Date of Award
2006
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Communications Honours
School
School of Communications and Multimedia
Faculty
Faculty of Communications and Creative Industries
First Supervisor
Leon Marvell
Second Supervisor
Mardi O'Sullivan
Abstract
When an audience is exposed to deformed, altered and abnormal entities, their interpretation relies on some form of cultural awareness of both the expected and the altered shape to stimulate a reaction. I maintain that the stimulus for this reaction has its roots in a dark and terrifying primal force, the manifestation of which we regard as the grotesque. This thesis looks for a commonality in a satirical interpretation afforded to this grotesque force. By using the caricatures in William Hogarth's engravings and the altered cars in three contemporary films. I search for a correlation between the way Hogarth and the film directors have grotesquely altered their characters/cars as a way of parodying common elements to satirize them. I will argue that the audience of Hogarth's period will have experienced a similar fear response as that of a contemporary audience, and that even though there are many cultural and sociological variables that separate the two periods, the core reaction will have its foundation in a common instinctual force.
Recommended Citation
Ridley, C. (2006). Hogarth to Monster Wheels : A grotesque connection. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1251