Terror Tracks - Music, Sound and Horror Cinema - Philip Hayward
Popular Songs and Ordinary Violence: Exposing Basic Human Brutality in the Films of Rob Zombie
Terror Tracks - Music, Sound and Horror Cinema - Philip Hayward
Laura Wiebe Taylor [+]
McMaster University
Laura Wiebe Taylor is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, where she is examining
boundary issues in speculative fictions and theory. Her publications include articles on the relationships between science fiction, dystopia and metal music.
Description
Looks at the films of Rob Zombie and argues that Zombie's use of popular music in his horror films produces not so much a counternarrative as an alternative reading that resists conservatism rather than affirming it. By relentlessly pairing extreme brutality with popular often beloved tunes from the (primarily) American past, Zombie exposes the violence that lies embedded in American history and society. The music prevents the horror the films reveal from being othered; just as the music belongs to society, so does the violence.