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(1973). American Imago, 30:221-249

“Straw Dogs”: Aggression and Violence in Modern Film

Fedor Hagenauer, M.D. and James W. Hamilton, M.D.

The recent controversial film “Straw Dogs,” selected by several critics as one of the ten best movies of 1971, and considered by many as one of the most violent films ever produced, offers an unusual opportunity to examine the problem of aggression and violence within the framework of the creative process since it has been rather loosely adapted by the director himself from a work of fiction, The Siege of Trencher's Farm (Williams, 1969). The novel concerns an American professor of English, George Magruder, on a year's sabbatical in England to write a book about an obscure 18th century literary figure named Branksheer. In his mid-thirties, he settles on an isolated farm in rural Cornwall with his English-born wife, Louise, and their eight year old daughter, Susan. The local people are a tightly-knit, inbred group who are both suspicious and envious of the American visitor, and wary of establishing any relationship with him. Magruder makes several overtures to the villager

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