A Senior Capstone Experience by Ally Allen ’24

Submitted to the Department of English and the Department of Communication and Media Studies

Advised by Dr. Courtney Rydel and Dr. Stephanie Brown

Contributor Biography: Ally Allen graduated from WC in 2024 with a major in English, Communications and Media Studies, concentrating in Film Studies as well as minoring in Gender Studies. As an undergraduate, Allen worked many different jobs ranging from an assistant to the President’s Office, a theatre usher, and an Archival Assistant. Currently, Allen is applying to graduate school to continue studying the connections between medieval literature and contemporary media as it relates to the genre of horror as well as depictions of gender and sexuality and how they are reflected on character’s bodies.  

Description: This essay takes an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing Dante’s Inferno alongside contemporary body horror films, specifically Saw (2004) and Hellraiser (2022) to argue that Dante created a work of body horror. Recognizing Inferno as body horror is important to furthering media studies research as well as medieval literary studies, considering the influence Dante’s work has on contemporary media imagery and the genre of body horror. Thus, viewing Dante’s work as body horror further legitimizes the study of the genre.

Read Ally’s SCE below:

Photo of artwork by Bartolomeo Di Fruosino on Picryl