Horror genre films have been produced since the beginning of movie making. Though the word "horror" to describe the film genre would not be used until the 1930’s. This was after Universal Pictures released Dracula and Frankenstein both in 1931. One of the first horror movies created was The Mummy (1932) and it was directed by Karl Freund. The movie was a huge success and many remakes followed for years to come. This film had no official sequels, but rather semi-remakes done over the years. In 1999 the most recent remake of The Mummy was produced and was directed by Stephen Sommers. It is the closest film to a remake of the original film from 1932. This movie was another blockbuster hit and allowed for The Mummy franchise to start over. This …show more content…
It did not receive the term, feminist, until the 1970’s when it really started to spread during the second wave. The feminist theory is an extension from feminism and it focuses on the social problems, trends, and issues that are overlooked by the dominant male society (Crossmen). It has always been about viewing the social world and illuminate inequality in it (Crossmen). The object of the feminist theory is to understand gender inequality and promote women's rights and interests to the public that are not aware of this problem (Eaton). In the past most feminist theorists were women but, today feminist theory includes all genders. The theory is taught at universities and colleges in many different subjects because it has been an issue in society for so long. It can even be applied to films in any genre from any time period. However, gender issues do show up more in the horror genre no matter the year it was produced. In the 1920’s-1960’s women played the role of damsel in distress or just as an object in horror films. Those roles started to change in the late 60’s -70’s, during the second wave of feminist movement, and the final girl was introduced. So clearly, there are gender issues in both the 1932 and 1999 movie of The …show more content…
The only woman in the film was Helen Grosvenor and was played by Zita Johann. The story starts with a group of scientist in a room, that have already found the mummy. They are examining the mummy and the box they found with it, one of the scientist, Dr. Whemple reads the inscription out loud that whoever opens it will die. At that moment Dr. Muller runs off because he believes in the curse and wants nothing to do with it. While Dr. Whemple tries to calm down Dr. Muller outside the intern from Oxford gets curious and reads from the scroll on a separate piece of paper. He ends up waking the mummy. The audience sees a close-up of mummy’s face and can see the eyes start to open. It is then cut to a close-up of the scroll with the intern sitting close to it. The mummy’s hand comes into the shot from the bottom left of the screen and grabs the map. The intern sees the mummy and starts to laugh. The camera pans over to show the last of the mummy’s linen strips dragging off. As the mummy walks out the intern keeps laughing uncontrollably until the doctors come back in and explained the mummy “decide to go for a little stroll”. That entire scene was so well done that it still scares people today. Every shot added suspense to wanting to see the mummy in it’s full form, but it never happened. This allows the audience to imagine whatever the
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
Feminism is evident throughout the typical gender stereotypes such as the ‘perfect’ girls are the blonde, skinny ones. When students are asked about their thoughts on ‘the plastics’ in the beginning of the movie, they tell that they are preppy and attractive. The stereotypes in this movie cause hurt feelings and discrimination towards all of the females. Girls were also viewed as sex symbols based on their looks and physical appearance, not their ability and intelligence. In the movie, most of the girls are known for copying ‘the plastics’ look which is usually short skirts and tank tops making the outfit look provocative. Another example is on Cady’s first day of highschool, she is asked if ‘her muffin is buttered’ which is a sexual question. Feminism is definitely shown throughout the female characters personalities and
When you think of horror movies, what do you think of; blood, spooky faces, or spiders? Well the fact is that horror has really been developed and molded by two major “blockbuster” movies. Those being Psycho and Jaws. The two of movies are both classics and help push the horror genre by being similar in the score and soundtrack, the use of violence, the use of cameras, and the water as a symbol.
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
To understand feminism in the novel, one must first understand the feminist lens itself. OWL Purdue describes the lens as “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Purdue). Feminism acts as both a commitment and a political movement that wants to end sexism in all forms. Most feminists generally disagree on many topics of the subject, however all have one common goal. These aspects affect The Things They Carry in a plethora of ways, mostly due to the fact that gender roles is a main theme. There are negative and positive aspects of the feminist lens. Positive contains the empowering of women and equality, whereas negative pertains to oppression and unequal rights. Both are covered in The Things They Carried from sex symbols to battle tor...
The term feminist is seen with a negative connotation because people use it as an insult against women in an effort to make them seem irrational and unfair, but in reality it is the exact opposite of that. Feminism is defined as the “belief in or advocacy of women’s social, political, and economic rights, especially with regard to equality of the sexes.” (Feminism). There is no reason that there should be a negative connotation to this belief or participation in advancing this belief, yet there is. This battle and struggle for equal rights has been going on for a very long time, but it really took off in the 1920s. The 19th amendment and The New Woman really helps to show how quickly women and their rights progressed in the United States. Many
called the “Mother of the modern horror movie” as it was a new kind of
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.
During the Nineteenth Century slavery was widely used in the United States, differences between the North and the South were at a time of mass distinction. In Harriet Ann Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she gives a detailed account of her trials and tribulations growing up in the South as a slave. Though Jacobs sometimes spared her readers of the gruesome, harsh, and despicable acts she witnessed and experienced through her life, this does not in the slightest soften the image of slavery given in the book. Throughout the text, Jacobs employs “the cult of true womanhood” in her many descriptions of the expectations of women during that time. She wrote of her experiences with the demon of slavery from the time she was a young child until she was in her thirties. The notion that
Horror movies were reborn in the 1930s. Unlike the dreamlike imagery of the 1920s, the films were peopled by ghostly wraiths floating about silently, horror films in the 1930s were replaced with monsters that grunted and groaned and howled. Horror films in the 1930s were all about monsters. The 30s monsters were exotic and were non-human. Many of the films from the 30s were based on literary classics of the 19th century, often set in far off lands with characters in period costumes speaking in strange accent. These films focused on monsters and involved brilliant makeup. These monsters were zombies, freaks, mad scientists, a mummy, an invisible man, werewolves and ghouls.But audiences were distanced from these films because they couldn’t understand the monsters belonging to world’s that weren’t theirs. Most of the the monster movies of the 30s were made by Universal Studios. Rival studio, RKO-radio pictures, the smallest major film studio, needed to make a profit after their disappointing film “Citizen Kane” which had not worked very well. They were in finance trouble so Val Lewton was fired to make cheap horror film for easy product. He had to keep the budget under $150 000. He was
Horror Films. During the late 1800’s there were two extremely short silent films that began the addiction of gothic horror. The earlier of the two was an eighteen second long film entitled The Execution of Mary Stuart which was produced by Thomas Edison in 1895. There is much debate over the matter of this film actually classifying as the first horror movie because of its short duration. (Trick Films)
Mummies are made by taking out the insides of the body. In my essay I am going to be stating information on how mummies are made, and the afterlife.
For the project Hollywood and History I watched the movie called “The Mummy.” This film was filmed in 1999. In the opening scene the narrator gives us an overview of the supposed city of Thebes. He then goes on to talk about how a priest named Imhotep is in a relationship with Anck Su Namun. She was Pharaoh Seti’s forbidden mistress. Whoever touches her will be killed. Once the Pharaoh finds out what’s going on Anck Su and Imhotep stab him. Anck Su then stabs herself, leaving Imhotep to be captured by the Pharaoh’s guards and given the worst curse known as Hom Dai. There is a battle between two different groups which leaves Rick O’Connell caught by the enemy. Before he was shot a sand like force caused the enemies to flee. Jonathan Carnahan shows his sister a box and map that shows a map that leads to the city of the dead. He admits that it was stolen from Rick. They go to save him from being killed, and he agrees to lead them to the city. Evelyn wants to find the book of the living, but they end up finding the remains of Imhotep buried under a statue of Anubis. The American treasure hunters discover a chest and found the cursed book of the dead. They also find the five Canopic jars.
The mummy care of Tabes is made from cartonnage. Cartonnage is a form of material made from layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. A base of mud and straw in the shape of a mummy was first covered with plaster. Layers of linen were then added to the coated base with the substance plant gum. Leaving a hole at the foot end of the case and a long slender slit in the back.
The perception of women in the United States is complex and ever-shifting, as is our attitude towards sex. American perceptions of both suffer from tunnel vision. Expectations for women and how they portray their sexuality are narrow. Society has these expectations reflected back at us through art – most popularly in American cinema. Limitations placed on sexuality and expectations for women are reflected on film in every genre. Two genres are more frequently female led – romantic comedies and horror films. The latter has undergone a significant amount of change in depiction of women. Horror speaks to one of our base, primal emotions: fear. But the fears horror plays off of are deeper and more complex than gore and guts. On a subconscious level,