Literature of the Americas

2541-7894 2542-243X

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2026-20-220-239

Research Article

Articles

Female Body in Hollywood: “The Substance” – From Screenplay to Script

2026

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.

The Abject of Desire 2007 — The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticization of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture. Edited by Konstanze Kutzbach,Monica Mueller. Amsterdam–New York, 2007.Baumbach 2015 — Baumbach, Sibylle. Literature and Fascination. New York, 2015.Capra, Floridi 2023 — Capra, Andrea and Lucia Floridi. Introduction. In: Intervisuality: New Approaches to Greek Literature, edited by Andrea Capra and Lucia Floridi, 1–12. Berlin, Boston, 2023.Carroll 1990 — Carroll, Noël. The Philosophy of Horror. New York, Routledge, 1990.Creed 1993 — Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous-feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London, New York, 1993.The Fountain of Youth 2004 — The Fountain of Youth: Cultural, Scientific, and Ethical Perspectives on a Biomedical Goal, edited by Stephen G. Post and Robert H. Binstock. New York, 2004.Golovacheva 2024 — Golovacheva, Irina V. “Amerikanskii dvoinik / amerikanskii psikhopat v tvorcheskom tupike” [“American Double / AmericanPsycho and the Writer’s Block”]. Lirerature of the Americas, no. 16 (2024): 147–168. (In Russ.)Golovacheva, Zhuravlev 2025 — Golovacheva, Irina V., Zhuravlev, Mikhail Ye. “Topos ‘dvoinik’ v komparativno-kvantitativnom osveshchenii” [“The Doppelgänger Topos Through a Quantitative Comparative Lens”]. Imagologiya i komparativistika — Imagology and Comparative Studies, no. 23 (2025): 7–30. (In Russ.)Hall 2011— Hall, Stuart. Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London, 2011.Immortal Engines 1996 — Immortal Engines: Life Extension and Immortality in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Edited by George Slusser, Garry Westfahl, and Erick S. Rabkin. Athens, GA, 1996.Katz 2005 — Katz, Stephen. Cultural Aging: Life Course, Lifestyle, and Senior Worlds. Peterborough, Ontario, 2005.Kristeva 2003 — Kristeva, Julia. Sily uzhasa. Esse ob otvrashchenii [Pouvoirs de l’horreur. Essai sur l’abjection]. St. Petersburg: Aleteia Publ., 2003. (In Russ.)