The Morality Of Slasher Films

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Recommended: Representations of women as victims in media

Since the beginning of time there has always been gender inequality. Back then women are supposed to stay home and do house work, are not supposed to work, and have power. Slasher films are sub-genre of horror films that involves someone who is psychotic that stalks and murders random victims (typically women or teens) a day. You never see the monster [the psychotic killer] use a gun or a blunt object to kill their victims. Deaths by a gunshot or any other objects such as a rock they don’t like to use because they are too quick and the victim will have no opportunity to scream. Weapons such as a butcher knife, chainsaw, or any other sharp object are usually a choice of the villain in these movies. These tools are used by your average everyday …show more content…

They end these plays with a gruesome act, like blinding a young woman with scissors or strangling them. After World War II ended, the audiences dropped towards these plays but theater proved that audiences knew the value of a good scare when they see it. During that time silent films started to become popular and the directors of these films followed the examples of the Grand-Guignol Theatre (Sullivan, 2014) The first ever slasher films started to have Today, Slasher films involves a psychopath that stalks and murders several people with sharp tools. Women have been really huge since horror films existed. After the 70’s and 80’s There has always been a psychotic killer who murders young people and there is always the one girl who either beats or escapes the killer and lives to tell the story. The character “Final Girl” was born but narrowly defined. She is usually a virgin and “pure” with a name that is unisex (Jao, 2015). “Constantly presented with media and advertising images of their inadequacy and the commercialized means of recreating and idealizing themselves, the population felt increasingly insecure, not only in their own abilities, but also in their very sense of self” (Jancovich 1992, p.83). Women are always put under pressure to look a specific way in society. Through advertisements and media …show more content…

The male roles in slasher films, either both villain and victim are completely antagonistic. Villains are big, scary, masculine, and strong. “It is masculinity, not femininity, that is the problem in these films; and this problem is registered in a number of ways. They display an absence of positive or effective male characters. It is the female heroes who engage the killer and defend themselves, usually using a series of practical domestic objects, such as the knitting needles and coathangers used in Halloween” (Jancovich 1992, p.107). They have an ability to endure pain such as gunshots and stabbings. They are also portrayed as “rapists” who are looking to capture and torture women. If the villain is interested in the women they always tend to capture their target with or along with their boyfriends or a man who is interested in her. In most Slasher films the male lead is the boyfriend of the killer.A lot of slasher films today portray women as helpless. It is usually a young girl being alone defenseless. In the beginning, it seems like everything is gonna be okay for them and that nothing will happen but a crazy killer comes out of the shadows and threatens the women before he kills her. Females in horror films are even more stereotyped than the males. Everything you see on the media, women are stereotyped to be able to maintain a perfect figure, hair, wears makeup, and many more. Seeing these everywhere in the

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