Reconstructing Violence: The Southern Rape Complex in Film and Literature

In this bold study of cinematic depictions of violence in the south, Deborah E. Barker explores the ongoing legacy of the “southern rape complex” in American film. Taking as her starting point D. W. Griffith’s infamous Birth of a Nation, Barker demonstrates how the tropes and imagery of the southern rape complex continue to assert themselves across a multitude of genres, time periods, and stylistic modes.

Drawing from Gilles Deleuze’s work on cinema, Barker examines plot, dialogue, and camer...