Female Body in Hollywood: “The Substance” – From Screenplay to Script
- Issue:
- Received: 11 Mar. 2026
- Approved after reviewing: 05 Apr. 2026
- Date of publication: 25 Jun. 2026
- УДК / UDK: 821.111(73).0
- Publication Type: Research Article
- DOI:
- EDN:
- Abstract:
Coralie Fargeat’s screenplay “The Substance” (2022) is viewed in the article as an example of the body horror subgenre primarily featuring corporal metamorphosis (mutation, decay, as well as rejuvenation). The subgenre under scrutiny problematizes anxieties and phobias associated with the vulnerability and instability of the body-mind. Fargeat’s screenplay, initially conceived as a satirical feminist sci-fi body horror exploring the theme of rejuvenation, serves as a case illuminating Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. The abject here is associated with the “cultural age.” The fantasticality of the accelerated aging of the victimized protagonist in “The Substance” excludes her from communication and self-communication. The screenplay highlights and combines two major horror discourses — “monstrocity” and “duplicity”. However, the satirical plot offers neither canonical ‘slaying of the monster’, nor the archetypal victory of the doppelganger. A separate section of the article explores the phenomenon of intervisuality actively utilized in the 2024 Oscar-winning film. The visual allusions to the iconic shots in a few famous American horror films — the references missing in the screenplay, yet appearing in the picture — ensured “The Substance’s” box-office success. The satirical plot and the spectacular visuality display both the tragic and the comic nature of the misogynistic and gender-ageist attitudes of show business, as well as the subversive nature of the rejuvenation discourse not coincidentally transcending genres and modes.
- Keywords: “The Substance”, screenplay, Hollywood, double, monster, misogyny, cultural age, rejuvenation, intervisuality
- For citation:
Golovacheva, Irina. “Female Body in Hollywood: ‘The Substance’ — From Screenplay to Script.” Literature of the Americas, no. 20 (2026): 220–239. https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-220-239
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