For the past 10 years, one University instructor has educated students on the creepy, the gruesome and everything that goes bump in the night.
June Pulliam, an English and women’s and gender studies instructor, teaches a course titled “Images of Women in Horror.” Next semester, she will expand her lectures to teach “Vampire Literature.”
Pulliam said she teaches about horror because she always has been a big horror fan.
“In school, other girls were reading Harlequin romance novels; I was reading horror.”
She believes a society’s tales of horror symbolically reflect that society’s fears. By studying horror people can understand their psyche.
“It deals with what frightens us. If you understand horror, you can learn a lot about culture,” Pulliam said.
Students in “Images of Women in Horror” can expect to discuss how gender and horror are closely related and how people die in horror movies when conforming to “gender roles.”
Pulliam explained when a man in a horror movie hears a noise, he heroically goes to check it out, which leads to his death. Similarly, women die when they act frail and helpless. However, when women take on more masculine qualities, like standing up for themselves and fighting back, they survive.
She offered Nancy in “Nightmare On Elm Street” as an example. Nancy defends herself from Freddie by setting up boobie traps, a command of decisiveness most women in horror movies do not attempt.
“A lot of people think [horror] is about killing off women,” she said.
Pulliam believes there is merit in studying horror; however, not everyone has shared her belief.
“There may have been people in my department who thought we weren’t doing anything of any intellectual value, but they’re changing their mind,” she said. “If they hadn’t, they haven’t said anything to me.”
Jason Champagne, an English junior, took Pulliam’s “Images of Women in Horror” class last fall and disagrees with the course’s critics.
“I believe it has a lot of value,” he said. “We read a lot of romantic and Victorian literature. I would take it again in a heartbeat.”
April Tauzin, an English and women’s and gender studies senior, took Pulliam’s class and is trying to get into her Vampire Literature class.
“It was amazing,” she said. “If I could take it again, I would. She’s a great teacher. She keeps you interested.”
Clare Castleberry, an English senior, said after taking Pulliam’s class she decided to make women’s and gender studies her minor.
“It was one of my favorite courses,” she said.
Some have stigmatized Pulliam for teaching horror. She said some circulated rumors that she was a vampire teaching others to be vampires.
“There is a misconception that people who like horror like to torture little puppies and see people get hacked up,” she said. “I think horror doesn’t get much respect.”
While some may believe her students are occult worshippers, Pulliam said, on the contrary, she gets a good mixture of students.
She said she knows some Wiccans take her class but also some with traditional Christian beliefs
“I don’t know if I have the serial killer in my class, but I doubt it,” she joked.
The content of her classes is oftentimes gruesome, she said. Pulliam puts out a disclaimer at the start of the semester because of the course’s graphic nature.
“I don’t believe in censorship,” she said.
Champagne said the content at times was “disturbing, to say the least.” He talked about one of the books they read called “Exquisite Corpse” by Poppy C. Brite.
The book is about a gay serial killer in England who visits New Orleans and meets another gay serial killer. Together, the two prey on gay boys in the French Quarter.
Castleberry said many students in the class found the book offensive and thought it should be taken off the syllabus. However, both Castleberry and Tauzin said they enjoyed the book.
“If you don’t like horror fiction, you won’t like this course,” Tauzin said.
Students who wish to find out more about “Images of Women in Horror” and “Vampire Literature” or read Pulliam’s quarterly e-zine of horror reviews can visit www.home. earthlink.net/~junepulliam and www.lsu.edu/necrofile/, respectively.