Representation of gender in horror.

Often in horror, especially in slasher films such as ‘Halloween’ and ‘Friday the 13th’, we are given what is called a ‘final girl’, this is the last female character alive to confront the killer and to therefore tell the story, often they will have a past relationship with the killer; in ‘Halloween’ it is the character ‘Laurie Strode’. The final girl tends to be the main protagonist, which is odd for any film, let alone one attempting to create fear. The final girl will be sexually unavailable or virginal; any other women involved who are sexually active during the film in any way tend to be ‘punished’ for their transgression through pain of death, such is in ‘Halloween’ both of Laurie’s friends (Annie and Linda) are sexually influenced at some point in the film and are both murdered, Linda immediately after having sex. Carol Clover suggests that, in such films as these, we begin by sharing a perspective of the killer, but experience a shift in identification to the final girl throughout the film; our identification is unstable across the gender line. Clover also suggests that the killer hunting the final girl is normally a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, is in crisis, for example; Norman Bates in the film ‘Psycho’. The final girl is said to become ‘masculinised’ by obtaining a weapon of some sorts, whether it be a knife or a chainsaw, she calls this "phallic appropriation". Overall the theorist argues that gender identifications in horror movies aren’t as simple as the classical ‘male gaze’ representations used in many genres, saying that rather than a “sadistic objectification” of women, often used in mainstream texts, horror supplies a “masochistic identification” with females.

Other factors affecting representation include the ‘male gaze’. Many theorists argued this theory, none more importantly than Laura Mulvey in her famous essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. She introduced the idea that certain films, more commercial, tend to use certain camera angles and strategies to place the audience in the position of an ‘appraising heterosexual male’, which presents women as objects for the men to look at, e.g. CU or POV shots of the male to identify him as the subject. In a more feministic theory, the male gaze distributes an asymmetric power relationship, between men and women, saying that the female is given the unwanted and objectifying gaze of the male. This is why horror, and Clovers idea of the ‘final girl’, is so intriguing, as horror is aimed at a mainly male audience. Why would it ask its audience to associate with the other, stereotypically weaker, gender? Possibly to disorientate the audience, pulling them out their comfort zone, allowing the film to strike more fear into them. We are normally put into the eyes of a male protagonist in any other genre, however in horror it is usually females. Could the fact that the gender roles and representations have switched round be an element of horror itself? Mulvey also argues that mainstream cinema is part of this sexist regime that pins women as objects and denies them any subjectivity or identification, all for male pleasure; a way of controlling women by denying them any subjectivity and objectifying them. This raises such questions as; what about homosexual people and women? Who do they identify within the male gaze? What about dominant women like ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Lara Croft’? Do action films, like ‘Indiana Jones’, as they objectify the male body, adopt a female gaze? A homoerotic approach?

Jeremy Tunstall, in ‘The Media in Britain’ (1983), argued that, after assessing all the representation of gender within media, that women were mainly subdued into four categories; domestic, sexual, consumer and marital. As males are stereotypically presented as strong, independent, active, authoritative, dominant, intellectual and strong in media, whereas women are passive, submissive, focused on physical beauty, sexuality and emotionality, they are often defined through relationships with men, Tunstall’s conclusion fits the stereotypical female within the media. Men outnumber women two-to-one on screen, meaning the variation of men in media is much greater, e.g. you are more likely to see a black male than a black female on screen. Relating this to three horror films we studied; ‘Halloween’ (1978), ‘The Shining’ (1980) and ‘Eden Lake’ (2008) all of which contained more male characters in contrast to female, apart from ‘Halloween’ which was equal.

In ‘Halloween’ we were given the female characters; Laurie, Linda, Annie, Judith Myers and the nurse. This film is progressive as the number of females compared to males is equal. The nurse supplies a stereotypical females role, as she is just the doctor’s assistant. Linda, Annie and Judith are all placed as sex objects and subsequently are killed for their transgression; Linda after just having sex with her partner Bob, who also dies, and Annie, as she gets in her car to go and have sex with her boyfriend. Before their deaths, Linda and Annie are both objectified, we see Linda’s naked body after she’s had sex with Bob and, whilst in the kitchen preparing popcorn, she spills butter on her shirt and removes all her clothing bar her underwear. We are then given a POV shot from Michael looking in, we are therefore being asked to associate with a murderer to objectify a woman. Judith is killed also after having sex with her boyfriend, we are given a POV shot from a young Michael in this scene and, once again, the naked female body is exposed to the audience. Laurie never has any sexual relations with a man throughout the film which makes it no shock that she is the final girl. Laurie is the complete opposite of her friends; smart, careful and caring. Due to this fact, Laurie is not objectified, she is the subject. More women die in this film than men; 60% - 40%.

We are given five female characters in ‘The Shining’; Wendy, the lady in the bathtub, Grady’s daughters and the hotel secretary. The hotel secretary has very little importance; she is carrying out a stereotypical female role in organising a man’s work schedule. The only portrayal of sexual objectification in this film is through the lady in the bathtub. When she rises from the bath and reveals her naked body Jack is drawn in by temptation and begins kissing her, her body then wastes away and she turns into a corpse; a possible punishment for Jack’s transgression. Her skin dissolving may also be a metaphor for the way the male gaze is removed from that scene. Wendy is the most important woman in the film as she is Jack’s wife and the final girl. She is displayed as very domestic and familial, as she does the jobs around the hotel Jack is unable to do and she stays by Jack’s side whilst he fights with his unstable mind. However, she is also proven to be a strong, independent woman as she is forced to fight against Jack to save her and Danny’s lives. This film progresses towards the end but is very conservative within its roles. The death ratio is equal in this film.

‘Eden Lake’, a more modern horror, contains six women in contrast to eleven men; showing the film to be conservative. ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Shining’ both contain objectification of women at some stage, whereas ‘Eden Lake’ does not show great signs of this. There is one scene where the young boys are looking at Jenny’s body through binoculars and we are given a POV shot from the boys, but it is a very brief snippet. Jenny is a very interesting character as; to begin with, she is very familial, due to her job as a teacher of young children, and is a very caring woman, we see this when a mother viciously slaps her child and Jenny’s reaction reveals her shock, showing this is an unusual sight for her. However, as the film grows older, Jenny becomes more monstrous in an attempt to defend herself and even kills a young boy; Jenny is obviously the final girl. I believe the image of Jenny coming out of a waste bin (right) establishes the moment of the film where Jenny becomes a 'monster' herself. The domestic role is played by the woman in cafe, as she serves food, she is not as polite or caring as Jenny comes across but I believe that to be a regional issue. Paige is a girl within the gang. I believe her death at the end of the film is a form of punishment for leaving the
group. She actually introduces objectification by accusing Steve of looking at her breasts, when he was doing nothing of the sort. The deaths are evenly carried out in this film.

I believe horror is progressive within its representation of women more so than men. This is due to more recent films, such as; ‘I Spit on Your Grave’ and ‘The Last House on the Left’, switching the power from the attackers to the victim (usually a woman); the hunters become the hunted. This allows more power and authority to be displayed in women, in rape-revenge films etc.

If the number of male and female characters is equal, it shows that the particular film is progressive in its representation of gender, as women are shown as equals to men, whereas in the majority of segments/sub-genres in the film industry, males are seen as dominant, e.g. action and romance. Characters like James Bond in the several Bond movies are seen as active and dominant, while women are very passive and objective; looking to get Bond's attention, even shown fighting over it, thus meaning these media texts are more conservative and traditional rather than progressive, as they still show men as in control and dominant. Horror is really the only movie genre that has the ability to progress in gender stereotypes. The larger film companies, like 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner Brothers etc, tend to stay away from horror movies, as they are seen as a risk, an unnecessary one at that. As the smaller and more independent film companies are more willing to create a progressive piece of media, in the hope that it will be a one-off masterpiece and smash hit in the box office, these are usually the type of companies in the film industry that make horror movies.

The idea of the ‘final girl’ is still very much a part of horror and will continue to be, therefore I do not believe the stereotypes of woman, i.e. weak, helpless, dependant on a man, will become key in the horror genre. Some conservative views are good to have in there, to an extent, it creates realism. Overall though, I believe horror, as a whole genre, is progressing with its representation of the female gender in comparison to the male.