Elizabeth Erwin's multimedia dissertation, "When the Woman Screams," argues that horror cinema's most iconic sound is not a symbol of weakness but a form of resistance.
Elizabeth Erwin Ph.D. '25 has received national recognition for a dissertation that challenges one of horror cinema's most familiar tropes. The Popular Culture Association recently named Erwin the recipient of its Kathy Merlock Jackson Dissertation Award in Popular Culture Studies.
In horror films, a woman's scream is often read as a simple signal of terror and helplessness. Erwin's dissertation, completed as a graduate student in Lehigh's Department of English, argues the opposite, that the scream is a powerful act of defiance.
Spotlight Recipient
Elizabeth Erwin Ph.D. '25
Graduate student