Abstract
The Cabin in the Woods provides meta-commentary on the horror genre in the vein of Wes Craven’s Scream series. Drew Goddard’s 2012 film, made in collaboration with Joss Whedon, mixes the conventions of comedy and horror. The plot follows a group of teenagers in an all-too-familiar, and ill-conceived, weekend trip to the wilderness. Events unfold in foreseeable fashion (i.e., at least, until the final act). The sexualized characters are destroyed, the stoner character shares his critique ornamented with witty one-liners, and the supposedly virginal young woman survives her trial against a monster. The Cabin in the Woods employs these predictable elements to expose itself deliberately, in Fredric Jameson’s terms, as a tired formula.1 By so doing, the film laments the confines of neoliberalism while evoking a weekend with different risks and rewards.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Blouin, M.J. (2016). American Horror, Global Commons, and The Cabin in the Woods . In: Magical Thinking, Fantastic Film, and the Illusions of Neoliberalism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53164-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53164-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53195-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53164-3
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)