Weekend One • Lecture Presented by Alex West

From emblems of the occult to internet sensations, our feline familiars occupy a rarefied space in contemporary culture. By examining how cats came to be associated with the dark arts and their subsequent persecution to their current role as influencers and meme generators, we will look at the multitude of roles cats have played throughout our history.

This lecture will examine the spaces between life and death, powerful and powerless that cats have occupied and how their abilities are used in the films Bell, Book and Candle (1958), House (1977) and Pet Sematary (1989). By looking at their different uses in a variety of films, we will aim to uncover why these beguiling creatures provoke the dueling sensations of dread and adoration within us. (ALEX WEST)

This lecture originated at The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies.

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