The notion of the scapegoat derives from the old Greek term "pharmakos" which refers to a person who is both expelled from and venerated in society. Julia Kristeva associated the "pharmakos" with her notion of "the abject" and thereby gave the scapegoat a distinctive female connotation: in patriarchal culture, the social economy and the notion of the subject are set up by a purifying ritual of exclusion and defilement of the feminine. The abject-woman, however, also bears a transgressive potential which disquiets the patriarchal law from its assigned marginalised position.

In this course we will focus on films by Lars von Trier (end 20th cent) which centre on the female scapegoat and remarkably echo (major topics in) Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles (end 19th cent). We will consider the controversial public reaction to the artists' representation of women, which both attack patriarchal mechanisms of feeding on female suffering and explore how a woman's suffrage from that position is doomed to fatal ends.

However, interrogating whether male artistis idealise female suffering despite their (radical) critique of patriarchy, we will comparatively analyse three texts by female authors (Eliot, Winterson, Proulx) which re-explore female suffering in focussing on women's internalisation of guilt and victimisation and their emancipation by means of a self-de-reconstructive exploration of the sites of the body, the psyche, society, history which lock them in the position of the scapegoat.

The following texts & films will be discussed:

Texts:

Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the d'Urbervilles. (1891)

Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. (1860)

Winterson, Jeanette. Written on the Body. (1992)

Proulx, Annie. The Shipping News. (1994)

Films - all by Lars von Trier:

"Breaking the Waves" (starring Emily Watson) (1996)

"Dogville" (starring Nicole Kidman) (2003)

"Dancer in the Dark" (starring Björk) (2000)

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The novels are available at Kuppitsch am Campus (Hof 1, Ausgang Spitalg.)

In addition, a "Reader" will be provided including the required theoretical texts.
The "Reader" will be available at the Copyshop Schwarzspanierstrasse (beginning of October)