2025/07/03 by Mitch Ploskonka · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Cinema and Media Studies #Gothic Literature and Media Analysis #Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/jpcu.70009
openalex publication_date 2025/07/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
ABSTRACT This article explores recent, acclaimed horror movies set in the deindustrialized ruins of Detroit—It Follows (2014), Don't Breathe (2016), and Barbarian (2022)—situating them within the larger debate about “ruin porn.” The films subvert common criticisms of ruin imagery, including its lack of social and cultural context and its exploitation of capitalist nostalgia. Further, these recent Detroit films actualize the pornographic elements of ruin porn, confronting viewers with the horrors—class stratification, white heteropatriarchy, neoliberalism—that caused the ruins to begin with, while also calling into question the “porn” metaphor itself.