Epidemic of affect: Contagious anxiety and cinematic metaphor in She Dies Tomorrow (2020) | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Horror Studies
  4. Volume 14, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 14, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2040-3275
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3283

Abstract

Although written before the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy Seimetz’s is widely regarded as speaking to collective social anxiety. In the film, Amy is convinced that she will die the next day. She tells her friend, Jane, who becomes convinced that she too will die. Everyone that Jane tells catches the conviction and it spreads like a virus. This article offers an alternative reading, analysing the film as a meditation on (horror) cinema as a vehicle for affective bodily contagion. Filmic images and sounds are intangible and do not physically touch viewers yet can nevertheless carry affect that makes bodies respond to and sometimes replicate what is shown on screen. Similarly, in , an intangible idea causes affective response and mimesis, as well as audio-visual hallucinations. The article explores how contagious anxiety might be spread through cinematic objects, drawing from affect, phenomenology and object-oriented ontology (OOO). Finally, it explores the film’s engagement with both Derrida’s spectrality of cinema and the nature of the horror genre.

© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/host_00063_1
2023-05-24
2024-04-20
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ahmed, S.. ( 2008;), ‘ Sociable happiness. ’, Emotion, Space and Society, 1:1, pp. 10–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Amundsen, Gordon J. G., and Taylor, S.. ( 2020;), ‘ How health anxiety influences responses to viral outbreaks like COVID-19: What all decision makers, health authorities, and health care professionals need to know. ’, Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 71, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102211.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Aroesti, R.. ( 2020;), ‘ She dies tomorrow: Director Amy Seimetz on accidentally making a Covid horror film. ’, The Guardian, 22 August, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/22/she-dies-tomorrow-director-amy-seimetz-on-accidentally-making-a-covid-horror-film. Accessed 28 June 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Baecque, A. de, and Jousse, T.. ( 2015;), ‘ Cinema and its ghosts: An interview with Jacques Derrida. ’, Discourse, 37:1&2, pp. 22–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bitel, A.. ( 2020;), ‘ She Dies Tomorrow. ’, Sight & Sound, 30:8, pp. 58–59.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Brennan, T.. ( 2004), The Transmission of Affect, Ithaca, NY:: Cornell University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Carpenter, J.. ( 1982), The Thing, USA:: Universal Pictures and Turman-Foster Company;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Catsoulis, J.. ( 2020;), ‘ She Dies Tomorrow review: When anxiety goes viral. ’, New York Times, 7 August, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/movies/she-dies-tomorrow-review.html. Accessed 7 July 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Cronenberg, D.. ( 1977), Rabid, Canada:: Dunning/Link/Reitman Productions, Cinépix Film Properties, Cinema Entertainment Enterprises, Famous Players and Canadian Film Development Corporation;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Cronenberg, D.. ( 1979), The Brood, Canada:: Elgin International Films, Mutual Productions and Canadian Film Development Corporation;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Cronenberg, D.. ( 1981), Scanners, Canada:: Montreal Trust Company of Canada, Filmplan International and Canadian Film Development Corporation;.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Cronenberg, D.. ( 1986), The Fly, USA:: SLM Production Group and Brooks Films;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Cruz, R. A. Lopez. ( 2012;), ‘ Mutations and metamorphoses: Body horror is biological horror. ’, Journal of Popular Film and Television, 40:4, pp. 160–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Derrida, J., and Steigler, B.. ( 2002), Echnographies of Television (trans. J. Bajorek.), Cambridge:: Polity;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Donner, R.. ( 1976), The Omen, USA:: Twentieth Century Fox, Harvey Bernhard Productions and Mace Neufeld Productions;.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Friedkin, W.. ( 1973), The Exorcist, USA:: Warner Bros. and Hoya Productions;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Gabriadze, L.. ( 2014), Unfriended, USA and Russia:: Bazelevs Production and Blumhouse Productions;.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Harman, G.. ( 2018), Object-Oriented Ontology: A New Theory of Everything, London:: Pelican Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. McMullen, K.. ( 1983), Ghost Dance, Germany and UK:: Channel Four Films, Channel Four Television, Looseyard Productions and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZWF);.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Mitchell, D. R.. ( 2014), It Follows, USA:: Northern Lights Films, Animal Kingdom and Two Flints;.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Morton, T.. ( 2015;), ‘ Timothy Morton: What if art were a kind of magic?. ’, Art Review, 10 December, https://artreview.com/november-2015-feature-timothy-morton-charisma-causality/. Accessed 5 April 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Muschietti, A.. ( 2017), It, USA:: New Line Cinema, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Lin Pictures and KatzSmith Productions;.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Nakata, H.. ( 1998), Ringu, Japan:: Barasa Pictures, Toho, Imagica, Asmik Ace Entertainment, Omega Project and Pony Canyon;.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Prince, S.. ( 2004a;), ‘ Dread, taboo and The Thing: Toward a social theory of the horror film. ’, in S. Prince. (ed.), The Horror film, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;, pp. 118–30.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Prince, S.. ( 2004b;), ‘ Introduction: The dark genre and its paradoxes. ’, in S. Prince. (ed.), The Horror Film, New Brunswick, NJ:: Rutgers University Press;, pp. 1–11.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Rapold, N.. ( 2020;), ‘ Future shock. ’, Film Comment, 56:3, pp. 12–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Savage, R.. ( 2020), Host, UK:: Shadowhouse Films;.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Seimetz, A.. ( 2020), She Dies Tomorrow, USA:: Rustic Films;.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Sherbert, G.. ( 2015;), ‘ Ghost dance: Derrida, Stiegler, and film as phantomachia. ’, Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, 48:4, pp. 105–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Shults, T. E.. ( 2017), It Comes at Night, USA:: Animal Kingdom and A24;.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Sobchack, V.. ( 1992), The Address of the Eye: A Phenomenology of Film Experience, Princeton, NJ:: Princeton University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Verniere, J.. ( 2020;), ‘ “She Dies Tomorrow” and we’re creeped out. ’, Boston Herald, 31 July, https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/07/31/she-dies-tomorrow-and-were-creeped-out/. Accessed 11 July 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Weinstock, J. A.. ( 2020;), ‘ What is IT? Ambient dread and modern paranoia in It (2017), It Follows (2014) and It Comes At Night (2017). ’, Horror Studies, 11:2, pp. 205–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Weldon, G.. ( 2020;), ‘ She Dies Tomorrow is a mood. ’, NPR , 31 July, https://www.npr.org/2020/07/31/896122959/she-dies-tomorrow-is-a-mood. Accessed 28 June 2021.
  35. Wheaton, M. G.,, Prikhidko, A., and Messner, G. R.. ( 2021;), ‘ Is fear of COVID-19 contagious? The effects of emotion contagion and social media use on anxiety in response to the coronavirus pandemic. ’, Frontiers in Psychology, 11, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567379.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Williams, L.. ( 1991;), ‘ Film bodies: Gender, genre and excess. ’, Film Quarterly, 44:4, pp. 2–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Winkler, M. M.. ( 2009), Cinema and Classical Texts: Apollo’s New Light, Cambridge and New York:: Cambridge University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Wood, R.. ( 2004;), ‘ An introduction to the American horror film. ’, in B. K. Grant, and C. Sharret. (eds), Planks of Reason: Essays on the Horror Film, Lanham, MD:: The Scarecrow Press;, pp. 107–41.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Kirby, Jennifer. ( 2023;), ‘ Epidemic of affect: Contagious anxiety and cinematic metaphor in She Dies Tomorrow (2020). ’, Horror Studies, 14:1, pp. 87–99, https://doi.org/10.1386/host_00063_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/host_00063_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): body genres; body horror; contagion; hauntology; horror; objects

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error