Ginger Snaps and the Coming of Age

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Ginger Snaps presents itself as a horror film which does not fully intend to frighten with jump scares and disturbing atmospheres. Instead, it follows a popular trend in horror which attempts to tackle certain social realities through the use of the genre itself. With this particular dynamic along with a touch of added coming-of-age and dark comedy, Ginger Snaps delivers its message quite successfully.

What’s interesting about John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps is that it conspicuously stands on the shoulders of the early monster films. It shows audiences that it can play with their already formed notions of the horror of werewolves. Along with this, Fawcett manages to carry these ideas and forces them to go hand-in-hand with what both growing women and society in total have to deal with on a daily basis.

We are introduced to the Fitzgerald sisters as the main protagonists of the film. Regarded as outcasts among the peers in their own school, Ginger and Brigitte share a powerful connection bound by sisterhood. They both share a strong affinity for the gothic and the gory, and mutually express a refusal to grow up even to the final extent of death.

One night, Ginger unexpectedly gets attacked and bitten by a werewolf. This event triggers many other strange occurrences that happen to her as the movie progresses. After a time, she begins to show signs of lycanthrope transformation, which freaks her out upon discovery. Along with this, she also shows signs of growing up in the form of her first menstrual period. The horror of becoming a werewolf coincides with her journey into becoming an adult female. She grows hair were there wasn’t before. She starts to feel cravings never felt before. And, slowly but surely, she begins to grow apart from her own dear sister, who cannot understand what she’s going through.

Audiences can probably predict that Ginger becomes the monster of the film. As the monster of the story, her transformation forces Brigitte to face what can referred to as the Other. The transition from sisters to complete strangers is apparent as Ginger slowly accepts who she is becoming. Ginger ends up embracing the next step of womanhood, and leaves Brigitte behind. Both the characters begin to see that their previous understandings of “normalcy” are already being threatened. They are forced to reconsider the very ideas that they used to hold as true. Through the eyes of the audience, Brigitte represents the normal while Ginger opposes this, representing the ABNORMAL. Once sexual energy begins to enter the picture, what was previously repressed and concealed now comes back with a vengeance.

The parallelism between the transformation to a werewolf and the journey into woman is very apparent in Ginger Snaps, which may or may not work for some viewers. Nevertheless, the connection is there. While this approach is certainly not new to horror fans, the contribution of Ginger Snaps is very commendable. It put scary, funny, entertaining, and thought-provoking into one entire story, and that in itself is already worth appreciating.

Ginger Snaps

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Gingersnaps follows the story of two sisters, Brigitte and the basis of the title of the movie, Ginger. They are not your ordinary type of sisters who would spend their free time or bond together over tea time, play with Barbies, talk about boys, or play with makeup. No, they are not that kind. They are the kind who would do videos together of their attempts at murder and suicide. And the film really shows how they were obsessed with violence and with killing themselves. But you can see that they were pretty close as sisters but then things get a little rough when Ginger was bitten by a werewolf and soon, little by little she is turning into one too.

The movie makes use of this werewolf transformation as a metaphor and as an imagery to tackle different concepts and some of these would be sex, menstruation, gender, female body and female identity. It was when Ginger had her first period that her transformation started to grow. This is a very clever thing for me in the movie because what it is trying to do is to parallel her transformation into a woman to her transformation into the monster and also into the monstrous feminine. Her monster transformation was hidden in the movie through the signs of her transformation into a woman and these would be her mood swings, her PMS, her cramps, pain, aggression, anger, hair growth and all the other menstrual signs but of a higher severity because in fact what she was going through was a change in her body because she is turning into a werewolf.

Menstruation is the most apt experience that was chosen to be paralleled to what was happening to Ginger because during menstruation there is also the process of abjection in the female it highlights sexual differences and it gives birth to fear and terror and that is the monster inside the feminine. There is the “monster” in the feminine because as she is menstruating she is becoming very different to the other sex since it elaborates sexual difference.

We can see in the movie how there is a break in the boundaries and in what separates humans from animals. There is a collapse in the walls separating the two in the character or Ginger. As the movie progressed, we can see how ginger becomes too animalistic. Little by little she was leaving and abandoning her human self and she is giving in to the urge and the temptation inside her to transform into an animal; the werewolf, completely.

It can also be observed that through the movie, although the two sisters started as really close to each other, they were growing apart. In the beginning we can see that they are very repulsive to feminine things, to boys, to growing up, to facing anything feminine and yet Ginger after being bitten by the werewolf transforms into someone who is more than willing to face her rapid change to being more and more feminine. She gives in to sex, she dresses more seductively and she becomes more and more in touch with her feminine side but also at the same time she is becoming more in touch with her monster instincts and thus, she is welcoming the monstrous feminine inside of her.

At first viewing, I did not enjoy the movie as much as I would have enjoyed a “normal” horror movie with the very expected scares and those that would make you really scream. But after the analysis of the movie, I got to appreciate it and how dynamic it is with its metaphors and humor.

Ginger Snaps: Of Werewolves and Women

Ginger Snaps is a film about Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald, two sisters who have a fixation with death. When Ginger survives an attack by a mysterious wolf-like creature, Ginger begins experiencing physical and psychological changes. The Fitzgerald then try to scramble for a way to stop Ginger’s transformation before it’s too late. The film injects dark humor in its storytelling, which seems like a deliberate choice to trivialize the main problem of the Fitzgerald sisters in the eyes of the adult figures around them and from the perspective of the audience as well.

There is a great emphasis being put on Ginger’s sexual awakening as part of both the effects of puberty and her transformation into a werewolf. Robin Wood in his essay, The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s, suggests that in matters concerning sexuality in horror films, taking a Freudian approach can give an emphasis on the concept of repression as an integral element in the order versus chaos scheme in horror films. Repression is the maintenance of order over some hidden and primal desire within every being. In Ginger Snaps, The normal and orderly state of the Fitzgerald sisters’ childhood was disrupted by two things: Ginger turning into a werewolf, and her sexual awakening due to puberty. In the film and in horror stories in general, the return of the repressed is dramatized as something that disrupts the order of control over the repressed, and in unleashing this repression, chaos ensues.

I find it quite amusing the film is so focused on drawing a parallelism between Ginger’s monstrous transformation into a werewolf with the inevitable changes that occur during a girl’s adolescence and eventual transition into womanhood. The moodiness and the physical changes that Ginger went through were dismissed by the adults as a mere natural occurrence that all women go through during puberty, but in truth, the changes were so exaggerated and rapid that the Fitzgerald saw that these were indeed something unnatural. In a sense, the film depicts puberty as an abnormality, not in the sense that it isn’t something that isn’t supposed to happen, but because the changes are a disruption to natural order of things that we are used to in our state of childhood. Puberty, much like the werewolf figure, creates a monster out of the female.

Wood also discusses the concept of otherness, the difference that the release of the repressed makes which is either normalized or demonized in horror films. As in the film, when Ginger shares her concern over her body’s changes with the school nurse, Ginger was assured that nothing was wrong with her. In this instance, the same transformation was seen from opposing perspectives, and the depiction of this change as a sort of monster lead to the creation of the notion that this transformation is worth fearing. The “Other” in this film seems to be the concept of a girl transitioning into womanhood. A girl’s transition into womanhood is complex and confusing, making it something that makes people uneasy. It’s complex and confusing, and this quality of it, from the male gaze, seems to make people uneasy. Whatever it is that cannot be understood is distanced, turning it into some sort of “Other”. When we see the film from the perspective of the male gaze that is often done in horror films, the female therefore becomes a sort of sexual Other, turning the woman into the monster of the tale as a stereotypical and sexist manifestation of men’s fears with regard to women. All told, and in my own perspective as a woman, “monsterizing” the female seems laughable, especially because the film used the metaphor of a werewolf for the transformation. I can’t deny that this film is a horror story, but I also can’t help but feel like it is but a shallow depiction of a social anxiety towards womanhood.

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Ginger Snaps – the two themes

Ginger Snaps is a horror film about a teenager, Ginger, that is slowly transforming into a blood-hungry werewolf. Funnily enough, the film also takes the form of a coming of age narrative of Ginger who is experiencing newfound sexual thoughts and fantasies. In this essay we’ll explore why these two seemingly unconnected themes were mashed into one narrative, and how the horror genre allows this to be a good fit.

I’d like to start with Freudian Theses that Robin Wood noted in his discussion of Horror Films in the 70s: “that in society built on monogamy and family there will be an enormous surplus of repressed sexual energy, and that what is repressed must always strive to return.” From the get-go Ginger and her younger sister Brigitte are shown to be obsessed with something that is more or less a taboo in society: death. They’d dress up and re-enact creepy, gory death scenes and would take pictures and show them around. Fittingly, they are somewhat bullied or seen as outcasts in their school because of their interests and their general, somewhat gothic appearance. They weren’t the typical girly-girls at all but they actually found comfort in this. They didn’t like the idea of conforming to womanhood, initially being disgusted with boys and being weirded out by Ginger’s menstrual cycle. But, they were ok with how they were as long as they had each other. At the first part, we’ll see that sexuality, specifically their own sexuality, is somehow being repressed by the two girls, while there was some oppression towards them because of their un-girly demeanor and interest in death.

Things began to change however, as one could imagine, when Ginger was bitten by a werewolf one night. In typical werewolf movie fashion, the bite infected her and was slowly turning her into a werewolf herself. Some of the physical changes — some pain, more hair — were used to align the changes a girl would go through in puberty, especially once the menstrual cycle starts, and the changes imagined for someone turning into a werewolf. [On a side note, these features of the movie actually turned it into a more comedic horror film, rather than just purely scary.] The two girls tried to fight — repress? — these changes: cutting Ginger’s hair, hiding the tail she was forming, etc. But as the film progresses, we’ll see that there was no stopping the change; even more so for the non-physical changes that were happening.

Ginger started to feel in her the desire for sex, that she may have been confusing for her desire for blood. These feelings of course marry themes of the film that we began with: the link between werewolf transformation and womanhood. It’s interesting to note the changes happening to Ginger because it was a complete turnaround from Ginger’s original mindset: she wasn’t being bullied anymore in school as she started to scare the girls with her aggression, she started going out with one of the popular guys in school as her desire for sex developed and she even stopped seeing Brigitte as a close companion. These of course happened while she was going through the werewolf transformation.

So why link the two themes? In the reading, Wood discusses a basic formula for the horror film: normality is threatened by the Monster. General sounding, yes, but very much seen in the film. Normality: a safe life without werewolves and the bond of the two girls was being threatened by the Monster: the transformation to a werewolf, and womanhood.

The Werewolf in Ginger Snaps

The biting sarcasm and unapologetic corny comedy in Ginger Snaps make the film a breath of fresh air in the horror film genre because it negates the aspects that supposedly make an effective horror film such as monsters, ghosts or demons as well as dark atmospheres, gore and psychological torment. The morbid, sadistic and nihilistic dispositions of sociopaths Ginger and Brigitte are what make them adorable characters; their obsession with death and their hobby of enacting scenes of death supposedly make them scary, however, they are considered to be freaks by the “cool kids” of their school and they are constantly picked on which renders them as characters that one would feel sympathy for. It is because they are “different” that they are treated harshly, especially by Trina who not only taunts the Fitzgerald sisters but also engages in physical confrontations with them from time to time. It is their characterization as “the different” that is the point of interest in my analysis, and concepts from Robin Wood’s “The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s” will be used to frame it.

Trina can be read as a representative of a society that upholds a kind of normalcy where people like Ginger and Brigitte are considered to be threats because of their odd characteristics and personalities; they are bullied because they do not fit in with the norm. The Fitzgerald sisters’ fascination with death is their dream to escape this oppressive “normal” society, but this remains to be a dream at least for Brigitte. The normalcy of their suburban society is placed under threat when the werewolf appears because it creates a disturbance by feeding on the neighborhood dogs. Even if it died by being run over Sam, its task as the interloper is transferred to Ginger because she got bit while trying to run away from it. Her transformation into a werewolf runs in parallel to her growth as a teenage girl. The menstrual cycle that Ginger and Brigitte label as a curse is embraced by Ginger, and her acceptance of it is influenced by her transformation into a werewolf because she becomes more driven by her baser urges. Though her acceptance of the menstrual cycle as something normal supposedly makes her “normal,” all the more she becomes “different.” She embraces her sexuality to the point that she stands out from everyone else much to the dismay of Trina, who still considers Ginger to be a freak for being to sexual in her appearances and her actions.

Sexuality is an aspect of the human that most societies work to repress. In this film, the repressed sexuality of Ginger is unleashed by being bitten by the werewolf, and her sexuality manifests as something monstrous that eventually becomes uncontrollable; she ends up hungry for flesh, mostly those of males. The werewolf here becomes a sexualized creature because it is shown to be driven by the desire not just for flesh but also a mate. Brigitte on the other hand, while being “different,” becomes motivated to stop Ginger from continuing her rampage, to bring things back to normal; it can be considered that Brigitte becomes complicit with societal norms especially in terms of the repression of sexuality after seeing what Ginger had done. She is able to stop Ginger, but kills her instead of curing her. In the end, she was bitten by Ginger, which is a foreshadowing of the possibility that Brigitte will end up like her sister.

Analysis aside, I would recommend Ginger Snaps to viewers because it is not your typical horror film that will startle you with jump scares or make you uneasy with a dark atmosphere. The horror in this film lies in the idea of what can happen when sexuality becomes something monstrous.

Ginger Snaps

There is just so much I could write about what I hate from this movie, from the characters, the effects, the teenagers, etc., but I am not going to… as much. Though I will try my best to write as critically about the movie as I can, I am making no promises. The movie Ginger Snaps centralizes around two teenage girls who are in the brink of puberty, a horror theme in itself, that have the misfortunes of stumbling into more even more drama in the form of werewolves. I have got to admit, the two girls are enough for me to lose interest right of the bat. There is just something about teenage horror films like I Know What You Did Last Summer or House of Wax that riles me. I’m guessing it is all the pettiness and useless banter that is displayed over the course of the movies leading up to the “horror” part. I completely understand how this taps into the market of the young thrill seeking audience. There is a lot of money to be made there. But honestly, when you just think about it, they are just cheap thrills in order to make a quick buck. Again, the pettiness just reflects the poor production being displayed. From my experience, most teen horrors make use of the age-old massacre, familiar back-stories, and just plain stupid tendencies. Ginger Snaps offers nothing entirely different. I don’t get how more and more movies like these keep coming out, some even with sequels! The first two would be fine but the rest just becomes redundant for me. I don’t know what makes the younger audience want to watch the awkwardness of high school again and again.

Other than my utter hatred for the teen horror flick, I believe what really has distanced me from this particular film are the two identical main characters, Ginger and Brigitte. (Identical only until the point where Ginger begins her transformation) Since the movie revolves around their little world of death and puberty, I find myself left out. Throughout the movie I am trying to understand what motivates these girls at the same time I’m trying to make sense of the movie. Here’s what I got: annoying characters and thin plotline aside, the move does do a good job using symbolism. The movie uses Ginger’s “condition” to portray the stages in which a pubescent girl I believe undergoes. I found that to be witty and comedic. Having no sisters in the family, I can only imagine what really goes through a girl’s puberty. Guys usually just go through the awkward physical changes and that’s relatively easy to overcome. But as shown from the movie, a girl goes through quite an ordeal. I believe the werewolf acts as a symbol of sorts for the destructive behavior that one may go through, ultimately transforming Ginger into something new. I believe the movie was trying to show a continuous shift between Ginger’s sanity and her developing animalistic sexuality. Brigitte served to be the anchor that tries to ground Ginger to sanity. Given the nature of a typical werewolf that can normally be triggered under a person’s control therein lies a balance that must be upheld when a girl goes through puberty. There must come a point where Ginger learns how to choose when to unleash werewolf inside less she succumbs to it and loses control (which she did). Again, this is only my attempt to contextualize the female sexuality given the film’s storytelling. This great parallelism and shifts of balance were basically the only highlights of the film.

Ginger Snaps

Really ugly and fake-looking werewolf aside, I appreciated this movie for its unique parallelism of transitioning into womanhood with transforming into a werewolf, which I found more significant than the horror aspect of the movie (again, it should be noted that I don’t scare easily). The movie revolves around two sisters (with an unusual obsession with death might I add) as one of them gets bitten by a werewolf and soon finds herself turning into one on top of the beginning of her menstrual cycle. I found the movie underwhelming though the initial gory scenes set up by the sisters were well-made (as opposed to how the werewolf looked). The story is set in the usual high school setting wherein the Fitzgerald sisters were ostracized and seen as weird. This changes, however, as Ginger turns into a werewolf and simultaneously becomes more outgoing in terms of both disposition and sexuality.

The setting was a quite neighborhood with a normal high school close by. This highlighted the normal conditions present in society in the beginning before the “other” or the “monster” is introduced. This happens in line with the “normal” prepubescent lives of Ginger and her sister get disturbed by “the curse” or menstruation signalling a transition into adulthood. This is typical yet very effective formula that horror films utilize and use to great effect. The disturbance of what is normal (something people are used to and, therefore, safe) by introducing what is unfamiliar which is deemed threatening and shunned (somewhat how Ginger and Bridgitte were treated at school). Peace in the community is initially disturbed by neighborhood dogs being attacked by an animal followed by Ginger being bitten by the beast responsible. Ginger then gives in to the sexual urges that accompany “the change” (due to turning into a predator or hormones I’m not really sure). It is here that we see that the more Ginger nears her transformation the more power she wields as she victimizes those who oppressed her and later on, those that stand in her way. There is a shift in Ginger being a victim of the “other” as she turns into that very being herself. Bridgitte, on the other hand, is distanced from her sister as Ginger undergoes a change setting her apart from her less mature sibling. Bridgitte can be viewed as the victim as she tries to cover up for her sister and cure her with that conveniently available monkshood. In the end, however, she kills her sister after Ginger reaches a point of no return.

I found the shifts in power, wherein the victim eventually ends up on top, to be very interesting in the film. Women, usually portrayed as the “other” in horror films, could easily rise up against oppressors and society that are disturbed by what is unfamiliar. As a film, however, I wouldn’t really say it was outstanding (much less a decent horror film). I was laughing most of the time (mostly at the werewolf). The other effects and the underlying message, however, were really interesting and made up for the horror that was lacking.

 

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Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps (2000) is the story of two sisters, Ginger and Brigitte, who share a close bond with each other; this “natural order” is upset after an “animal” bite and Ginger’s puberty. The sisters begin to drift apart, due in part to differences in physical form and in the psyche. This divide culminates in the complete (and possibly irreversible” transformation of Ginger into a werewolf–interesting to note that the film does not use the term–and Brigitte not being able to bring her sister back, despite having an antidote.

Following from Robin Wood’s article on the Repressed Other (“The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s”), the film can be described as a game of tug-o-war between that which is perceived as normal–the spirit of familiarity between Ginger and Brigitte–and that which is “different” and, therefore, that which is being repressed–the maturation of Ginger, running in parallel with her developing lycanthropy. For Wood, this difference or Otherness can go down one of two paths: by rejection (demonizing) or by assimilation (normalizing).

Is the Other rejected or assimilated? The ending of the film has Brigitte unwillingly (unwittingly?) killing her werewolf sister, but what could have happened if Brigitte had used the antidote? I am inclined toward the idea that Ginger, having fully transformed, can no longer revert to her human form. It is interesting to note that the lycanthropy as presented in the film does not run in your conventional lunar cycles; it’s more of a grotesque and gradual transformation. Ultimately Brigitte HAS to accept both the fate of her sister and her own inevitable puberty. The Other, therefore, is normalized. The disruption becomes the standard.

Other things can be referred to as the normal and the other in the film. For instance, the sisters were fascinated with the idea of death. They stand out from the rest of the crowd because of this “weird” fascination; the urge to conform is repressed, in spite of the gossip mongering in their community. No one just brings up their obsession with different and unique ways to die in a casual conversation without sounding weir or “off.” I think that, for Ginger, puberty is a signal for her to grow up, mature, and explore her sexuality. She takes her physical and sexual development by the reins and assimilates herself in her high school, even becoming a hot topic among her colleagues. Is one’s definition of normal subjective, or is it contingent on what society perceives as the norm?

There is a realization that some things cannot be repressed–biological facts, such as puberty, for instance. Though they are not necessarily and immediately met with positive reception, they are nevertheless inevitable. Imagine the first time a prepubescent girl finds out that fresh blood has flown out of her vagina (in other words, she experiences her first period). Finding out about this Other, this deviation from the norm, evokes a sense of horror. The horror genre is precisely the return of the repressed, that which is Other. And we watch horror anyway because the scenarios that unfold before our eyes are not happening to us; there is a certain satisfaction that comes with being able to experience or figure out for ourselves what society as a whole is repressing. After all, repression is necessary for the world to keep moving. We are constantly repressing our basal tendencies to maintain the image of civility and order; at some point these repressions are bound to come out.

Gingersnaps

Gingersnaps, for me, was more interesting than Triangle because it was more relatable in a sense that it was about adolescence. I also think that this movie was more straightforward about it being horror than Triangle because of the theme of the film from the very beginning. Even the color correcting had a very eerie glow to it and the characters from the very beginning presented themselves to be out of the ordinary. At first I thought the movie was going to be like your typical coming of age angsty film, or something to be more like Twilight, but I thanked the heavens when it turned out to be very far from what I expected. What I liked most about Gingersnaps were the dialogues. The two main characters were very eccentric teenagers who wanted nothing to do with anything normal at the same time they seemed to be very intelligent and so their play on words were fascinating for me. I also liked the development of the contrast in Ginger and Brigitte’s characters. At first they were on the same page, but then Ginger went too far down the path of darkness, which left Brigitte no other choice but to follow the light, in a sense.

The article discussed in class introduces us to the concept of “the other” which is said to be something that the bourgeois ideology finds out of the ordinary and therefore deals with it through annihilation or assimilation. In the movie, Ginger’s condition was obviously something that wasn’t normal to anyone so it was blindly assimilated by her mother and the nurse – and by them, at first – from something extraordinary to something that’s more common to girls of her age, which they refer to as the curse.

Another theme that the movie seemed to work around was repression, repressed sexual energy to be precise. In the movie, horror was shown as something brought about by someone’s creative and sublimated sexual energy because the ideal person in society is put out to be someone who is bland and monotonous with little to none sexual and intellectual energy. In the movie, Ginger and Brigitte lived in a society which is just that – bland and monotonous. Where things are mostly routinely and the most interesting or dramatic thing to happen to someone is their pet dog getting killed, and no one even notices when she cries of despair – everyone just goes about their daily lives. We can also say that the lead, Ginger, has a lot of repressed sexuality as she is in the peak of her teen hood. And having her period or “the curse” and having been bitten by a werewolf causes all this repression to slowly seep out and is now being oppressed. Gingersnaps really peaked my interest as the story showed intelligence in incorporating two very different worlds – one that is mystical and has out of the ordinary creatures such as werewolves and witches, and one that has sexually active teenagers prancing about – in a very mundane suburban setting.

The only thing I didn’t like about the movie was the ending. After all the troubles that Brigitte had gone through to save her sister and bring her back to normal, she suddenly decided to abandon her. But when she had every opportunity to save herself and just make a run for it before things could get worse, she didn’t. I thought it was very out of character for Brigitte but I guess it was that which gave the movie that twist at the end.

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Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps is a humorous yet twisted horror film which dealt with a supernatural monster. Repression is a common theme in the movie as the sisters are reduced to the social norms of femininity. Their sexual energy was repressed to a minimum as they often brushed off the boys, and were also seen by the boys as a “catch” or as a goal to be accomplished. The setting of the film also gave off a sense of repression as the scenes were often gloomy. Their neighborhood was dull and uneventful, and the dog murders only caused the people in the neighborhood to be more cautious and to withdraw even more. However, although the Fitzgerald sisters fit into the predetermined roles of females in society – being passive and having repressed sexuality – they had a fixation with death, or at least with the idea of it and not of the act of dying itself, and expressed it in a creative manner. They were not, however, subordinate neither to their peers nor parents as their bond gave off an “us against the world” attitude. In the beginning, it was also Brigette who was in a sense inferior to Ginger, which would change at the end of the film. The sisters also fit into the adolescent or “teen angst” stereotype which is an important symbolism of their transition from repression to oppression as the events progressed.

The sisters also represented two kinds of “the other” in the film — being women and being children. However, the sisters broke the stereotype of women being inferior, denying autonomy and independence, and of being subject to the patriarchal society as they were labeled as “weird” in their society. Being weird means that they did not fit into the norm or into the standards of society’s expectation, and the sisters’ introverted attitudes and fixation with death caused them to defy this. As children, the parents would want to mould them into replicas or into the “ideal child,” which was what the mother often tried to do as she chose to remain oblivious to her daughters. Interestingly, there was also a sense of repressed hostility in the dinner table scenes as there was an obvious tension between the parents which the mother also refused to face for the sake of keeping the family together — which the sisters addressed with contempt.

In the beginning of the film, the most obvious presence of “the other” was the mysterious creature murdering the dogs, which was eventually concluded to be the werewolf. However, although the werewolf was killed, “the other” re-emerged through Ginger. This presence of “the other” could either be rejected or assimilated, and when Ginger got her menstruation on the same night she got bitten by the werewolf, it becomes confusing whether the sisters were fearing and rejecting the idea of growing up or the idea of turning into a monster.

The normality of how things were was threatened by the presence of the monster. First, in the neighborbood when the dogs started dying one by one, and soon, the relationship of the Fitzgerald sisters was threatened by Ginger’s transformation. The relationship of the monster to reality is often the main subject of horror film. At first, the sisters were afraid of the werewolf and of the effects of Ginger’s bite, but soon, they themselves were becoming the monsters. This is where the transition of the rejection of “the other” becomes an assimilation, as Ginger started changing not just physically but personality-wise as well. She stared to “grow up” and to become an oppressor from being the repressed. At the same time, Brigette was also starting to emerge from being the repressed to standing up against Ginger. The relationship of the monster to reality shifted from the sisters vs the werewolf, to the sisters vs Ginger getting her menstruation and transforming into a werewolf, to Ginger vs Brigette. And although in the beginning, the sisters had an obsession with death, they were no longer amazed with them causing actual deaths towards the end of the film, and eventually, Brigette killed Ginger instead of curing her. Ironically, the one thing that was the foundation of their sisterhood was also what ended it.