32 •Metro Magazine 195 | © ATOM
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When she awakens taped to a chair, we become witnesses to the
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rises to the occasion when faced with the intruder, creeping up the
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plying and escaping, desperate to survive. In a scene reminiscent of
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reach of a crowd, her struggle drowned out by carollers.
But Peckover has also built a metanarrative about the horror
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men’s magazine,@WHLclaiming that women are aroused by horror
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rewarded with her resultant dopamine rush and uncontrollable lust.
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for adolescent boys, and the pervasive belief – borne out in a 1986
study – that, in heterosexual pairings, men prefer frightened women,
and women, brave men.^2 *HQGHU FRGLQJ LV QRWLFHDEO\ SUHVHQW LQ
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acting on – sexual desires. The decision to make the boys so young
in!DSSDQ 6@SBG .TShighlights the persistent moral anxiety about
sexual development, a frightening visualisation of the saying ‘boys
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might smell it. Yet they discuss women in an aggressively lewd way,
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Fuck, Marry based on CUDMSTQD 3HLD /XNH HQWKXVHV DERXW WKH
sexual potential of Princess Bubblegum. When he subsequently ini
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relishing her distress.
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the often overwhelming and distressing physical and mental changes
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VHQW LQ KRUURU ĺOPV IHDWXULQJEDL@KDprotagonists, especially in the
possession subgenre, in which teen women are favoured ‘vessels’
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teens, like3GDL 'DYLG 0RUHDX ;DYLHU 3DOXG DQG3GD
2SQ@MFDQR(Bryan Bertino, 2008). All of these examples emphasise
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cissist who brags, ‘I am the Harry Houdini of getting away with it.’
$VKOH\pVUHYHODWLRQWKDWKHNLOOHG*DUUHWWpVKDPVWHULVDSUHGLFWDEOHLuke’s actions stem from his refusal
to accept his thwarted desires. He is the
embodiment of solipsism, and is as much
a comment on male privilege as on fears
about spoilt children.