that the Catholic Church needs to approve any exorcism – with Catholicism having a significant investment in Hell as a concept.
20 This is not, in any way, meant to be pejorative. There is sufficient privileging of conventional intelligence (in institutions such as those that the author, and many readers, operate in) to allow an observation that it is not the only way of existing in society.
21 A name that is very close to the “Feelings,” while also retaining connotations of the rights of US citizens to be free in their own domain.
22 Another key form of house that comes to be haunted is the centuries-old mansion. This is evident in Crimson Peak, The Beyond and Woman in Black. The first two of these three came into the narrative because it was the ancestral home (Liza Merrill inherits it in the 1981 film, Thomas and Lucille still live in theirs; and in Woman in Black, Arthur arrives at the house in order to prepare the estate for sale). The notion of testamentary disposition, passing property to kin via a will, reinforces family writ large.
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Chris Dent
Chris Dent School of Law, Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch, WA 6150 Australia. I have always worked on the boundary of law and social theory – most of my legal research has focused on creativity (either around the regulation of speech or intellectual property) and my work in social theory has focused on the work of Michel Foucault. More specifically, I have taught in the area of Media Law and, prior to my legal studies, my interest in film was facilitated by role as a manager of video libraries. I would like to thank Luke Devenish for his knowledge of film and our conversatons around the medium. Email: [email protected]