Brian De Palma’s Carrie (1976) is an excellent example of the monstrous feminine. Throughout the film, we see Carrie make the transformation from her childhood into womanhood with the arrival of her first period. With the said arrival offers the idea of the possibility of sexuality. In Shelly Stamp Lindsey’s article, she discusses how the feminine sexuality is made monstrous and horrific. Throughout her entire life, Mrs. White has drilled into Carrie that sexuality is a sin and she should never be sexual in any way. This includes what she looks like (hair, makeup, clothing) and who she interacts with. While in school, Carrie is encouraged by her gym teacher, Miss Collins, to put a little more effort into her appearance. She suggests makeup and maybe curling her hair to make a difference. With this suggestion, Carrie begins to masquerade her horrific side. She attempts to use the makeup and the different clothes to cover up her monstrous tendencies (Lindsey’s article).
The audience sees the monstrous side of Carrie come to the surface at the extreme after she is crowned queen of the prom and has shared her first kiss with Tommy Ross. Her first kiss is her first sexual act ever and thus awakens the monster within. To quote Lindsey “Her inner monstrosity finally exposed for all to see, and ultimately unable to “plug it up”, Carrie becomes an outright monster” (page 340). In the opening scene when Carrie got her period and panicked, all the girls in the locker room shouted “Plug it up” while throwing tampons and pads at her. They say this as meaning to stop the blood flow. At the prom, as Carrie is drenched in the pigs blood, it signifies that she is unable to ‘plug’ her telekinetic powers or her monstrosity and thus torches all the prom guests (Lindsey’s article).
The audience also see the monstrous feminine in Mrs. White. She has been sexually repressed her entire life and strongly believe sexual acts are a sin and if you engage in them you should be punished. She is aggressive with Carrie when she finds out Carrie has started menstruation and orders her to pray in hopes to repress this sexuality. The audience sees at the end of the film when she opens up to Carrie about her previous sexual acts and how she enjoyed them is when we Mrs. White becomes violence and stabs Carrie thus showing another example of how feminine sexuality is made monstrous. After being stabbed and killing her mother, we see Carrie telekinesis spiral and ultimately lead to her own demise. As she burns her house down and it slowly starts to sink into the ground, we see Carrie literally becoming one with the devil and thus reinforcing the idea that feminine sexuality is monstrous and horrific.
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