representation of women

This essay will be exploring the representation in which women are given within the horror genre. To begin with I will focus partially upon the historical representation through to the current depictions of women within the horror genre. I will furthermore attempt to examine these representations and express upon any changes within that representation that may have occurred. Additionally, I will discuss what the representations I have discovered say about women in society itself. Lastly to aid this investigation I will be analysing observations that have been created by theorists such as Carol Clover, Laura Mulvey and Jeremy Tunstall.

The first thing we can see about these women is that they are all relatively young, also it can be seen that all these women are either in underwear or very revealing clothing. The women are all wearing black undergarment and one with a red dress, the black symbolising darkness and sin whereas the red connotes desire and the devil, it could also be displaying the blood shed within the film, this is there for the pleasure of voyeuristic men to watch the young, almost naked women suffer, this is sometimes known as gorenography or torture porn. Feminist film critic Laura Mulvey labelled this 'Male Gaze' in her 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', and is the concept that women are used in films to be looked at as objects of desire. In her essay Mulvey says "Much commercial cinema puts the spectator into the position of an 'appraising heterosexual male' by adopting techincal camera techniques which present women as objects to be looked at. The audience is literally put into the eyes of the male - usually the protagonist - who then looks voyeuristically at an objectified female." and so under Jeremy Turnstall (The Media in Britain 1983)'s observations of gender representation and four character roles (sexual, domestic, marital and consumer) male gaze theory is sexual, as women are portrayed as sexual objects.

The 'final girl' theory is a theory first devised by Carol Clover in her 1992 book 'Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film' and is the theory of there being only one surviving female at the end of the film. In her book Carol Clover listed three key traits for a final girl, she is virginal and retains purity and innocence, she is androgynous in her name, appearance and clothing, and she fights back, either by escaping the killer or actually physically fighting back. In terms of Jeremy Turnstall's four character roles for women the final girl usually fits under all four roles. The final girl is usually of a middle class background, well educated and hard working, all domestic and consumer roles that forms the marital role. Examples of final girls in horror films include Dana in Cabin in the Woods and Laurie in Halloween, although Laurie challenges this by smoking a joint in the car with her friend Annie (who gets killed by Michael) but ultimately outsmarts Michael and survives at the end.

history of horror

History Of Horror

The horror genre has many ancient origins and roots in religious traditions and folklores, these tend to be focusing on death, the afterlife
Lumière brothers in 1895 created le squelette joyeux . Both audiences and filmmakers demonstrated an early interest in the macabre, although the term 'horror' wasn't used to describe a film genre until the 1930s. These early horror films were referred to at the time as 'Spook tales

Roots To Classic Literature

   

 Frankenstein (written in 1818)

The film Frankenstein was produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. and directed by James Whale, Frankenstein is a film that was derived from classic literature and widely recognised around the world. The film is about a scientist and his assistant who dig up corpses to build a man animated by electricity, but the assistant accidentally gives the creature an abnormal, murderer's brain.

Dracula (1931)
The film Dracula was produced and directed by Tod Browning, Dracula is a film that was also derived from classic literature, it is well known throughout the world. The film is about the ancient vampire count Dracula and his arrival in England and follows his victim, mina.

The Horror Of The Silent Era 

Silent Films are the films of the early era that were without synchronized sound, from the earliest film (1891)

Horror movies were reborn in the 1930s. The advent of sound, as well as changing the whole nature of cinema forever, had a huge impact on the horror genre.

Monsters And Mad Scientists 

      During the 1930s horror was reborn and featured monsters and mad scientists as the main characters, for example Frankenstein

sound was an important role in these movies as the use of dramatic music built up suspense.

      19th century literary classics were dominating this era still, the films were often set in far off places and the characters would be dressed in period costumes.  

     universal studios  emerged during this decade, finding fame with their horrors, Frankenstein and Dracula. Other famous films from this era include King Kong, The Mummy, Freaks and Bride of Frankenstein 

The Primal Animal Within; Werewolves And Cat People (1940s) 

      This was during world war 2, werewolves could be a representation of the nazis, the idea that when a werewolf bites a human they can transform into this monster and pass on the disease. this has possible links with Hitlers dictatorships and spread of his propaganda.

      The werewolf in Wolfman dies this could be a connotation of Hitlers defeat. Around the time of the 1940s the film industry was an American product and even combined popular themes of the prior two decades with Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943) - a sequel to the original Frankenstein film.

 

    Mutant creatures and alien invaders 

II The horror genre changed massively in the 1950s, the antagonists in horror films took a plunge into the unknown with science fiction alien and mutant lifeforms. Films such as The Beast of 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and The Tingler (1959) exhibited the differences and comparisons to films from the past decade. The 1950s marked the start of the Cold War, "the iron curtain that fell upon Europe", the threat Russia possessed and the fear of communism had a big effect on communities and the film industry. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) was a reflection of the fear of communism. 

Gore returns with a vengeance 

At the turn of the 2000s horror films were heavily condemned and many even called for the banning of horror movies in the name of "world peace". 9/11 changed the world's perception of what is considered frightening and set the cultural agenda for the following years. Come the mid 2000s the horror genre was as popular as ever with the rise of 'torture porn'. Audiences preferred to watch films about people being tortured and death was inevitable in the ultimate end. Final Destination (2000) was one of the first 'torture porn' films, with films such as the Saw and Hostel franchises defining the era.

Halloween Analysis

“Halloween” analysis essay

The film Halloween is a slasher horror from 1978 directed by John Carpenter, as well as being co-written with Debra Hill, Halloween is iconic because it established the Slasher genre. This film follows the escape of psychotic murder from a psychiatric asylum, in which he was imprisoned after murdering his sister on Halloween night. The film follows the convention of having an anniversary to kill again, he does this when he returns to his home town on the 30^th of October.

 The film is set during 1963, in the small community of Haddonfield however the beginning of the film is set 15 years’ prior in the same location on Halloween night.

Todorov’s theory on narrative structures for films within the horror genre suggested that all films begin with an equilibrium, however in Halloween we don’t find an equilibrium as it begins with a murder. Following Todorov’s theory the equilibrium should then be disrupted by an event, this event is called a disequilibrium, the main event within the film is Michael Myers return to Haddonfield as this leads to the chaotic murders that happen within the isolated community.

There are at least four character types within the Halloween that keep reappearing in the narrative in relation to Propps theory. Firstly, psychotic Michael Myers is the villain throughout the film and this is made obvious as he brutally murders his sister in her bedroom on the night of Halloween, this idea of him being the villain is further reinforced when we witness his escape from the mental asylum, this is again reiterated by the polices urgency to find him. Dr. Loomis is the hero of the film, although not the archetypal, good looking hero, he is the one who goes after and tries to stop Michael when he returns to the town as he knows what Michael is going to do. Lauri is the victim in Halloween, she spends the most part of the film being stalked by Myers, who is trying to kill her, being as Lauri survives Carol Clover’s final girl theory applies to Halloween. Lauri’s friends Lindsey and Annie are also female victims but both die as unlike Lauri they have sex, drink and do drugs, whereas Lauri has all the typical traits of Carol Clover’s final girl, she is well educated, of a middle class background, doesn’t go out, drink, do drugs or have sex. The helper is the Sheriff, although he doesn’t believe the doctor to begin with, he aids Dr. Loomis in trying to stop Myers.

There are 4 clear instances of binary opposition in Halloween:

Good and Evil 

Dr. Loomis and the Sheriff are the good trying to stop the evil (Michael), equally Michael is the villain going after the heroin Lauri.

Natural and Supernatural

Michael survives 6 bullets and falling off balcony, whereas his victims are easily killed.

Purity and Promiscuity

Lauri and her friends; Lauri is interested in her education and books, her friends are interested in going to parties, drinking and boys.

Past and Present

Halloween begins 15 years in the past with a young Michael murdering his sister, and then transitions to the present.

Narrative Theory and The Crazies

The Crazies (2010) is a thriller horror directed by Breck Eisner, and takes place in the fictional town Ogden Marsh, Pierce County, Iowa ("the friendliest place on Earth") whose town water supply is accidentally infected with the "Trixie" virus. After an incubation period of 48 hours, the virus gradually transforms the mental state of the infected into cold, calculating, depraved, bloodthirsty killers ("Crazies") who then prey on family and neighbors alike. The Crazies is a remake of the original released in 1973 by the same name directed by independent horror film director George A. Romero, a filmmaker synonymous to the horror genre for his zombie film series made up of iconic films such as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

Narrative Structure
The opening of The Crazies does not follow Tzvetan Todorov's Classical Hollywood Narrative theory (CHN). According to Todorov's theory all films start with a state of calm normality, the equilibrium, in The Crazies the establishing shot of the film shows a burning town, which ushers in disorder from the off. Usually this would be the event of a film and disruption to the equilibrium, but this film's equilibrium is turmoil.
The film then continues with superimposed text "Two days earlier", this infers that the events of the film took place over the course of two days.
We then get a relative equilibrium when the town's Sheriff, David, who going by Vladimir Propp's Character Types theory is the film's hero and main protagonist, is buying a coffee at the high school baseball game. This evidence of equilibrium is quickly etched away when farmer and former alcoholic Rory Hamill steps onto the baseball field with a shotgun in hand, causing disruption to the equilibrium.
David and his deputy (Russel) rush the field and evacuate all of the students playing baseball and try reasoning with Rory telling him to put the gun down, to which he is unresponsive to, leading David to assume that after two years off of alcohol (which his wife tells us later on in the film), that Rory has been drinking again. Rory then points the shotgun at David, leaving David with no choice but to shoot and kill Rory, before he kills him. Later in the film it is pointed out that Rory's alcohol levels before his death were 0.0, making him the first to be infected by the "Trixie" virus.
The event of the film is the plane crash and happens off screen, although we don't see it happen we know that it has happened because we are told about it, the plane crash is accidental and was carrying the virus, which was on its way to be destroyed as the government and scientists that had been developing it believed that it posed too big a threat.
The film has no real resolution or new equilibrium either, as the ending of the film sees Russel and his wife Judy heading towards a new town, Cedar Rapids, which the government are planning a contamination protocol, which destroyed Ogden Marsh, looping it back to the beginning of the film, ending the film on a low point like it had started on. This is conventional of horror films, it can set up sequels and also goes against the expected happy endings and new equilibrium that the majority of other film genres tend to have.

Character Types
We can identify six of Propp's character types in The Crazies distinctly.
David is the Hero of the film as he tries to keep the townfolk safe at the beginning of the film by shooting Rory, who poses a threat to towns people by being infected and stepping onto the baseball field with a shotgun, as well as this David saves his wife and several other peoples lives as well as himself and survives.
The government and scientists behind the development of the "Trixie" virus are the Villains of the film for developing the "Trixie" virus. The US army are also the villains as it is a military aircraft which crashes into the town's water supply causing the virus to spread to the community.
Becca is the Princess. She is the youngest of the group of survivors and is saved by Judy's screaming distraction, averting the principle's attention to Judy, before he is killed by David.
Russel is the Helper, As deputy to David, his job is to support David in which he does so by sacrificing his life for him and his wife to help them get to the petrol station.
As well as being the Helper Russel is also the Dispatcher for this reason too as his ultimate sacrifice means that David and Judy can go on to safety and sends them on their way. Rory is also the dispatcher too as he is the first townsperson infected by the "Trixie" virus and the virus spreads soon after.
The False Hero of the film is the Mayor as he refuses to turn off the town's water supply. He thinks he is helping because his reasoning for doing so is that the town need the water to grow their crops, when really he is allowing the virus to spread from the source of its contamination. Russel also counts as a false hero as when he starts to show symptoms of the virus he begins to hinder David and Judy's progression instead of helping them.

Binary Oppositions
There are five different instances of Binary Opposition in The Crazies:

1. Good vs. Evil
2. Known vs. Unknown
3. Open space vs. Confined space
4. Past vs. Present
5. Science vs. Nature