OUGD401 - Representation of Gender in Horror Films
In the media, we generally see gender
as being very stereo typically presented which can mean women being presented through media as “objects” mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. Throughout media they are presented to be beautiful and much more emotional compared to men who are stereo typically seen as being much more tough and less emotional. They can be represented as part of a group such as a group of friends or a family, they tend to work and think of part of a team, they take the role of a helper they are generally never a leader.
Men are usually the heroes in typical media forms, they tend to take on the active roles whereas women tend to take on the passive roles, and there is a definite lack of female role models compared to the amount of male role models. We seldom know what types of relationships men have with the characters, as their roles are made out to be a lot more active, we focus on their actions a lot more.
Visibility in the media has always been an issue when thinking about gender representations. About 20 years ago the visibility of men to women in media was men outnumbering women 2:1. Proving males are much more dominant within the media.
Women can be seen as sexual objects, in media we are often presented with women in the nude or wearing revealing clothes whereas we never really see men in the nude, showing the difference between male and female presentation. The presentation of female visibility in horror films is different compared to other media forms. The main female protagonists can turn into the final girl and are therefore present until the end of the film. The visibility of women in horrors do still however remain quite low as more often than not they are alone and not working as groups which they often do in other media forms.
Age can affect the presentation of women. We tend to see all variety of males: age, class, race whereas we tend to only see young females of white race, who are considered to be young pretty and sexy. Many film stars who are male tend to be a mixture of young and old such as Michael Caine and Matt smith, whereas we never really have any older women actresses who are exceptionally well known.
In advertising, A women's body is often exploited in a sexual way to sell products using the “male gaze” which is where the viewer is put into the place of the male’s eyes, usually to objectify women or to identify with the male. However, more recently we have seen changes in this, men have become objectified in media such as adverts. For example; in perfume adverts men are often seen as sexual objects e.g. in Calvin Klein adverts. A compelling argument could be as a female viewing this advert, are we meant to be viewing it using a female gaze?
This change in the roles can be related to horror movies as there is a sufficient amount of role reversal. We are often presented with a “final girl” a girl who is seen as ‘virginal’ and in a way quite masculine. For example: their names can be unisex and the way they dress can be quite masculine; compared to the more glamorous female characters who stereo typically get injured or killed as they are presented to be weak and their minds are elsewhere. In horror films there appears to be an imbalance with the presentation of women as they are usually either extremely weak or strong- varied female protagonists do not tend to occur within horror films.
Horror, unlike many other forms of media, shows gender in a much more ‘respected’ way, women can be portrayed as being more active than passive, and their passive roles are normally conveyed in other forms of media. In certain horrors they can even be seen as the heroes, or the characters that save the day. In class we watched three horror movies; Halloween, The shining, and Eden Lake. Afterwards, we analysed the visibility, roles, gaze and narrative in favour of men and women and their roles. Halloween, 1978, has the “final girl” called Laurie, her name is unisex, she is conveyed as virginal and innocent, the way she dresses also helps convey this masculine side to her.
The final girl normally lasts to the end of the film, by either defeating the monster or actually turning into the monster. This type of female strength and anger is not usually presented in other forms of media. The males are mainly the aggressive types, stereotypically. However, in horror films you do normally have a male protagonist, they generally get defeated and the female takes over. There tends to be three groups for male and females in films; the useless character, the hero and the monster, gender can be represented through any of these categories.
In the shining the main female protagonist also turned out to be a “final girl” she survived to the end. However the presentation of Wendy varied throughout the film, she varied from strong and weak showing that the presentation of women in horror films can be portrayed differently. This is similar to the main female protagonist in Eden Lake. She appeared to be the “Final girl” but got assumingly murdered by two male characters at the very end of the film. The presentation of women in horror films vary immensely from other media forms due to the unpredictable nature
An analysis of the representation of gender in the genre of Horror Films, with specific focus on ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Orphan.’
The horror genre is a particularly distinct genre, unlike any other. It deals with the viewer's nightmares, hidden fears and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. It attracts mass audiences and is becoming increasingly popular in modern day culture, as investigators generally use one of two theories to explain why people like horror movies. The first is that the person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end.
In the media, we usually see gender as being very stereotypically presented. This representation of gender has a huge impact on audiences due to our media consumption's, as it leads to them creating generalisations of what it means to be masculine and feminine, and we grow up with an awareness of what appears to signify 'appropriate' characteristics; women with beauty and sexuality, yet no real intellect or strength, and men with power, strength and independence, lacking in emotion and dependency. The need to live up to these expectations are becoming increasingly common, particularly for example women, due to the huge ‘size zero’ phase affecting women, especially girls and teens as a result of extreme body consciousness among the same demographic group, as they felt the need to live up to today’s media presentation of what you ‘should’ look like.
Horror films are no exception to this. The modern day representation of Horror films is debatable, due the stereotypical convention that men are portrayed as the strong, heroic figures, whereas women are only portrayed as weak, ‘damsel’s in distress,’ and used for their sex appeal. Although some horrors manage to push boundaries and switch traditional roles of gender, the typical roles of gender in horror films are still largely common and perceived by audiences today.
The commonly known horror films that portray these two contrasting representations of gender is ‘Halloween,’ the 1978 slasher film and ‘The Orphan,’ the 2009 psychological thriller film. ‘Halloween’ perceives the view that woman are the distressed, weak characters that are rescued by the heroic men, as the character ‘Michael Myers’ kills, stalks and harasses girls, who are brutally killed. In the end the character ‘Laurie’ is the ‘damsel in distress,’ desperately trying to escape, yet she is saved by Dr. Loomis, a strong male figure who rescues her, a very stereotypical, contrasting representation of men and women.
‘The Orphan’ however, varies as it is the female character ‘Esther’ as the villain, opposed to the male Michael Myers in Halloween. It is also the character ‘Leena’ who saves the day, rescues her child Max and kills Esther. Her son Daniel and husband John on the other hand are the victims. The character John is presented as misunderstood and blind as he fails to believe that Esther is not who she says she is, whereas Leena is intelligent and conveyed as strong. While these films are both targeted at young audiences, the contrast of gender is prominent in both of the films, which I intend to analyse throughout.
From the beginning of ‘Halloween,’ the character Michael Myers is introduced to us as the villain of the film. During the first sequence of the beginning, Myers (at this stage a young age,) already presents exceptional strength as he enters his sister Judith’s room and stabs her repeatedly until she falls down dead. This establishes the child's violent psychopathology and already characterises Myers as a strong, devious villain. Throughout the rest of the film, Myers stalks and brutally kills three women. As Myers victims are mainly women, this portrays a dominant strength that he has over all of the women, suggesting to audiences that males are the stronger sex.
As males tend to take on the more active roles in horrors, audiences would therefore accept the stereotype of the leading males, being dominant and strong, and believing the conventional representations of males in horror films. Filmmakers, particularly traditional ones, tend to keep this macho image of males as we are led to believe that males make better villains, as we associate men with action and the typical conventions of masculinity, one of those being lack of emotion and independency – good qualities to have for villains.
The character Dr Loomis however, is the male hero of the film. Loomis is still traditionally portrayed as having strong, protective and powerful personality. Particularly as it is him that shows intelligence as he shows suspicion which ultimately leads him to saving the day and rescuing Laurie, this indicates how a sociocultural perspective on the representation of bad guys and good guys unites both film and sociocultural aspects of representation, providing an alternative to psychodynamic interpretations of film narrative. In addition Dr Loomis kills Myers by shooting him six times in the chest, is was also used for dramatic effect as it makes Loomis appear as a very strong and forceful, creating a very powerful persona for Loomis as the hero; and fitting with the typical convention that women depend on men for rescue and are weaker than men.
In the film, the women are represented overall as innocent and vulnerable, depicted through their brutal deaths. The use of the female characters bodies are also used within the film, as the character Judith is seen topless in her underwear brushing her hair. Women are often subjects of sexualisation, particularly in horror films as it is a common element in slasher films; it has become common practice in horror films to brutally victimize the women most brutally. Through the years of trial and error within the genre screenwriters and directors have come to the conclusion that “women make the best victims.”
The presentation of female visibility in horror films is different compared to other media forms. The main female protagonists can turn into the final girl and are therefore present until the end of the film. The visibility of women in horrors do still however remain quite low as more often than not they are alone and not working as groups which they often do in other media forms. Women often take up the passive roles within horror films, although the protagonist that survives is Laurie, who is coined as ‘the final girl’ in Carol Clover’s theory. Laurie is an innocent, intelligent and sensible character, as opposed to her friends Annie and Linda who are objectified and thus murdered later on, 4 who survives, although she is a better perception women, she still depended on being saved by Dr Loomis.
‘The Orphan’ however, shows a contradictory point of view as the roles are reversed. The protagonist hero and villain are both female, being Esther and Leena, challenging a lot of aspects in the representation of women. The villain Esther is represented as a very strong, intelligent villain, as she manages to keep her secret in tack and remain the killer. In addition, she also tries to sexualise her own character by dressing up and putting make up on, then getting close to the father when he is drunk, trying to seduce him. She plays games to make it look as if the mother is abusing her, to send the father further into her arms. It is another stereotype, that women seduce men; however The Orphan is controversial as Esther fails to seduce him, leaving her humiliated. This film challenges codes and conventions of the average horror and adds an unusual twist to the female character.
The hero of the film Leena is the mother, who also shows intelligence as she is suspicious and cautious of Esher. Whereas in typical horrors, female characters are depicted as overly emotional and irrational women, Leena’s suspiciousness end up being correct and it is her that saves the family overall. This also breaks away from the typical roles of women, such as a domestic and sexual role, as Leena fights to keep her family safe as portrays women as powerful, particularly mothers suggesting that women will go to great lengths to protect their children, conveying strength in women and initiative. Unlike the father John who ignores Leena’s protests and is deluded by Esther. Although he shows kindness towards Esther, he is ultimately blinded and turns against his wife Leena at one point, and falls to Esther’s falsehood and deviousness, ultimately leading him to his death. This is controversial as although John is portrayed as quite dominant within the family, he ultimately is the victim, along with their son Daniel, conveying the male characters as incapable and weak. Unlike the female characters as Max their daughter, like Leena shows intelligence, although due to her disability and age, she is innocent and vulnerable and relies on Leena to protect her, who in the end does.
To conclude, overall typical conventions of horror films are that women are the ‘damsel’s in distress’ whereas men are the strong heroic figure, yet also the powerful villains, as depicted in Halloween. The Orphan however conveys the strength within the women and weakness in the male characters, this challenges audience’s ways of thinking, as contemporary horrors are influenced by feminism and challenge the typical conventions of horror films. Watching horror films is said to offer viewers a socially sanctioned opportunity to perform behaviours consistent with traditional gender stereotypes and early work on this topic found that males exposed to a sexually violent slasher film increased their acceptance of beliefs that some violence against women is justified and that it may have positive consequences” Yet modern day films are continually challenging traditional conventions and changing audiences perception of gender representation, that have been imposed by the media, particularly in horror films.
