Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema
The late 2000s and early 2010s saw the rise of a new subgenre in British horror cinema now often referred to as hoodie horror. Government and media campaigns against antisocial behaviour or Broken Britain under Blair and Cameron’s premierships undoubtedly helped revive the stereotype of a rebellious...
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| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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Angles
2020
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_453 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
image ennemie cinéma hoodie underclass antisocial classe horreur cinéma britannique Royaume-Uni enemy image hoodie underclass antisocial class horror British cinema cinema United Kingdom |
| spellingShingle |
image ennemie cinéma hoodie underclass antisocial classe horreur cinéma britannique Royaume-Uni enemy image hoodie underclass antisocial class horror British cinema cinema United Kingdom Marin-Lamellet, Anne-Lise Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| description |
The late 2000s and early 2010s saw the rise of a new subgenre in British horror cinema now often referred to as hoodie horror. Government and media campaigns against antisocial behaviour or Broken Britain under Blair and Cameron’s premierships undoubtedly helped revive the stereotype of a rebellious and dangerous youth, also a great cinematic trope, which culminated with the summer riots of 2011. The enemy image of the hoodie thus gelled on and off screen around the powerful symbol of that garment. Because of the possibilities offered by genre films, the often claimed “feral” nature of these creatures is sometimes taken in a literal sense and young people from sink estates are presented as amoral and bloodthirsty monsters causing the general collapse of society. These gangs of predators appear to be fascinated by their own evil image that they proudly advertise through the use of social media. Hoodies are thus othered, but they also ironically reclaim that enemy image. Hoodie horror has sometimes been criticised because of its perceived conservative or even reactionary and/or racist overtones. Allegedly feeding on and fuelling moral panic, it may perpetuate clichés about a so-called new underclass, thereby further blurring the thin boundary between reality and fantasy for spectators. As a by-product of neoliberalism, it is deemed to depoliticise or deny the wider social context in order to better essentialise evil through the construction of a new folk devil. To a certain extent, this cycle of films does reinforce the horrific character of poor British youths, presenting them not only as culturally but also biologically different. However, this interpretation has to be mitigated. Many of these films play with the conventions of a subgenre inspired by several American models in order to somehow subvert and question the enemy image given to hoodies as they implicitly point to the society that generates, to better demonise, these new evil hordes. By putting the media and their effects into perspective, by looking at the other side i.e. the victims of hoodies (Middle England, “us”, spectators) and questioning their own values and attitudes, these films finally advocate sotto voce a discourse that is quite pessimistic but not as cynical and hostile towards these youths as expected. The worst enemy of the nation may be the excommunicators. |
| author |
Marin-Lamellet, Anne-Lise |
| author_facet |
Marin-Lamellet, Anne-Lise |
| author_sort |
Marin-Lamellet, Anne-Lise |
| title |
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| title_short |
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| title_full |
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| title_fullStr |
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema |
| title_sort |
mad, bad and dangerous to know? hoodies in contemporary british horror cinema |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.453 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/453 |
| _version_ |
1877293946934132736 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_453 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.453 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.453 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/453 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9myg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know? Hoodies in Contemporary British Horror Cinema Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Marin-Lamellet, Anne-Lise image ennemie cinéma hoodie underclass antisocial classe horreur cinéma britannique Royaume-Uni enemy image hoodie underclass antisocial class horror British cinema cinema United Kingdom The late 2000s and early 2010s saw the rise of a new subgenre in British horror cinema now often referred to as hoodie horror. Government and media campaigns against antisocial behaviour or Broken Britain under Blair and Cameron’s premierships undoubtedly helped revive the stereotype of a rebellious and dangerous youth, also a great cinematic trope, which culminated with the summer riots of 2011. The enemy image of the hoodie thus gelled on and off screen around the powerful symbol of that garment. Because of the possibilities offered by genre films, the often claimed “feral” nature of these creatures is sometimes taken in a literal sense and young people from sink estates are presented as amoral and bloodthirsty monsters causing the general collapse of society. These gangs of predators appear to be fascinated by their own evil image that they proudly advertise through the use of social media. Hoodies are thus othered, but they also ironically reclaim that enemy image. Hoodie horror has sometimes been criticised because of its perceived conservative or even reactionary and/or racist overtones. Allegedly feeding on and fuelling moral panic, it may perpetuate clichés about a so-called new underclass, thereby further blurring the thin boundary between reality and fantasy for spectators. As a by-product of neoliberalism, it is deemed to depoliticise or deny the wider social context in order to better essentialise evil through the construction of a new folk devil. To a certain extent, this cycle of films does reinforce the horrific character of poor British youths, presenting them not only as culturally but also biologically different. However, this interpretation has to be mitigated. Many of these films play with the conventions of a subgenre inspired by several American models in order to somehow subvert and question the enemy image given to hoodies as they implicitly point to the society that generates, to better demonise, these new evil hordes. By putting the media and their effects into perspective, by looking at the other side i.e. the victims of hoodies (Middle England, “us”, spectators) and questioning their own values and attitudes, these films finally advocate sotto voce a discourse that is quite pessimistic but not as cynical and hostile towards these youths as expected. The worst enemy of the nation may be the excommunicators. La fin des années 2000 et le début des années 2010 ont été marqués au Royaume-Uni par la vague d’un sous-genre du cinéma d’horreur, le hoodie horror. Les campagnes médiatiques contre les incivilités, l’obsession des gouvernements Blair et Cameron envers les comportements antisociaux ont sans doute ravivé le stéréotype d’une jeunesse révoltée et dangereuse, grand classique du cinéma en général et du cinéma britannique en particulier, qui a culminé avec les émeutes de l’été 2011. L’image d’un nouvel ennemi de la nation s’est donc forgée à la ville et à l’écran autour de la symbolique dégagée par ce vêtement qu’est le sweat à capuche (hoodie). Le prisme du genre permet au cinéma de littéraliser certains éditoriaux des tabloïds en montrant des jeunes de banlieue comme des monstres amoraux et sanguinaires. Ces groupes de prédateurs semblent de plus en plus fascinés par leur propre image maléfique qu’ils diffusent sur les réseaux sociaux. Les hoodies revendiquent donc leur image d’ennemi. Ce sous-genre souffre souvent d’une mauvaise réputation car il demeure perçu comme conservateur, voire réactionnaire et raciste : il est accusé de participer à la phobie ambiante en perpétuant les clichés médiatiques à propos d’une supposée nouvelle underclass et, à ce titre, de brouiller la frontière entre réalité et fantasme. Pur produit du néolibéralisme, il chercherait comme lui à dépolitiser ou nier les problèmes sociaux pour mieux essentialiser le mal à travers la figure d’un jeune qui sert de bouc-émissaire à une société aliénée par ses dirigeants et ses médias. Dans une certaine mesure, ces films renforcent effectivement le caractère terrifiant de ces jeunes en les présentant comme différents, non seulement culturellement mais aussi biologiquement. Cependant, cette vision doit être nuancée. Nombre de ces films jouent sur les codes d’un sous-genre inspiré de plusieurs modèles américains pour subvertir quelque peu cette image de l’ennemi et dénoncer implicitement la société qui produit ces nouvelles hordes pour mieux les diaboliser. En remettant en question le rôle des médias et de leurs effets, en s’intéressant à l’autre partie, en d’autres termes aux victimes des hoodies (les classes moyennes anglaises, la majorité silencieuse, les spectateurs supposés de ces films) et en interrogeant leurs propres valeurs et attitude, ces films font passer sotto voce un discours pour le moins pessimiste mais pas aussi cynique et hostile envers ces jeunes qu’on pourrait le croire de prime abord. Les pires ennemis de la nation pourraient in fine être les excommunicateurs. |