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<p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><font color="#000000" size="3"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Professor Adam Lowenstein (University of Pittsburgh)</span></font></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span dir="ltr" style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="ltr">March 7th at 6pm</span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">at UNSW (Robert
Webster Building Room 327)</span></p>
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<span style="color: black;">What do horror films reveal about social difference in the everyday world? Criticism of the genre often relies on a dichotomy between monstrosity and normality, in which unearthly creatures and deranged killers are metaphors for
society’s fear of the “others” that threaten the “normal.” The monstrous other might represent women, Jews, or Blacks, as well as Indigenous, queer, poor, elderly, or disabled people. The horror film’s depiction of such minorities can be sympathetic to their
exclusion or complicit in their oppression, but ultimately, these images are understood to stand in for the others that the majority dreads and marginalizes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color: black;"><b>Adam Lowenstein</b> offers a new account of horror and why it matters for understanding social otherness. He argues that horror films reveal how the category of the other is not fixed. Instead, the genre captures ongoing metamorphoses
across “normal” self and “monstrous” other. This “transformative otherness” confronts viewers with the other’s experience—and challenges us to recognize that we are all vulnerable to becoming or being seen as the other. Instead of settling into comforting
certainties regarding monstrosity and normality, horror exposes the ongoing struggle to acknowledge self and other as fundamentally intertwined.</span><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<em><span style="color: black;">Horror Film and Otherness</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">features new interpretations of landmark films by directors including Tobe Hooper,
George A. Romero, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Stephanie Rothman, Jennifer Kent, Marina de Van, and Jordan Peele. Through close analysis of their engagement with different forms of otherness, this book provides new perspectives on horror’s significance
for culture, politics, and art.</span><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<strong><span style="color: black;">Adam Lowenstein</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">is a professor of English and film studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the
author of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Shocking Representation: Historical Trauma, National Cinema, and the Modern Horror Film</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(2005) and<span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><em>Dreaming
of Cinema: Spectatorship, Surrealism, and the Age of Digital Media</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(2015), both published by Columbia University Press. Lowenstein serves on the board of directors for the George A. Romero Foundation.</span><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Professor Lowenstein will give a presentation about the book, which will be followed by a Q&A. There will be a reception after the Q&A.</span><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color: black;">The event is co-hosted by the Sydney Screen Studies Network (SSSN) and the Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (SSAAANZ).</span><span style="color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Prof Lowenstein will give a presentation about the book, which will be followed by a Q&A & reception.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Please register here:</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(29, 29, 29);"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/book-launch-horror-film-and-otherness-by-prof-adam-lowenstein-tickets-556292745577?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb&fbclid=IwAR3rdHjqlZRPJ2Imr_BJgqNUjE5CKSx2ZAemZdIzBE1w2i5u3FkSnAKfpME" title="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/book-launch-horror-film-and-otherness-by-prof-adam-lowenstein-tickets-556292745577?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb&fbclid=IwAR3rdHjqlZRPJ2Imr_BJgqNU" style="color: rgb(5, 99, 193);"><span style="color: rgb(0, 88, 185);">https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/book-launch-horror-film-and-otherness-by-prof-adam-lowenstein-tickets-556292745577?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb&fbclid=IwAR3rdHjqlZRPJ2Imr_BJgqNUjE5CKSx2ZAemZdIzBE1w2i5u3FkSnAKfpME</span></a></span></p>
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