The whispers have turned to screams, and the "unlikeable" woman is no longer hiding in the shadows. We’re in a moment of reckoning, where the very definitions of femininity and power are being challenged. Clelia McElroy's lecture, "Killjoy", slices through the polite veneer of cinema, exposing the raw nerve of misogyny that shapes our most visceral stories. 🔪🔥😈

In "Killjoy: Anti-heroines of thriller and horror cinema," McElroy dissects the cinematic bodies deemed "unlikeable", revealing the societal anxieties that fuel their demonisation. From the seductive trap of the femme fatale to the unbridled rage of the "femcel," and the defiant reclamation of queer narratives, this lecture is a confrontation with the moral cages we build for women and non-binary people.

The lecture will dissect the manipulation of perception in films like Fatal Attraction (Lynne, 1987), the explosive catharsis of Pearl (West, 2022), and the subversive power of queer body horror in Titane (Ducournau, 2021). McElroy traces the evolution of these figures, exposing how they reflect and challenge our deepest fears about gender, power, and the terrifying freedom of being "unlikeable."

The "good girl" narrative is dead. Long live the Killjoy. 💥🖤🩸