{"id":7022,"date":"2026-02-27T11:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/?p=7022"},"modified":"2026-02-27T11:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:04:35","slug":"from-toilets-to-sewers-cinematic-journeys-through-abject-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/2026\/02\/27\/from-toilets-to-sewers-cinematic-journeys-through-abject-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM TOILETS TO SEWERS: CINEMATIC JOURNEYS THROUGH ABJECT SPACES"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>ABSTRACT BY <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/2026\/02\/25\/francis-pheasant-kelly\/\">FRANCIS PHEASANT-KELLY<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><br \/>\nThere is\u00a0a\u00a0particularly mundane\u00a0domestic space\u00a0that is always highly significant in film, the\u00a0toilet. This\u00a0space\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0appear without good\u00a0narrative\u00a0reason.\u00a0Invariably,\u00a0cinematic\u00a0toilets are troublesome spaces, particularly for men, and\u00a0as places associated with \u2018letting go\u2019,\u00a0they are always liable to loss of control, and therefore to a compromising of masculinity. Consequently, while usually pivotal to the plot, such scenes tend to be sites of horror,\u00a0disgust\u00a0and death, and as\u00a0Ruth\u00a0Barcan\u00a0(2005: 8) suggests,\u00a0are \u2018dirty\u00a0spaces\u2019.<br \/>\nHere, I argue that the cinematic bathroom is a site of abjection.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0mainstream American films inevitably\u00a0feature\u00a0bathrooms and toilets\u00a0as sites of extreme violence and bloody death\u00a0as evidenced,\u00a0for example,\u00a0in\u00a0films as diverse as\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Conversation<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(Coppola, 1974),\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Crimson Peak<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(del Toro, 2015),\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Pulp Fiction<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(Tarantino, 1994)\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Casino Royale<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(Campbell, 2006).\u00a0\u00a0Alternatively,\u00a0they are spaces of crude comedic rupture\u00a0as in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There\u2019s Something About Mary<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(Farrelly Brothers, 1998).\u00a0While the on-screen toilet might be\u00a0an appropriate location\u00a0for secret or illicit acts to occur, its appearance has a sordid realism that depletes Hollywood of its glamour.\u00a0At the same time, spaces associated with the toilet,\u00a0such as\u00a0the bath, shower or\u00a0sewer,\u00a0may\u00a0have alternate, if related implications.\u00a0For instance,\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Shawshank Redemption<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0the sewer provides\u00a0a means of escape and\u00a0enables\u00a0a\u00a0reclaiming of\u00a0identity. Regardless, the space\u00a0of the cinematic\u00a0bathroom\u00a0has\u00a0abject implications, both in the primary\u00a0associations\u00a0with\u00a0bodily disgust,\u00a0as in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Saltburn<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(Fennell, 2023)\u00a0but also in the distinctive narrative events that unfold\u00a0therein.\u00a0Engaging with Julia Kristeva\u2019s (1982) theory of the abject, this paper\u00a0textually analyses key scenes from relevant films to\u00a0discuss some of those implications.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559740&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABSTRACT BY FRANCIS PHEASANT-KELLY There is\u00a0a\u00a0particularly mundane\u00a0domestic space\u00a0that is always highly significant in film, the\u00a0toilet. This\u00a0space\u00a0does\u00a0not\u00a0appear without good\u00a0narrative\u00a0reason.\u00a0Invariably,\u00a0cinematic\u00a0toilets are troublesome spaces, particularly for men, and\u00a0as places associated with \u2018letting go\u2019,\u00a0they are always liable to loss of control, and therefore to a compromising of masculinity. Consequently, while usually pivotal to the plot, such scenes tend to &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6954,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6954"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7024,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7022\/revisions\/7024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zhdk.ch\/zfictionenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}