Abjection and Authoritarianism in 'I Am Legend' and its Remakes

Authors

  • Jeremiah Morelock Doctoral candidate at Boston College, and the director of the Critical Theory Research Network.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1234/fa.v0i74.227

Keywords:

psychoanalysis, cinema, culture

Abstract

In this paper I give an alternate and complementary reading of I Am Legend and its remakes, focusing on the psychodynamics behind authoritarian populism. My analysis is rooted primarily in Fromm’s theory of the authoritarian character ([1941]1994, [1955]2012, [1973]1992, 1984), Kristeva’s (1982) theory of abjection, and Sontag’s (1989) theory of plague as metaphor.

Author Biography

Jeremiah Morelock, Doctoral candidate at Boston College, and the director of the Critical Theory Research Network.

Doctoral candidate at Boston College, and the director of the Critical Theory Research Network

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Published

2018-12-23

How to Cite

Morelock, J. (2018). Abjection and Authoritarianism in ’I Am Legend’ and its Remakes. Free Associations, (74), 67–88. https://doi.org/10.1234/fa.v0i74.227

Issue

No. 74 (2018)

Section

Cinema On The Couch

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