Phallocracy in Alan Moore’s “From Hell”

Type :

Book review

Pages :

8 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/31/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

Introduction
Douglas Wolk's description
Performance of the narrative
Strengthening the phallocracy
Apotheosis of man
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

alan moore offers a diagnosis of reality that portrays misogyny, homophobia, racism, classism, and governmental tyranny as demonic forces. moore uses the graphic narrative medium as a means to communicate the demonic nature of these systems of power. In moore's work on Swamp Thing, he created monstrous personifications of the ills of America, with werewolves expressing repressed feminism and zombies rising from America's fetish for guns. alan moore shows the ritual engagement of the phallocracy and its religious fervor for power over women in from hell. The narrative is set in Victorian England, and the character, Dr. Gull, is portrayed as Jack the Ripper. Gull desecrates female bodies at specific phallocentric sites in London to bring about a twentieth century centered on reason, order, control, all under male rule. from hell shows the power and demonic nature of the phallocracy, as well as the constructed genealogy of power and order. The work of Irigaray and Foucault interpret the textual meaning of from hell, and help expose the nature and means that power and control use to objectify women in the modern age. Cultural critics speak of the evils of hierarchy, and the shadow side of ontologies of violence, but from hell offers a chance for the reader to experience the brutal nature of the Western metaphysical tradition.