→ I think this could be a good short film to reference. Looking into what the “perfect” human is in a satirical way. We were talking about the biases that AI can have, and using this storyline to talk about this could be interesting. 

Domestic spaces have been consistently used as a literary motif to embody the despairs and fault lines of contemporary society—moral, psychological, and economic (Grider, Ann, Goldstein, & Thomas, 2007).

The second angle comes from nomadic bodies. 'Monstrous bodies', bodies crossing borders, and borders between humans are often depicted in horror fiction. Horror often confronts us with the fear and revulsion of monstrosity at the edges of culture. When boundaries between self and the other are violated, terror dwells here. (Anker, 2014)

On contrary to the “negative” reactions, marginalized, racialized, sexualized, and technological others also serve as living metaphors and referents for alternative symbolic meanings and values. In the dominant subject's view, devalued or monstrous others blur the line between self and others, highlighting the challenge of maintaining manageable differentiation margins. (Braidotti, 2015) Such bodies or individuals can offer a way to survive, create, and evolve through destruction. This destruction lies in defying naive preservation.

It is necessary to break outdated metamorphic habits and the dialectics that underpin them to create affirmative and empowered modes of interaction and representation of the 'others' (Braidotti, 2015). In this regard, genres can furthermore be used as a platform for defying traditional narratives: where and how films should be shown, how they should be shot, what the boundaries between characters and viewers should be, how genres should function, and how narratives should be organized.

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In relation to gothic literature :

Research paper: https://is.muni.cz/th/xdt5b/The_Use_of_Space_in_Gothic_Fiction.pdf (The Use of Space in Gothic Fiction)

• The division of space ; where one is a safe / familiar place while the other is not. The home having both those characteristics ‘

• “Characters can be divided into mobile ones who are free to move about the plot-space ... and immobile ones who are in fact functions of that space” (Lotman 157). The mobile character is usually the hero or heroine who crosses the boundary and moves from one sphere to another.”

• “Gothic characters usually become liminal heroes by leaving behind the world that is known to them, their families and friends or the social norms”

• “Windows and doors are the most literal manifestations of the boundary and they are therefore significant symbols in the concept of liminality. Windows and doors are points of entrance and egress; they are the points of transgression from one sphere into another as well as contact points between these two spheres.”

• “The door is ambiguous; when locked, it can be perceived as a safety measure but also as an obstacle, it can keep the monsters out but at the same time imprison the heroine, and as Ellis says: “Any enclosed space seemed to me to present this paradox,which links the ‘safe’ sphere of home inseparably to its dark opposite, the Gothic castle” (Ellis x). The ability to hide in an enclosed space is often welcomed but the advantage can quickly turn into trouble.”

• “K. A. Nuzum offers an interesting definition of a monster. According to his definition, monsters are liminal physically; they are “often displaying characteristics of more than one species ... They are neither one thing nor the other. Their bodies are chaotic, incapable of complete definition, and, thus, resistant to our complete understanding or control” (Nuzum 207).”

Some examples could be of genre and representation; questioning what genre should and could be and also thinking in terms of what "good representation" is. It could also lead to different modes of friendships and family and queer history culture that we can link back to.

• BFFs : The Radical Potential of Female Friendship (Anahit Behrooz) 

“This book owes much - if not everything- to the histories of queer radical thought that precede it, to the long and hard work these have done in joyfully expanding our conceptualisations of connection and community. Here my definition of ‘female’, such as it is, is left deliberately broad, encompassing all those who have some experience of socialised femininity or who see within the worlds of the following chapters some kind of correlation to their own lives.” 

“People living in the walls” Trope (Also known as “Madwomen in the Attic”) https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Madwoman_in_the_Attic

This is when a character with mental problems, and often some physical deformity, is locked away because she will never fit into society, usually either in the attic or in the basement, and often by a Corrupt Hick. The smarter ones will have a secret system of peepholes throughout the house. They also tend to be inbred.

There are two basic plotlines for this type of character:

1. The main character is an outsider, wondering what kind of bizarre secret the Corrupt Hicks are keeping. These characters tend to be Dragon-type enemies with little personality of their own, or they're The Grotesque, sympathetic victims. When done well, this can be an effective scare because it so aptly encapsulates the frightening insularity of the Town with a Dark Secret.

2. The main characters have just moved into a new house, and unbeknownst to them, are being watched by one of these whose caretakers have died. These are scary because of how they personify the fears of buying a new house: that your house has some hideous aspect that you haven't seen, but can see you.

This trope is named for the landmark work of feminist literary criticism by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, referring to Mr. Rochester's wife in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. The analysis indicates that this trope first popularly appeared, in all places, in Victorian women's literature, where depicting some women as crazy people was an easy way to make female villains with whom readers would be unlikely to sympathize. Obviously, this plan was not a complete success.

Subverted by The Adventure of the Paradol Chamber, a Sherlock Holmespastiche written by June Thomson. A woman who has befriended a young nobleman hires Holmes to investigate because she's afraid that his servants have imprisoned him in his own house. As it turns out, not only do the servants have a very good reason for locking him up, the nobleman actually wanted to be imprisoned in the first place, since it's revealed that he suffers from a form of hereditary madness that makes him Axe Crazy whenever it strikes. In one of his moments of sanity, the nobleman decided to have himself locked up to keep from being a danger to anyone. Another subversion comes from The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, that is much along these same lines. A soldier who made friends with another younger soldier in the Boer War hires Holmes when he thinks the younger soldier's parents are keeping him imprisoned on their family estate. It turns out that the younger soldier actually contracted what he thinks is leprosy during his time in South Africa, and the family was actually keeping him at home in secret to treat him without his being locked up in a hospital. The younger soldier, who's actually only suffering from treatable icthyosis, voluntarily went along with this.

• Surrealism / Gothic horror + a subversion of the madwomen in the attic

→ Using the “monster” in gothic literature and the madwomen in the attic trope but subverting them. A first person POV narrative where the main character moves through the house / room trying to escape the monster that lives in the walls (= the madwoman in the attic). A toss and turn occurs- kind of like five nights at freddy’s - where we have to survive until morning. The monster is the manifestation of the abject nature of womanhood - chaotic, nasty, and impossible to define; which is exactly why someone banished them to live on the border. Not outside, not inside. After the viewers have a bit of the experience in a room, they could be given a choice (bandersnatch style) to either hide until this is all over / kill the monster / or “befriend” it. We are not allowed to leave the room. Hiding starts the experience all over again and killing the monster just manifests a new one. 

→ reference for ending: The Babadook (The Babadook symbolises grief and trauma. Even with a happy ending ; the monster still lives in the basement, but the main character feeds it worms every once in a while and is able to live with it in some kind of peace.)

Related references: The Babadook (Film; 2014; Jennifer Kent), The People Under the Stairs (Film; 1991; Wes Craven), Meshes of the Afternoon (Film; 1943; Maya Deren), Bandersnatch (Interactive Film; 2018 ; David Slade), SOMA (Game; Thomas Grip; 2015), Five Nights at Freddy’s (Game; Scott Cawthon; 2014) 

Surrealism is an expansive, shifting term, but at its core, it is an interrogation of political and social systems, conventions and dominant ideologies. Inherently dynamic, it has travelled and evolved from place to place and time to time — and continues to do so today. Its scope has always been transnational, spreading beyond national borders and defying nationalist definitions, while also addressing specific and local contexts. In a world defined by territorial control — and the consequential ideological constraint, expansionist conflict, and exploitative colonialism — Surrealism has demanded liberation and served artists as a tool in the struggle for political, social and personal freedoms. The exhibition reflects this individualism by avoiding nationalities. Instead, it highlights the centres where Surrealists worked and gathered, recognising shared practices and ideals even as territories and place names changed around them.

-cement

-plaster

-jesmonite

-silk

-pearls

-silicon

-metal/wood

-casting

Jewellery & metal:

-metal - silversmithing, copper & bronze

-wax

-hot glass

-multi-media

-daily objects

-printmaking - silk screen, lino cut

Digital direction:

-Screen play writing

-Film & theatre

-Set model design

-2D animation - frame by fram

-Video editing

Photography:

-Merging analog & digital processes

-The nude / the body

-Surreal/otherworldly landscapes

-Installation - deconstructing the photograph

-Painting / classical art

-Tactile processes (alternative print)

-Digital print (playing with scale)

-Use of tape and red lines / red fabric

Visual Communication:

-Illustration (watercolor, gouache, acrylic, collage, digital)

-Visual Narrative

-2D animation (frame by frame, motion graphic)

-mixed media

-Installation design

-Publication (Indesign)

-Sewing, embroidery

-Sculpting (paper clay, Sculpey)

-Experimental writing

-silk screen, lino cut & riso printing

Fashion:

-Jewellery - silver, sculptural

-Sculpture

-Film & photography

-Exploring space between human body & garments

-Fabric researching

-Sewing

-Visual design, print & textile design

-Video editing

Artist: Mike Nelson

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/art-exhibitions/mike-nelson-extinction-beckons

Artist: Anselm Kiefer

How to define Feminine and Masculine by appearances and behaviors?

Who defines that? What forms those fixed rules/stereotypes?

Can we break the stereotypes? By how?

'Is a vital work of trans fiction that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors as it examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.'

Explore ideas within this concept

• Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon

https://medium.com/@mrinskine/an-amateur-attempt-at-psychoanalyzing-maya-derens-meshes-of-the-afternoon-cbca39b75fea

“Meshes of the Afternoon, in texture, is trance like, its fabric spiraling in structure. The protagonist, played by Maya Deren herself, goes through the process of picking up a flower dropped by a disembodied god-like hand, goes running after a nun like figure clad in black, gives up and goes to her house four times over. Each time she enters the mundane domestic space of her house and sees it unkempt. But unlike a replay, here a montage of reality is made, with the four women- same but different- not only existing in the house at the same time but also interacting with each other.” “The mind has a tendency [called the Repetition Compulsion] to repeat traumatic events in order to deal with them. This can take the form of dreams, storytelling or even hallucinations .” This would explain the surreal elements of the film.

A chapter in the book Carmen also writes about the gaps in representation - where are the accounts of queer domestic abuse in media/history/culture?

'The dream house' is a place of metaphor, representing how easily a place filled with the promise of domestic bliss can transform into a prison.

The relationship between horror films and the LGBTQ+ community? It’s complicated. Haunted houses, forbidden desires and the monstrous can have striking resonance for those who’ve been marginalised. But the genre’s murky history of an alarmingly heterosexual male gaze, queer-coded villains and sometimes blatant homophobia, is impossible to overlook. There is tension here, and there are as many queer readings of horror films as there are queer people.

Edited by Joe Vallese, and with contributions by writers including Kirsty Logan and Carmen Maria Machado, the essays in It Came from the Closet bring the particulars of the writers’ own experiences, whether in relation to gender, sexuality, or both, to their unique interpretations of horror films from Jaws to Jennifer’s Body.

Exploring a multitude of queer experiences from first kisses and coming out to transition and parenthood, this is a varied and accessible collection that leans into the fun of horror while taking its cultural impact and reciprocal relationship to the LGBTQ+ community seriously.

Discussing about the queer body&gender identity and emotions/psychology behind.

The social status infects the respect that the queer individuals’ living situation. Trynna investigate those low-income/young(age under 20) trans people.

As horror has been used as the room for transgression and the suppressed rage, we could create a haunted that allow audience to express their felling, angst and sadness. Basically, a comfortable space to be angry.  

It could be set up in the way that the audience is the monster and we could create a story or narrative that guild them while participating in the space. 

• What’s the first experience that made you feel you were othered?

• Do you see the relationship between queerness and monster?    -If say no, why?

• Any relationship between queerness with horror?

• If you feel you are othered, did you adjust yourself to fit into in the contemporary society.

• What (materials or objects) do you think associate with queerness

Interviewee: Dong

1. In fact I knew I was gay when I was very young, about 7 or 8 years old, and there were nights when I would wrap the duvet around my chest and imagine that I was a princess in an evening gown waiting for a prince to kiss me, just like in a fairy tale.

2. of course not! I think every sexual orientation is normal, it's not a choice of one's own and it's a result of natural causes, I don't think homosexuality can be like a monster. The fact that homosexuality exists in beings as small as fruit flies is more proof that homosexuality and any sexual orientation is normal and justified, and should not be "monstered"!

   
   

3. Not at all! The Queer community chooses to live a special lifestyle, and for me, although I wouldn't choose to be mates with a queer, I appreciate their unique definition and opinion of beauty. It's not scary to me at all, and it's even inspiring and helpful to my art and aesthetics to a certain extent.

4. I don't intentionally try to fit in with society, those who can accept it will always keep their understanding and respect for you, and those who can't won't change their opinion of you because of it.

5. I think Lycoris radiata is the most suitable flower for queer, it has a kind of unique and let people respect the beauty, flaunt the unique appearance and stamens interpretation of their attitude towards beauty and understanding. The fact that the flowers and leaves do not appear at the same time also proves that they are different from other flowers.

Interviewee: flowery

how to defined you are others？

Q2:Actually, I can't see the relationship between the two, because it's kind of funny here, and I don't think they can equate each other. If you regard a natural behavior or phenomenon as a “freak”or monster, the first thing to start from this perspective is "Monster. "

Q3:All I can say is that it has nothing to do with it. I can't imagine what it has to do with horror.

Q4: If one day I feel that I’ve become someone else, there may be a stage of early adaptation, but it is not possible to adapt to the society in the views of others, but more like a state of searching for myself, and will not be forced to adjust for the sake of the so-called social laws. And I also believe that from a certain point of view, contemporary society can accommodate these.

Q5： For me, I think it's underwear or stockings, which to some extent helped me get to know myself and move towards who I am now.

The first time I started to dress differently in the high school, I would choose more colorful and feminine outfit or garment. People around me started to keep to distance with me and refused to talk to me. I was also called by offensive nickname.

• Do you see the relationship between queerness and monster?    -If say no, why?

Yes, maybe not as strong as monster, however, the way how people look at or think about you is similar with how people look a monster. They think you are different and don't belong the same place as them. They think you are wired and not following the social norms.

• Any relationship between queerness with horror?

Yes, the scary and strange feeling or emotion that people towards to you due to the unknowness. The horror feelings that I need to explain myslef and the ignorant feedback received.

• If you feel you are othered, did you adjust yourself to fit into in the contemporary society.

I did, as we can not live fully independently in this society. The process that I was looking for myself or figuring out who am I was vulnerable. Sometimes I have to make comprimise and change myself to fit into. Luckily I'm adjusting myself less and less.

• What (materials or objects) do you think associate with queerness

As a male queer, I would think the materials related with strong masculinity (construction or building materials : concrete, metal, nails etc) and feminility (stockings, high heels, soft fabric, sewing, make up etc)