Medical Horror: Authority and History in Medical Spaces

Medical spaces hold a special place in horror media, being a setting that practically everyone has some level of familiarity with. This paper seeks to explore the ways in which the development of modern medicine has affected how medical spaces are depicted in horror media. Through the examination of medical practices from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this project comes to the conclusion that the authority of modern medical professionals was partially established through various forms of visual demonstrations of medical knowledge. As a result of this foundation, medical horror frequently explores the dynamics between patients, medical professionals, and visual power.