Research in Horror Studies

Black Horror Studies

La Llorona’s Blackness in Latin American Horror Films La Llorona (Mexico, 1960) and La Llorona (Guatemala, 2019)

This paper furthers the exploration of Black identities and Blackness in Latin American popular culture, particularly horror films. Through textual analysis, I compare Blackness’s function, presence, and cultural meaning in two film adaptations of the La Llorona story from two different time periods and geographic locations: La Llorona (Mexico, 1960) and La Llorona (Guatemala, 2019). In these two adaptations, Blackness is both gendered and racialized through women’s bodies (particularly through skin and clothes), indicating who is conceptualized as monstrous or ‘othered.’ Furthermore, Blackness in La Llorona film adaptations function as a vehicle by which various cultural anxieties in Latin American culture are negotiated.

The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Films

Trauma/Mental Health & Horror Representation

Horror Entertainment Preference and Trauma History

There are claims in public-facing articles that horror cinematic narratives hold therapeutic potential for audiences with a trauma history but there is currently no statistical evidence to support this claim. This project aims to tease out this potential relationship and how audiences are using media psychology terminology to express their unique engagements. This is exploratory work around trauma representation and unique viewership around said content. The goal of this study is to evaluate if those with a reported trauma history have a greater preference for the horror cinematic genre while investigating different narrative engagements that might explain their horror preference. Forthcoming peer-reviewed publication.

This project is supported by UMich Comm and Media Chamberlain Funding - First Year Project.

Below are some recent conference presentations around other horror movies that I hope to turn into publications soon!