Essay on the representation of women in horror films

^{Carol Clover, in her book of 'Men, Women and Chainsaws', argues that not every horror film is a feminist one. In her opinion, these films are 'designed to align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the female victim the "final girl" who finally defeats her oppressor.'  There are many issues with the ways in which women have been represented in the horror genre compared with other media text genres. Within horror, the female characters are portrayed to the audience as being very weak and vulnerable compared to the males on screen; therefore they are represented to the audience as 'Damsel in Distress' type characters as they always portray a need to be helped or saved. As well as being presented in the horror genre as weak and vulnerable, they are also portrayed in a very sexual manner, tying in with Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory where she argues that the audience are forced to look at a woman from a heterosexual male's perspective.  According to a research survey carried out in 1992, men outnumbered women by two to one on the screen. This presents a further issue with the representation of women in these movies as there was a distinct lack of inequality between the male and female gender.} 

^{There have been a series of debates between theorists on whether women are being used in a way in horror films which makes them appear as objects to viewers, or whether they are utilized in a way in which they are able to be identified with. This has caused one to question and challenge whether or not the horror genre presents women in an explicit or a conservative way. In such a vast majority of mainstream films nowadays, women are stereotypically represented to the audience as sexual, marital, domestic, or as consumers.} 

^{Jeremy Tunstall argued that most of these depicted representations are true, saying that they are usually given the task of being a housewife. He stated how they are presented in a very sexually explicit way for males.} 

      

 ^{Expanding more on this 'male gaze' theory, Laura Mulvey's argument which was expressed in her work called "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema" was that when filming, special techniques were used with the camera to make the women appear as objects instead of women for male enjoyment. This positioning made the audience look at a woman in the same way the male character would be looking at her. Within  this gaze, the camera films the curvy parts of the female body for longer than anything else to draw emphasis to them.  The typical male gaze normally begins with a close up shot of the male character in the scene, then goes to a point of view shot from the man onto the woman, and then returns to show a reaction shot of the man's face. This makes the viewers see it in the same light as the male.To present an example of a male gaze, I found a clip from the film The Postman Always Rings Twice-} 

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGFer3-Aguw&feature=youtu.be}

 Mulvey looks upon the male gaze as sadistic objectification, showing that men enjoy the thought of taking full control over women. 

For example, in the infamous bathtub scene from The Shining in 1980, the naked female is portrayed to the audience as a complete sex symbol, thus supporting the views and arguments expressed by Jeremy Tunstall and also that of Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory. In this scene of The Shining, the stereotypical 'male gaze' sequence is used. The shots continuously switch from the female to the male to present his astounded reaction. The audience is able to identify with this. When the young, attractive woman transforms into and old, very unattractive woman, the camera doesn't focus on her for as long and the scene soon changes. This shows a complete objectification of women as the older woman would be less appealing to the audience and not viewed as sexually attractive; therefore she isn't given as much screen time. Here is part of the bathtub scene from The Shining-

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMY0uhS3Uko}

^{On the other hand. I find that horror film Cabin in the Woods challenges this argument of women being portrayed as objects in a sexually explicit manner. A scene from this film presents the woman 'gazing' at the half naked male character, showing that females aren't always represented as objects within the horror genre. Here is a clip from Cabin in The Woods which I find supports my point-}  

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8HFEHYsDk0}

^{In Carol Clover's book of 'Men, Women and Chainsaws', she questioned who the audience actually does identify with within a horror movie. It has been argued and believed for years that that male author identified with the male killer within the film; however it is Clover who has challenged this view believing the audience to identify more with the final girl. In Clover's opinion, the viewer identifies more with the whole panic of being attacker by the killer, instead of the satisfactions the murderer gains which he is trying to kill the innocent victim. She believes that the final girl in a horror movie is often the main female protagonist, who ends up surviving throughout and defeating the killer. The final girl in a horror movie is generally masculine and more sensible in comparison to her peers. She generally starts off being portrayed as quite weak, but then turns very strong towards the end. The first film I found which completely follows this 'final girl' theory is The Shining. Within this film, the woman eventually stands up to her husband and manages to escape.} 



Sidney as the final girl

^{In 1996 horror movie 'Scream', the character Sidney completely follows this 'Final Girl' concept. Within the film, she has masculine traits, primarily with the way in which she dresses. Within the film, she has a boyfriend but refuses to have sexual intercourse with him, thus further supporting the concept of the final girl remaining a virgin, although her friends are having sex. The fact that her name is Sidney shows a lack of femininity on her part. Her character, unlike the vast majority of horror movies, is presented as very strong and independent. Her character is not afraid to stand up to the killer. The fact that she fights the killer represents her as having masculine features within her character. This challenges a great deal of conventional horror movies out there. On the other hand, as the film progresses the character Sidney does end up engaging in sexual intercourse with her boyfriend, showing to the audience that she has lost her virginity. This challenges Carol Clover's final girl theory as she believes the final girl to be completely virginal.  This film has around the same amount of female character as it does male, thus challenging the 1992 research that men outnumbered women on the screen by two to one. This film is mostly very positive with its representation of women.} 

^{Here is a video clip of the movie which presents Sidney's masculine style of clothing in The Shining-} 

^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXeAtyfybuQ}

^{It is interesting to see the contrast in representation between Sidney and her best friend Tatum in Scream. Tatum is represented as very opposite to Sidney, following no final girl connotations whatsoever. She is represented as more of a sex object to the audience, drinking and getting physically close towards boys.}



 

 

Looking more deeply into the argument expressed by Jeremy Tunstall where he stated that women 

are stereotypically presented as mothers or wives in the household, I found that The Shining which I have been studying supports this view perfectly. The character Wendy in the film is both a mother and a wife, and her representation to the audience is shown as being very domesticated in the household and ancestral towards her husband and son. Her domestic abilities are shown when she prepares food in the film and is also asked to make a drink. In my opinion, Jeremy Tunstall's view here is an interesting one. I haven't seen very many horror movies where there is a domesticated woman. . 

2001 horror movie Valentine ties in successfully with the representation of women as sex objects as it is an erotic horror focusing on the lives of five you, attractive women. Four of the five women- Paige, Shelley, Lily and Dorothy are all represented as sex objects and they are all killed at some point within the film. They are portrayed to the audience as being very horrible. Each of them are killed throughout the course of the film. This ties in with Carol Clover's final girl theory. This theory suggests that because the film represents these girls as very sexual and going to parties and enjoying themselves, they are seen as being sinful, and because these actions are seen in this way, they have to be punished for it and killed.  The death of protagonist character Paige, for example, is presented as extremely sexually explicit, for in the scene of her death she is wearing a bikini in a hot tub. Emphasis has been put on many shots of her curves, supporting Laura Mulvey's male gaze argument. Within this scene, there is a great deal of filming of her just sitting in the hot tub in the bikini and not doing much. Then later when she hears a noise, she is filmed getting out of the hot tub and walking around the room to see if anyone is there. The sexually explicit filming of her up until her death may caused male audiences to fantasize over her death. Moreover, the character Kate in Valentine who is the final girl is represented as more cautious and easily worried compared to her friends in the film. She is also presented at first as a lot weaker than the other protagonist characters; however she is the only one to survive at the end, further supporting the final girl theory.

Here is a clip showing the death scene of protagonist character, Paige-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqAXIhzTXU4

In conclusion, I would say that women are represented in the vast majority of horror films as complete objects. They are shown as inferior and weak in comparison to the male gender. Gender identification however is very complex within the genre of horror as it often switches between the main protagonist- final girl and the murderer. Some horror films however do represent women in a completely controversial way which I found after watching The Shining; Therefore it is difficult to put a pin on whether the representation of women within horror is in fact conservative or not.