Weird Studies - my definition:
I classify "weird fiction" as not necessarily a genre-in-itself, instead it operates in the interstices of mainstream genres, creating through poetic prose, vivid imagery, hallucinatory experiences, existential angst, dream logic and shocking stories, a powerful effect upon the reader, provoking them to start to see the mundane world with a slant. If you look at the etymology of 'wyrd' it originates as the "power to control destiny" (no doubt in a magical or ritual sense) and morphs to the latter "weird" meaning of "unearthly" or strange. These stories stay with you, taking root deep inside your consciousness, reverberating like the ripples of a deep pond disturbed by a thrown rock and provoke you to rethink what you have always taken for granted. There is a commercial genre called "the new weird" (also an older pulp magazine "weird" usually involving cosmic horror) and some of these books/authors would be slotted into my broad genre classification here (many are not), but in the spirit of actual weirdness I include other books/films that operate under the aesthetic classification described above without being marketed as "new weird." The disturbance to perceived reality also may take place through a decoding/encoding process that challenge and restructure (exposing the myths and inconsistencies) dominant narratives/pathways (also see situationist détournement and derive). Often these weird narratives represent/present a dream logic as being just as important/relevant as our waking logic. The purpose is to expose the cracks in the foundations of controlling narratives, destabilizing them through weird narratives that shake the assured assumptions of its adherents. The concepts of carnivalesque revelry and the dialogic nature of consciousness as theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin are equally important, in that they involve the reversal of a dominant order and/or an exposure of the fantasy of the controlling order, in the process revealing the many perspectives/voices that are silenced/masked. As disturbing as these can be for many, perhaps the most problematic aspect of many weird narratives would be the decentering of humans (as the center of the universe) and explorations/recognitions of non-human perspectives. Importantly, in the context of my own American culture, this also involves narrative & theoretical displacement of our particular hegemonic way of seeing & being as the baseline for thinking about and understanding the world. In film studies there has also been a classification of Mind Fuck films which would be included here. All of these can provide a cathartic release from the anxiety/terror of the really weird situation we are living through and the twisted creatures that our at the helm of planet earth. [Editorial note: my definition was originally written during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic]. Under no circumstance is weird meant in a derogatory way. Anyone who does a deep dive into science, especially theories of consciousness and reality, knows that science is seriously weird. I appreciate works that challenge our constructed reality, pushing us to see that there is not just one way. Also it should be understood that what seems weird to some may seem obvious and normal to others. One of the great benefits of learning across time and space/places is that it can, following Bertolt Brecht, "make the familiar strange." Michael Dean Benton (May 2020; revised July 2022)
"Monstrosity, for me, is always positive. It's about debunking all the normative ways of society and social life. (1)" - Julia Decournau (2021) [quoted in Creed]
Bibliography (Print Culture):
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)." Monster Theory: Reading Culture. ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. University of Minnesota Press, 1996: 3 - 25.
Creed, Babara. Return of the Monstrous-Feminine: Feminist New Wave Cinema. Taylor and Francis, 2022. ["This follow-up to the classic text of The Monstrous-Feminine analyses those contemporary films which explore social justice issues such as women’s equality, violence against women, queer relationships, race and the plight of the planet and its multi-species. Examining a new movement – termed by Creed as Feminist New Wave Cinema – The Return of the Monstrous-Feminine explores a significant change that has occurred over the past two decades in the representation of the monstrous-feminine in visual discourse. The Monstrous-Feminine is a figure in revolt on a journey through the dark night of abjection. Taking particular interest in women directors who create the figure of the Monstrous-Feminine, in cinema that foregrounds everyday horrors in addition to classic horror, Creed looks at a range of diverse films including The Babadook, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Nomadland, Carol, Raw, Revenge, and the television series The Handmaid’s Tale. These films center on different forms of revolt, from inner revolt to social, supernatural and violent revolt, which appear in Feminist New Wave Cinema. These relate in the main to the emergence of a range of social protest movements that have gathered momentum in the new millennium and given voice to new theoretical and critical discourses. These include: third and fourth wave feminism, the #MeToo movement, queer theory, race theory, the critique of anthropocentrism and human animal theory. These theoretical discourses have played a key role in influencing Feminist New Wave Cinema whose films are distinctive, stylish and diverse. This is an essential companion to the original classic text and is ideal for students in Gender and Media, Gender and Horror, Gender and Film and Feminist Film theory courses."]
Martel, J.F. Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice. Basic Books, 2025. ["Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice is a journey into the uncanny realities revealed to us in the great works of art of the past and present. Received opinion holds that art is culturally-determined and relative. We are told that whether a picture, a movement, a text, or sound qualifies as a “work of art” largely depends on social attitudes and convention. Drawing on examples ranging from Paleolithic cave paintings to modern pop music and building on the ideas of James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Gilles Deleuze, Carl Jung, and others, JF Martel argues that art is an inborn human phenomenon that precedes the formation of culture and even society. Art is free of politics and ideology. Paradoxically, that is what makes it a force of liberation wherever it breaks through the trance of humdrum existence. Like the act of dreaming, artistic creation is fundamentally mysterious. It is a gift from beyond the field of the human, and it connects us with realities that, although normally unseen, are crucial components of a living world. While holding this to be true of authentic art, the author acknowledges the presence—overwhelming in our media-saturated age—of a false art that seeks not to liberate but to manipulate and control. Against this anti-artistic aesthetic force, which finds some of its most virulent manifestations in modern advertising, propaganda, and pornography, true art represents an effective line of defense. Martel argues that preserving artistic expression in the face of our contemporary hyper-aestheticism is essential to our own survival. Art is more than mere ornament or entertainment; it is a way, one leading to what is most profound in us. Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice places art alongside languages and the biosphere as a thing endangered by the onslaught of predatory capitalism, spectacle culture, and myopic technological progress. The book is essential reading for visual artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, and poets. It will also interest anyone who has ever been deeply moved by a work of art, and for all who seek a way out of the web of deception and vampiric amusement that the current world order has woven around us."]
Documentaries:
The American Nightmare (USA: Adam Simon, 2000) This is available for free on Youtube. How the horror genre changed post 1968.
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (USA: Xavier Burgin, 2019) Description: "Delving into a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and finally embraced them, this is the untold history of black Americans in Hollywood through their connection to the horror genre." Here is a collection of resources that go with the film: Horror Noire syllabus
Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue: The Evolution of Horror (USA: Andrew Monument, 2009) This is available for free on Youtube (click on the link to watch). It is a look at the socio-political context of horror films.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (USA: Kier-La Janisse, 2021) Description: "Explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan’s Claw and The Wicker Man – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade."
Online resources:
"28 Days Later (UK: Danny Boyle, 2002: 113 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"2001: A Space Odyssey (USA/UK: Stanley Kubrick, 1968: 141 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"A Clockwork Orange (UK/USA: Stanley Kubrick, 1971: 136 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"Adaptation (USA: Spike Jonze, 2002: 114 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (USA: Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014: 99 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"Alien (UK/USA: Ridley Scott, 1979: 117 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"Alien 3 (USA: David Fincher, 1992: 114 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"American Psycho (USA: Mary Harron, 2000: 102 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"A Nightmare on Elm Street (USA: Wes Craven, 1984: 91 mins)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"Earl Fontainelle: Esotericism/Religion/Philosophy." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)
"Phil Ford and J.F. Martel: Weird Studies/Art/Culture/Esotericism." Dialogic Cinephilia (Online Archive)
Muncer, Mike and Chris Newton. "The Evolution of the Vampire." The Evolution of Horror (September 3, 2026) ["Chris Newton joins Mike to discuss the sexiest, broodiest, gayest monster of them all, the vampire!."]
Tafoya, Scout. "The Post-Punk Cinema Manifesto - Side A." (Posted on Vimeo: 2017)
---. "The Post-Punk Cinema Manifesto - Side B." (Posted on Vimeo: 2017)
Quote file:
"This is the mystery we thrust ourselves into: A single neuron is not conscious of its existence. A network of billions of unconscious single neurons is. These monads living in a world without perception become a being that perceives, thinks, and acts. Consciousness lies not in neurons, but in a sophisticated pattern of connectivity (125)." - Dr. Arnkatla Minervudottr-Chan in Nayler, Ray. The Mountain in the Sea. Picador, 2022.
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