2 October 2023 - 2 October 2023
4:00PM - 5:00PM
Online
FREE
Join Francesca Lewis and Veronica Heney for a discussion of representations of madness in historical biopics of royal women. The seminar will bring together three recent films, Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite (2018), Marie Kreutzer's Corsage (2022), and Pablo Larrain's Spencer (2021), to ask how these royal women are re-imagined in light of these biopics' reappraisal of their trauma, their confining circumstances, and their mental distress.
Cultures of Madness: IMH Seminar Series
Alongside the appeals of the excess, the melodrama, and the immersive non-realist modes of these innovative films, we might be drawn to consider a trend in which madness is positioned as that which brings modern viewers closer to privileged figures of far-off royalty. In their shared interest in the traumatic impact of normative femininity, in their play with ideas of refusal and negation, and their openness to non-clinical models of mad experience, these films might be read as rich texts in the “sad girl” sub-genre. Following an initial provocation, the event will prioritise wide-ranging discussion between all attendees, as we explore the complexities and nuances of these thought-provoking films.
Hosted by Durham's Institute for Medical Humanities, and convened by Kelechi Anucha, Veronica Heney, and Arya Thampuran, in this seminar series we engage with representations of madness and mental distress in creative expressions which challenge the canonical and toy with chronology, reframing our mapping of mental distress against the clinical grain.
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