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Introduction to women in horror films
Introduction to women in horror films
Introduction to women in horror films
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Devin Murphy
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:45am
November 17, 2015
Her Body, Himself: Gender In The Slasher Film, Rhetorical Analysis Two
In almost every film there is constant gender expectation and role audiences expect men and women to act like in a particular story. It always seems that every plot the women are the ones that can't fend for themselves, so they are saved by masculine male figure. Although this is how most stories pan out, with slasher films, this is not entirely true. Slasher films have “The immensely generative story of a psycho killer who slashes to death a string of mostly female victims, one by one, until he is subdued or killed, usually by the one girl who has survived” (Clover 193). It is thought that most people only subside
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and associate with their gender only, but these films that are targeted mostly towards men, Clover, writes that they have no other choice but to associate and cohort themselves with the Final Girl in the film.
The overall purpose of Carol Clover’s essay “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film” is to illustrate the repetitive, predictable aspect that Slasher …show more content…
films display and also show how men and woman associate to the films, when it comes down to the gender of the hero-victim being a woman. The slasher films all have the same expected storyline.
“The killer is a psychotic product of a sick family, but still recognizably human; the victim is beautiful, sexually active woman; the location is not home, at a Terrible Place; the weapon is something other than a gun; the attack is registered from the victim’s point of view and comes with shocking suddenness” (Clover 195). Clover points out these parts to the film because it shows the constant repetitiveness of what the slasher films are all about and the reason they are called “slasher” in the first place. She also gives examples from slasher films to describe certain situations for the location, weapons, victims, the Final Girl and the killer himself. Another expected storyline to the film is that the gender of the killer is almost always a man and rarely a woman. When the killer is a man, most of his victims he goes after “are mostly women, often sexually free and always young and beautiful” (Clover 210). At this point, men watching these films are usually still associating with killer if there's no men alive
anymore. Although most of girls in slasher films come off foolish and naive, the Final Girl does not fall into the same category as them. “The Final Girl” is the last woman alive in these slasher film. She is the one that shows the most strength, knows when something is wrong and powers to stay alive even when she is wounded or hurt. Clover says in the essay that the Final Girl, “alone looks death in the face, but she alone also finds the strength either to stay the killer long enough to be rescued (ending A) or to kill him herself (ending B)” (205-206). She has been defending herself throughout the movie and now she has all this suppressed anger which shows masculinity when she finally massacres the killer and strips him of his masculinity over her. The rolls now reverse as he becomes the helpless victim that she once was all throughout the film until now. At this point, all of the audience, men and women are identifying with the Final Girl. Clover states, “The Final Girl (1) undergoes agonizing trials, and (2) virtually or actually destroys the antagonist and saves herself (224). Everyone is now siding with her because she massacred the killer and is not only a survivor, but a hero in all of the eyes watching the film. The Final Girl has shown her masculinity and femininity within the film and has broken the gender norms of only identifying with your sexuality. In conclusion, Carol Clover’s essay describes the very well known, cliche plot line that slasher films display and also show how men and woman associate to the main character when it comes down to the gender of the hero-victim being a woman. Slasher films are a cross-gender identification film. In our society, these films are constantly changing your opinion on who to best associate yourself with because people are always dying throughout the film. Men are continually shifting back and forth trying to relate with a male character or the killer, but finally towards the end, they are fully insight and identifying with the Final Girl. Lastly, Clover states “For if “masculine” describes the Final Girl some of the time and in some of her more theatrical moments, it does not do justice to the sense of her character as a whole” (227). Her personality isn’t just defined now as masculine but portray both masculine and feminine. The slasher films will continue to “constitute visible adjustment in the terms of gender representations" (Clover 228).
First off, in Carol Clover’s novel “Men Women and Chainsaws” the narrative is focusing on how women overcome their challenges throughout varies films. Clover focuses
Men and women have played gender specific roles, from the earliest sign of civilization to modern society. In the cult classic “Night of the Living Dead”, stereotypical gender role were on display. George A. Romero’s film hinted at subtle references to the role of men and women and depicted the stereotypes America held during the 1960s. Men played the protectors and enforcers, while the women represented the submissive homemakers and caretakers. Romero’s film portrays the sexes, men and women, in their respective stereotypical behaviors. Stereotypes that sets the undertone for the duration of the film.
The reading by Barbara Creed titled “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, is an in-depth examination on the role of women in horror films. Creed challenges the commanding patriarchal view, which frequently puts the woman in the position of the helpless victim. She argues that when the feminine is constructed as monstrous, it is frequently done in conjunction with its mothering role and function. Creed’s main thesis supports that the prototype of all cinematic definitions of monstrosity related to the feminine is linked to the woman’s reproductive body. Creed elects to use the term “monstrous feminine” instead of female monster, because for Creed it is the “femininity itself that is monstrous” (41). It has been unfairly
Men and Women have played gender specific roles, which has been established from the creation of the world. In the cult classic “The Night of The Living Dead”, the portrayal of stereotypical gender roles were on display. George A. Romero’s film hinted at subtle references to the roles of Men and Women and depicted the stereotypes America held during the 1960s. Men played the role of protectors and enforcers, while the women played the passive role of homemakers. Romero’s film portrays the sexes, women and men, in their stereotypical behaviors.
Since the beginning of time, women have been seen as different from men. Their beauty and charms have been interpreted as both endearing and deadly to men. In the Bible, it was Eve’s mistake that led to humanity’s exile from the Garden of Eden. However, unlike in the Bible, in today’s world, women who drive men to ruin do not do so through simple mistakes and misunderstandings, they do so while fully aware of what effects their sexuality can cause. One thing remains constant through these portrayals of women, and that is that they are portrayed as flawed creations and therefore monstrous. It is a woman’s sex drive and sexuality that can lead to her monstrosity. The femme fatale is an enticing, exquisitely beautiful, erotic character who plays the ultimate trick of nature: she displays her beauty, captures the man and goes in for the kill. Films such as Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction and stories such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and Sir Gawain the Green Knight use the femme fatale as a means of making a woman into a monster; the femme fatale can never win in the battle of the sexes. But what is it that makes the femme fatale such a dangerously character for the hero as well as the readers or viewers?
While once considered “low-brow” with a serious lack of documentation, the slasher film is now an established subgenre of the horror film. Like most genres and subgenres, the slasher film uses a predefined socially accepted list of criteria in order to classify a film as such. Carol J. Clover discusses this list in her article Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film. The slasher film is marked by its killer,...
There has been a large variety of horror films produced throughout the last fifty years. People are always going to be frightened and scared by different types of horror films. But, what type of horror film scares more people, and were men or women more frightened by these horror films? Each one of the horror films had its own agenda to frighten its audience using several different methods of horror. Some of these methods were more so directed at the female audience than the male audience. Most horror movies show the female as being vulnerable, because in real life females are defenseless against monsters.
98 percent of mass murderers are men. According to Time in 2014, almost all rampage killers are men.This statistic startled me as I read "Toxic Masculinity and Murder" by James Hamblin of The Atlantic. In essence, this one figure demonstrates that masculinity is "a more common feature than any of the elements that tend to dominate discourse—religion, race, nationality, political affiliation, or any history of mental illness."
Fear, more specifically the fear of rejection, is an emotional response that has affected many people at some point in their lifetime. Most individuals typically overcome such feelings with blind hope, while others seem to get lost in translation. Like mentioned before, most get over their anxiety, but what is it like for the people that can’t seem to shake of the frightening feeling of being rejected? The short film, “The Truth About Meeting Women”, written by Paul Gale and directed by T.J. Misny, takes the audience on a comedic journey through the mind of a shy man as tries to avoid talking to the beautiful women that surrounds him. Overall, this short film is truly masterpiece because of the relatable main character and the actually humorous storyline.
culture. Initially slasher films don’t seem to break the barriers of American Cinema; they still
... female victims in mind to raise safety awareness among female students living on college campuses. Women are primary victims of crimes more strongly influenced by the gender factor; they have been known to be easily overpowered by men (assuming the attacker is male!). A male victim may be able to fight back his attacker, but for a female it seems that their best line of defense is simply locking the door.
From the very beginning of the movie, we witness a man (Rick) and a women (Jean) walking down the street. When threatened by two men, Jean immediately turns to her husband for protection regardless of the fact that he is no better equipped to deal with the threat. This scene highlights traditional gender roles found in society. Men are typically casted as protectors who are superior to women whereas women are weak and in need of protection. Another example of male’s superiority is when Officer Ryan pulls over Cameron and Christine and utilizes his position as a man with authority to sexually assault
The American black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese was released December 25, 2013 and stars the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie. While on face value The Wolf of Wall Street looks like a film about excessive cocaine binges, long evenings filled with men with cigarettes, large portions of alcoholic consumption, having many sexual escapades with various women and even dwarf tossing from time to time, the film is deeply rooted in perception gender within the genre of The Wolf of Wall Street. The word ‘genre’ is rooted into a similar category as
Film scholar and gender theorist Linda Williams begins her article “Film Bodies: Genre, Gender and Excess,” with an anecdote about a dispute between herself and her son, regarding what is considered “gross,” (727) in films. It is this anecdote that invites her readers to understand the motivations and implications of films that fall under the category of “body” genre, namely, horror films, melodramas, (henceforth referred to as “weepies”) and pornography. Williams explains that, in regards to excess, the constant attempts at “determining where to draw the line,” (727) has inspired her and other theorists alike to question the inspirations, motivations, and implications of these “body genre” films. After her own research and consideration, Williams explains that she believes there is “value in thinking about the form, function, and system of seemingly gratuitous excesses in these three genres,” (728) and she will attempt to prove that these films are excessive on purpose, in order to inspire a collective physical effect on the audience that cannot be experienced when watching other genres.
I think that any female you see in mystery stories and tv shows are all femme fatale or the victim. Most would say that you can't assume that women can only be those archetypes, but after witnessing each of these stories, I can confirm that all female characters are either the femme fatale or the victim.