Gender of Monster/Protagonist/StatusQuo in The Brood

Blog Post #3: Gender and/or Family

The Brood (1979)

Maureen O’Donnell

            Gender and its representation are often times important aspects when it comes to the horror genre. Gender roles define plot lines, characters, and overall themes in horror movies. In David Cronenberg’s 1979 film The Brood, gender has a huge significance when it comes to elements such as the protagonist, the monster, and the status quo that is being threatened in the film.

            The protagonist is Frank Carveth who is a white, heterosexual male trying to maintain order that has been disrupted by his wife Nola who has gained too much power through her unnatural asexual reproductive abilities and threatens the power of the males in the movie. The main message that The Brood conveys is that patriarchy must be preserved as it warns of the monstrous possibilities if that status quo is ever destroyed.

Nola is the product of a matriarchal union that was between a headstrong, alcoholic woman who physically abused Nola and a neglectful husband who is seen as “weak” for not asserting his dominance over his wife. The status quo was disrupted in this marriage and resulted in a broken woman who becomes the “monster” by threatening to repeat this cycle by abusing her own daughter Candice and passing on her madness and abilities. The monstrous affliction that enables Nola’s power is specifically feminine as it involves reproduction and producing demonic broodlings that attack the masculine, dominating men in her life that try to keep their patriarchal power. As Barbara Creed states in her writings "... when woman is represented as monstrous it is almost always in relation to her mothering and reproductive functions" (Creed, 7).

In the beginning of the film, Dr. Hal Raglan is seen as an antagonist to Frank as Raglan is a very strong and manly father figure who threatens Frank’s masculinity. He mainly does this through his power and authority over Nola who is in Raglan’s care. By the end of the movie, however, Raglan switches from being Frank’s enemy to Frank’s ally as Nola becomes the singular monster of the story. Both Raglan and Frank embody the masculinity that Nola’s feminine power and authority seek to destroy. Even their clothing is gendered as the men dress similarly in dark, rustic colors and wear heavy clothing that completely cover their bodies. This is opposed to the light-colored clothing that Nola and Candice wear which are also flowing and frilly. The visual gender dynamic between these two pairs help illustrate the concept of the male protagonist and the female monster/antagonist. 

In the end, Nola and her broodlings are brutally killed by Frank as he saves his daughter Candice and life returns back to the status quo; Frank has destroyed the feminine power and restored his authority. But the film ends with signs that the status quo has not completely returned as Candice shows signs of also having this reproductive broodling power. The fact that Frank and Nola’s child is a girl is important as this affliction that creates the main conflict in the story is carried on through the female line, leaving females to be the monsters of the past, present, and future.

Work Cited

Creed, Barbara. "The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, feminism, psychoanalysis." (1993): 1-15. Print.