Kathryn Bromwich
LightNews LightNews
banner
kathryn42.bsky.social
Kathryn Bromwich
@kathryn42.bsky.social
810 followers 390 following 37 posts
Journalist + author
https://kathrynbromwich.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
kathryn42.bsky.social
Obviously I don't mean that human behaviour caused by disability should be presented as scary. Just that the cruel ways people treat each other is much scarier than someone who looks different. This piece was primarily about physical disability – clearly there's a lot more that could be written
November 3, 2025 at 1:47 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Full piece here:

Horror movies have an ableism problem. Isn’t it time we found new ‘monsters’?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Horror movies have an ableism problem. Isn’t it time we found new ‘monsters’? | Kathryn Bromwich
Films such as Frankenstein still use disability as shorthand for moral depravity. But human behaviour is far scarier than human appearance, says journalist Kathryn Bromwich
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:35 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
I love most of the films I mentioned in the piece. This isn’t an attack on these directors, and I’m not telling anyone they can’t enjoy these films. I would just like this kind of thing to stop, so that people with disabilities can enjoy films along with the rest of you without feeling excluded
In her excellent International Booker-longlisted novel Hunchback, Saou Ichikawa references The History of the Body, edited by Corbin, Courtine and Vigarello: “The ‘criminalisation of the gaze’ that took hold around the dawn of the 20th century had led to the decline of the freak show, which was subsequently replaced in popularity by the Monsters of Hollywood. Now, with costumes serving as an ethical cushion, people can enjoy ogling deformity without guilt or reserve.” What is perhaps more painful, and insidious, is the portrayal of disability in films not specifically in the horror genre but which trade in a sense of discomfort: arthouse films by respected auteurs, with less emphasis on gore or jump scares than on an undercurrent of psychological unease. In these films, a disabled actor (or an actor in prosthetics) will often appear at a crucial moment as a visual signifier heightening the level of eeriness in a scene. This has happened in some of the best films ever made: the mute, paraplegic girl in Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (referred to as a “mutant”), the “dwarf serial killer” in Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, “the disabled one” in Aster’s Midsommar, the gratuitous five-second shot of a facially scarred amputee gleefully clapping along at a Nazi event in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (a modern masterpiece, and one of the most important films of this century). In Yorgos Lanthimos’s remarkable Poor Things, Willem Dafoe’s prosthetics-assisted “deformed … scary face” (as it is described in the screenplay) and Emma Stone’s character’s intellectual disability are not a sign of moral depravity but are nevertheless presented as “creepy and uncanny”. The saddest thing is that these are some of my favourite films. I have no wish to publicly criticise them, but feeling excluded from them is particularly hurtful.
October 31, 2025 at 2:34 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
(Re Frankenstein: visually stunning, great performances, hated the saccharine ending, but why tf, in an allegory about the dangers of ableism and fear of the Other, would you make the villain disabled – when he isn’t in the book – to make the point he is “the real monster”...?)
There is something sadomasochistic about being a horror fan with a disability. For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the intoxicating cycle of dread-terror-release that a genuinely frightening horror film can bring – the simultaneous feeling of “I hate this and want it to end” and “This adrenaline rush is making me feel fully alive.” But I have also come to expect certain tropes that I know will make me feel a different kind of dread, which other people in the cinema may not necessarily be attuned to. Guillermo del Toro’s handsome adaptation of Frankenstein, which received a 15-minute standing ovation in Venice this August, powerfully makes the case that we ought not to be afraid of difference. However, given that the story is widely regarded as an allegory for disability, it is disappointing that the film stars only able-bodied performers and that a creature repeatedly referred to as “deformed” is portrayed by Jacob Elordi. While the creature is shown to be gentle despite his “obscene” appearance, the audience is heavy-handedly invited to conclude that “the real monster” is his creator, Victor Frankenstein (in case you hadn’t understood the book). Unfortunately the film then drives home the point about Victor’s moral degradation by making him increasingly disabled – in a departure from the original novel, he is given a prosthetic leg, facial scarring and amputated fingers. Del Toro may have adapted the book with a great deal of panache and visual flair, but he has not understood its most basic message.
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
This is the rest of my portfolio: kathrynbromwich.com

And here is my email address if you would like to get in touch: kathrynbromwich@gmail.com
Kathryn Bromwich
Freelance writer and editor, London
kathrynbromwich.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:45 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Love that book
July 31, 2025 at 12:34 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul review – poignant, egotistical and often wise

www.theguardian.com/books/2024/m...
The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul review – poignant, egotistical and often wise
In a witty, highly entertaining memoir, the drag queen turned TV star recounts his journey from homelessness to the dizzying heights of fame via the punk scene – and a snub from Madonna
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:08 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Weyes Blood: ‘That I ended up making beautiful, feminine music is a surprise’

www.theguardian.com/music/2022/o...
Weyes Blood: ‘That I ended up making beautiful, feminine music is a surprise’
The US musician’s Titanic Rising saw her hailed as the ‘millennial Joni Mitchell’. She talks about her new album examining our turbulent times
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:03 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Roberto Saviano: ‘I saw my first corpse in secondary school. It didn’t shock me’

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/a...
Roberto Saviano: ‘I saw my first corpse in secondary school. It didn’t shock me’
The Gomorrah author on his new book about Italy’s teenage mafia leaders, why he risks his life for his writing, and the UK’s shameful corruption
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:01 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
‘I feel like when I’m 50 people will take me seriously’: novelists Eliza Clark and Julia Armfield in conversation

www.theguardian.com/books/articl...
‘I feel like when I’m 50 people will take me seriously’: novelists Eliza Clark and Julia Armfield in conversation
The two authors, who became friends during lockdown, discuss their experiences in the UK publishing industry, the day job, and books they love
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
‘We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’: long Covid patients on the fear of being forgotten

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘We’re losing decades of our life to this illness’: long Covid patients on the fear of being forgotten
Five years on from March 2020, millions of people still face debilitating symptoms, with huge repercussions on public health and productivity. But politicians are starting to pretend the pandemic neve...
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:57 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Jarvis Cocker: 'People fall in love with an illusion, something that’s never existed'

www.theguardian.com/music/2017/m...
Jarvis Cocker: 'People fall in love with an illusion, something that’s never existed'
For his new album, the former Pulp frontman checks in to Hollywood’s most storied hotel to explore celebrity, memory and myth
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:44 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
‘I fell in love with Lila’: on the set of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/n...
‘I fell in love with Lila’: on the set of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend
The first of the author’s Neapolitan novels is about to hit TV screens in a hugely ambitious adaptation, made on location in Naples
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:42 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
Emilia Clarke: ‘The best place in the world is backstage at a theatre’

www.theguardian.com/culture/2022...
Emilia Clarke: ‘The best place in the world is backstage at a theatre’
The Game of Thrones star on her self-doubt as the hit show took off, her decision to write about her brain aneurysms and showing her love through baking
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:38 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
There is so much more for us to worry about than men masquerading as women to access single-sex spaces

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
There is so much more for us to worry about than men masquerading as women to access single-sex spaces | Kathryn Bromwich
We should concentrate on what unites us, from sexual assault to healthcare inequality
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:37 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
How long Covid forced me to confront my past and my identity

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/n...
How long Covid forced me to confront my past and my identity
For years, I repressed thinking about three things that shaped my life and my body. But the fourth blow of coronavirus pushed it all out into the open
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:36 AM
kathryn42.bsky.social
And also for the shoutout in the actual song

youtu.be/q2MoQJP-PhA?...
Kate Nash - GERM (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by Kate Nash
youtu.be
June 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
kathryn42.bsky.social
I'm going to take it easy for a couple of months before starting freelancing in earnest... in the meantime, here's my portfolio / contact details if you want to get in touch

kathrynbromwich.com
Kathryn Bromwich
Freelance writer and editor, London
kathrynbromwich.com
April 28, 2025 at 12:42 PM