Mirrors of Disruption: Interrogating the Abject in Brightburn, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter

Abstract

Popular-culture at large, and science fiction and fantasy in particular harbours various representations of abject bodies. In my essay I have analysed the formation of protagonist-antagonist duos in the 2019 film Brightburn, The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series within a dynamic of conceptualising the protagonists and antagonists as mirror image alter-egos. The essay attempts to explore how the assertions of order, law and civility by the protagonist subjects of Clark Kent/Superman, Frodo/Bilbo and Harry Potter are disrupted by the antagonist subjects-- Brandon/Brightburn, Smeagol/Gollum and Tom Riddle/Voldemort through the impingement of abjection and the antagonists functioning as agents of abjection. In each of the cases a catalyst leads to the foregrounding of the abject body and the disruption of the identity of the antagonist subjects; leading to fragmentation and a resistance to acquiescence towards the “phallic object”.