A Nightmare on Elm Street: una pesadilla cultural de la que era difícil escapar

Abstract

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar A Nightmare on Elm Street, entendiendo dicho filme como un texto cultural que, al igual que otros relatos fílmicos slasher, estaba influenciado por el discurso conservador del momento. En esta cinta, las barreras que separan la realidad de la fantasía se difuminan para crear una confusión que impide diferenciar claramente ambos mundos; un hecho que sucedía de manera similar en el mundo real con el asesino en serie, cuya simplificación lo había convertido en un ser de inagotable maldad y deshumanizado. Asimismo, Freddy Krueger, el protagonista de nuestra cinta, reúne una serie de atributos que lo acercan a la realidad del momento, siendo un monstruo aterrador debido a la influencia tan directa que, en aquellos momentos, ejercen en él las tensiones y acontecimientos que estaban sucediendo en el país en aquellos momentos.

The aim of this article is to analyze A Nightmare on Elm Street from a Cultural Studies perspective, understanding it as a historical source which offers a deeper knowledge of the eighties. In the United States, those years were marked by a conservative dis-course that permeated many products of the popular culture, such as horror movies. Nonetheless, A Nightmare is different from these other movies. The boundaries between fantasy and reality boundaries were blurred to create confusion in order to make it impossible to differentiate between the two worlds. Indeed, this was the same thing that happened in the real world with the serial killer, who was simplified, turned into an evil being without any human traits. Likewise, the protagonist Freddy Krueger displays several attributes that turn him in a frightening monster, a representation directly influenced by the historical tensions and events in the country at that time.