Gender and Werewolf Cinema
by Jason Barr
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Book Presentation:
It all begins with a howl, the unsettling sound which tells audiences that someone will soon become a werewolf. But the changes that occur during that transformation aren’t just physical; they are psychological as well. Unremarkable men become domineering leaders. Innocuous men become violent and overtly sexual. In films from The Wolf Man and An American Werewolf in London to Ginger Snaps, when the protagonists become werewolves, their perceptions of their gender and their masculinity or femininity change dramatically.
This volume explores how werewolves in cinema have provided an avenue for frank and often enlightening conversations about gender roles and masculinity. Werewolves are indeed a harbinger of change, but the genre of werewolf cinema itself has changed over time in how different styles of masculinity and different gender identities are portrayed.
About the Author:
Jason Barr is an associate professor at Blue Ridge Community College. His work has appeared in African American Review, Explicator, The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, and The Journal of Caribbean Literatures, among others. He lives in Weyers Cave, Virginia.
Press Reviews:
Winner, Best New Cinema Book—Book Authority
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
Giant Creatures in Our World (2017)
Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture
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> On a related topic:
Willful Monstrosity (2020)
Gender and Race in 21st Century Horror
Attack of the Leading Ladies (2018)
Gender, Sexuality, and Spectatorship in Classic Horror Cinema
Men, Women, and Chain Saws (2015)
Gender in the Modern Horror Film
The Politics of Monstrous Figures in Contemporary Cinema (2025)
Witches, Zombies, and Cyborgs Re-enchanting the Ends of the World
Monsters vs. Patriarchy (2025)
Toxic Imagination in Global Horror Cinema
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