StoryreaderThe Unholy
December 7th 2006 23:32
In The Unholy sexuality is rendered as transgressive, that most Gothic of offences. The equation of sexuality with evil and horror and the deployment of the Gothic edifice as the site in which the elements of transgression and horror are enacted all function in the Gothic rendering of sexuality.
The role of the Gothic edifice in The Unholy is fulfilled by a church. A sacred space profaned by the presence of a demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman who tempts the successive priests with her sexuality. When the priests succumb they are instantly damned. From the first instance sexuality is situated as evil, a sin punishable by eternal damnation.
Accentuating the transgressive nature of sexuality in the film is the positioning of Father Michael as a Catholic priest whose vows of celibacy make sexuality for him a literal transgression.
Sexuality is equated with horror in that it ‘dissolves a beings sense of definite identity, a dissolution often metaphorically linked to absolute darkness and death.’ (Botting 1998: 124) and it is linked not only to absolute darkness and death, but also to eternal damnation. Sexuality is also presented as implicitly female, a treacherous irrational encroachment that threatens the stability of the rational (male) self. Father Michael’s recurring sexualised dreams also seem to suggest that sexuality functions on an irrational subconscious level.
There is no ‘good’ sexuality presented in The Unholy to counterbalance the evil, with even the apparently innocent virginal Milli operating as a pawn of the devil when she attempts to seduce Father Michael. This further underscores the positioning of sexuality as treacherous and female.
In The Unholy there are ‘conflicting forces of excess of restraint on the one hand, and the urge to institutional conformity and hypocrisy on the other.’ (Trott 1998: 147) Father Michael is warned that the unholy will tempt him with that which he most desires and these repressed desires conflict with his necessity for institutional conformity (ie celibacy) which is necessary not just for his social position, but also it seems for his spiritual one.
Sexuality also plays apon the basic fear regarding the loss of self representing as it does both the embodiment or personification of evil and its appeal to repressed human impulses. The Unholy (the demon, not the film) functions much like the uncanny, it ‘is the unconscious made material, the external manifestation of unconscious desires or fears.’ (Woods & O’Brien 2004: 11-4)
Transgression and punishment, the redemptive power of religious faith and the demonisation of unbridled sexuality, the film for all its Gothic coding and rendering could almost function as a Catholic tract.
Bibliography:
Botting, F (1998) in Mulvey-Roberts, M. (ed) The Handbook To Gothic Literature Macmillan Press Ltd
Trott, N. (1998) in Mulvey-Roberts, M. (ed) The Handbook To Gothic Literature Macmillan Press Ltd
Vilo, Camilo (1987) The Unholy Vestron/Limelight Studios/ Team Effort: USA
Woods, W. & O’Brien, W. (2004) Explorations In The Gothic: Study Guide Central Queensland University: Rockhampton.
The role of the Gothic edifice in The Unholy is fulfilled by a church. A sacred space profaned by the presence of a demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman who tempts the successive priests with her sexuality. When the priests succumb they are instantly damned. From the first instance sexuality is situated as evil, a sin punishable by eternal damnation.
Sexuality is equated with horror in that it ‘dissolves a beings sense of definite identity, a dissolution often metaphorically linked to absolute darkness and death.’ (Botting 1998: 124) and it is linked not only to absolute darkness and death, but also to eternal damnation. Sexuality is also presented as implicitly female, a treacherous irrational encroachment that threatens the stability of the rational (male) self. Father Michael’s recurring sexualised dreams also seem to suggest that sexuality functions on an irrational subconscious level.
There is no ‘good’ sexuality presented in The Unholy to counterbalance the evil, with even the apparently innocent virginal Milli operating as a pawn of the devil when she attempts to seduce Father Michael. This further underscores the positioning of sexuality as treacherous and female.
Sexuality also plays apon the basic fear regarding the loss of self representing as it does both the embodiment or personification of evil and its appeal to repressed human impulses. The Unholy (the demon, not the film) functions much like the uncanny, it ‘is the unconscious made material, the external manifestation of unconscious desires or fears.’ (Woods & O’Brien 2004: 11-4)
Transgression and punishment, the redemptive power of religious faith and the demonisation of unbridled sexuality, the film for all its Gothic coding and rendering could almost function as a Catholic tract.
Bibliography:
Botting, F (1998) in Mulvey-Roberts, M. (ed) The Handbook To Gothic Literature Macmillan Press Ltd
Trott, N. (1998) in Mulvey-Roberts, M. (ed) The Handbook To Gothic Literature Macmillan Press Ltd
Vilo, Camilo (1987) The Unholy Vestron/Limelight Studios/ Team Effort: USA
Woods, W. & O’Brien, W. (2004) Explorations In The Gothic: Study Guide Central Queensland University: Rockhampton.
| 28 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
