For those who have missed my previous spiels about this fantastic book, here's a brief rundown. Like Janisse, I have always used movies (and books) to help me understand myself unlike Janisse, I don't have the guts to put my inner demons out there for other people to consume and dissect. If you've been reading this blog for a while or have listened to my podcast, you've probably heard me mention "House of Psychotic Women" many times over the years.
The book is worth reading for its discussion of "Possession" (1981) alone. It's a book that still feels radical in its methodology and vulnerability, even ten years after its first release.
Faced with neurosis in film or literature, we want to investigate rather than avoid." By combining the two genres, Janisse breathes life into the "psychotic women" we see on screen by explaining how they fit into her own narrative. Early on, she writes, "We have more patience, or perhaps even empathy, for fictional characters than we do their real-life counterparts. By using movies to help her understand her own life, Janisse leads both herself and the reader to more meaningful conclusions than any piece of detached academic writing ever could. Imagine my surprise and delight when I first encountered Kier-La Janisse's "House of Psychotic Women," a book that seamlessly blends film analysis with memoir. Doesn't a writer's own experience have value? Don't all people ultimately engage with art in order to learn something about themselves? I didn't understand why, in order to be taken seriously, film critics had to pretend they were unbiased automatons who were somehow able to consider art objectively.
It felt devoid of personality and far removed from the deeply personal experience of watching movies. When I started formally studying film in college, I hated the academic writing I was forced to produce.
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