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DAS DING AND THE LURE OF THE MONSTROUS

by | Vol 43 (1/2) 2025

Abstract: In this article, we present a reading of the desire staged in the British science fiction film Under the Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer, 2013, UK). We argue that the dark lair in which the central character (an alluring alien played by Scarlett Johansson) dwells, is analogous to Lacan’s (1959-60 [2008]) revision of the Freudian ‘Thing’ (das Ding). Like other filmic representations of the monstrous, the alien illuminates the (ostensibly) contradictory movements of desire and disgust associated with the ‘monstrous feminine.’ Lacanian psychoanalysis is no stranger to this dynamic, and it provides a framework to understand the critique of patriarchist fantasy and sexualised violence the film presents. In the era of ‘consent culture’ and changing sexual attitudes and etiquette, the film is especially salient. Like the idealized Lady of courtly love, the alien is nothing, always veiled, and elevated to avoid the horrific encounter with das Ding. The alien’s body as limit, therefore, reveals how the Law, prohibition and desire operate and how the ‘lad’s mag’ trope of female sexuality indicates little more than the deficiency of patriarchist fantasy.

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