"A Death in the Family" (The Land of Nod) has been called "a model of black humor." (32) The dark, but "tongue-in-cheek"
matricidal fantasy is cleverly linked to musical quotes ranging from Star Wars to La traviata.
Mama serves as a figure of horror mainly because she represents the archaic mother, but one who refuses to die and will not allow her children to perform the
matricidal act necessary for their development.
Murphy introduces a
matricidal two-headed Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange anachronistically singing David Bowie's "Life on Mars" in 1952.
Physically too, when Elektra urges her to join the
matricidal plotting."We were on the floor, tussling.
From the matrixial angle,
matricidal phantasy is akin to suicidal phantasy.
(5) For a more detailed account of what immediately preceded the
matricidal act, including the role the nine-year-old apprentice played in the course of events, see Hitchcock (2005: 2829).
In one corner of the painting, an axe-wielding prepubescent appears poised to carry out
matricidal fantasies.
In a republic plagued by-filial guilt and grief for a defeated Mother country, the story of a new creature whose
matricidal origins were both honorable and salvific would have been particularly powerful" (122).
Although Mendelssohn acknowledges the aesthetic and intellectual value of this tradition, be argues that in Les Bienveiilantes the pornographic material undermines what he deems to be its "historical/documentary" aspect: "Either Aue is a human brother with whom we can sympathize (by which I mean, accept that he is not simply 'inhuman'), or be is a sex-crazed, incestuous, homosexual,
matricidal coprophage; but you can't have your Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte and eat it, too." (37)