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Essay on women in horror movies
Essay on women in horror movies
Essay on women in horror movies
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Horror literature has been around since as long as man has been on earth. While usually in the form of ghost stories, many have often told stories orally, or on paper, to play on the horrors and darkest fears that we as humans face. While large populations of people do not like the horror genre, some get a satisfaction or enjoyment at looking at some of their worst fears being played out in front of them via a book or movie. As the stories have advanced through history and been examined and read through many different lenses both by history and literature experts, one aspects remains to be examined, and that is the changing role on of women in the story. While many of the early stories early stories portray them as simple, one-dimensional characters, weak and unable to help themselves, they evolve into more complex and eventually pushing through the damsel in distress mantra into the complex villain or hero. As the evolution of women begins, the first example that needs to be studied is Charles Perrault’s “Blue Beard,” which was one of the first major horror stories written back in 1680. The short story focuses on the decision of a woman to marry her wealthier neighbor. This decision is difficult, because he is seen as an unusual man with a very distinctive beard that has a blue shading; thus, the name of the story. As the story continues, Blue Beard’s wife moves in and lives along her new husband he informs her that “was obliged to take a country journey for six weeks at least, about affairs of very great consequence (Perrault).” Therefore, in his absence, he wanted her to have her friends over to amuse her in his absence. He gave her one rule, though and that was not to go to the little closet in the back. Upon his return, he d... ... middle of paper ... ...d Ruth is finally seen, when the cover up begins shortly after Frank is reported missing. The officers are looking at Frank being boiled, but the cook, Big George, refuses to admit his involvement (Flagg, 208-209). This power over men shows the final transition in the horror genre. The roles have been completely reversed since “Blue Beard.” Idgie has become both the hero, by protecting her lifelong friend, and the villain, by murdering and boiling a man. The transition in women’s roles in horror stories and the genre itself is a long and overdue process. Today society regards men and women more equal than ever before. The transition from Perrault to Flagg demonstrates that horror has evolved from a genre that portrays women as weak, and dutifully obedient to giving them positions of authority over men, who will cater to their commands, without supernatural powers.
Both Di Muzio (2006) and King (2007) make contradicting arguments towards the horror genre. Di Muzio (2006) provides a thought provoking piece regarding morality in horror films and provides his critique on the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Whereas, King (2007) focuses his attention on the positives of the horror genre and ways it allows one to liberate from their sadistic thoughts, calling it as food “to keep the gators fed” in our psyche. (King, 2007, p. 458)
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.
Just as a mirror reflects one’s face, the horror genre is a physical representation of how fear is portrayed to discuss the social anxieties of one’s time period. Representations of fear have continued to vary in accordance to reflect a particular time period’s social anxieties. Robin Wood, in the essay American Nightmare: Essays on the Horror Film, articulates how the ‘true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses or oppresses.’ He contended that the way in which any given horror narrative determines this conflict, uncovers its ideological orientation, and further, that most of these compositions will be conservative; stifling desires inside of the self and disavowing it by projecting
The genre of horror films is one that is vast and continually growing. So many different elements have been known to appear in horror films that it is often times difficult to define what is explicitly a horror film and what is not. Due to this ambiguous definition of horror the genre is often times divided into subgenres. Each subgenre of horror has a more readily identifiable list of classifications that make it easier to cast a film to a subgenre, rather than the entire horror genre. One such subgenre that is particularly interesting is that of the stalker film. The stalker film can be categorized as a member of the horror genre in two ways. First, the stalker film can be identified within the horror genre due to its connection with the easily recognizable subgenre of horror, the slasher film. Though many elements of the stalker film differ from those of the slasher film, the use of non-mechanical weapons and obvious sexual plot points can be used to categorize the stalker film as a subgenre of the slasher film. Secondly, the stalker film can be considered a member of the horror genre using Robin Wood’s discussion regarding horror as that which society represses. The films Fatal Attraction, The Fan, and The Crush will be discussed in support of this argument. (Need some connector sentence here to finish out the intro)
It’s interesting to see the evolution of horror films as they evolve into something more. Peter Hutchings talks allot about how the old fades away and other grouping and trends start to emerge (216). The film industry itself will always be changing and creating new things, however, most films still haven’t equally balanced out mare and female roles. Generally, most horror films include a monster of some sort. It seems as though most killer/monster roles are taken by men, while women are usually put into roles that are powerless leaving them to be the victim. As mentioned before, horror films are always changing, for instance, many horror films end in brutal deaths. However, when it comes to movies like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, their endings are a bit more significant than the average horror film only because the killer is confronted by the “final girl”. The final girl is usually the character who is seen as pure and is able to confront the killer at the end of the film.
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.
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray women are often portrayed as passive and weak characters. During the 19th century when these books were written, the proper domestic ideology was that women were naturally squeamish, defenseless, innocent beings, who needed protection from the male worlds of business and politics (Stepenoff). This theme is demonstrated throughout both of these novels through major and minor characters. In the case of Frankenstein, Shelley, who is a feminist herself, covers her book with submissive women who suffer calmly and eventually die. Similarly in Wilde's story, there are a few female characters that do not show much immediate importance, but they ultimately have a major impact on the story. Both authors portray their female characters as weak and passive, yet, despite their minor roles, these women strongly influence the men and greatly alter the course of events in each novel.
Horror movies are one of the most fascinating genres of film that exists. They are unrealistic but at the same time, they are also realistic. This realism that they contain is what draws people’s interest towards them because viewers are able to associate aspects of their own lives with the film. Every horror movie, no matter how farfetched the theme or plot may be, contains an element that people can relate to. This element may not be observable to a conscious mind, but to an unconscious mind, it brings back memories of something that has been repressed earlier in our lives (Wood, 197). This recollection of suppressed memories is how horror films create a sense of fear and it is literally what Robin Wood means when he talks about “the return
For centuries, women have been forced to live life on the outskirts of a male-dominated society. During the 1800’s, the opportunities for women were extremely limited and Mary Shelly does an excellent job portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Furthermore, in this novel, Mary Shelly shows how society considers women to be possessions rather than independent human beings. In addition, the female characters rely heavily on men for support and survival, thus proving their inability to do it on their own. Lastly, the female characters in this novel are in many ways victimized by the male characters.
Culture, from a sociological perspective, is everything humans creates in establishing our relationships to nature and with each other including language, behavior, and knowledge. An example of culture includes but not limited to: the way a person would talk if they grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood. vs a person who grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood or a criminal in prison has a code for no snitching, etc. From the video, we saw in class, culture is a subconscious of society. An example of this is “if horror films are nightmares of societal subconscious…” (quote from video), it seems that the villains in movies are victims of a traumatic experience that they went through. The Ring (2002) directed by Gore Verbinski was
In “The Miller’s Tale”, Medea, and Boccaccio’s tale, readers see how stereotypes and gender roles are reinforced, challenged or subverted. The stereotype of women during the medieval time were the house keepers and focused on the home life, second to the men in society, they had no power. During literature, readers see how some women challenged and stood up to dominant men. Some other women stood behind their husbands no matter what and stayed strong through whatever trials they were put through.
Apparently, due to the conservative perspective in the past, the ideal woman properties are nobleness, softness, purity, innocence and sometime passiveness, there are still strong and open-minded women who actively seek for happiness and love or at least have bold thought in male-female intimacy. Despite this difference, all the female characters in Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights and Dracula share something in common: they are all young pretty women with enthusiastic hearts that long for love.
During the 1970s a researcher named Carol Clover researched films and novels using various methods to help make them more enjoyable and easier to understand for the viewer. Carol Clover is very active in her views. One particular view she stands for is feminism and believes in equality for everyone. The first theory Clover provides is an interesting one about equality. Clover relates gender research into her own work and also relates the situation to her personal life. A main item Clover researches is “slasher” films and the role feminism has in them. “Slasher” films are an exceptional choice to research feminism. Often times in “slasher” or scarier films females have a limited role. Often times in those cinemas females are being tormented
The idea of the monstrous woman highlighted and exposed the fragility, insecurities, convictions, fears, and desires that haunted cultures. The monstrous woman would haunt the imaginations of Europeans.
Throughout the Victorian era, one of the most concerning matters was the role of women in society. Dracula greatly represents the various types of women within the Victorian period. Two predominant characters featured in the novel are Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra; both massively representing the views of women during that time.