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The Representation of Gender within the Horror Film Genre,[object Object]
Throughout media many theorists have argued that males are represented as dominant, strong, active, intellectual and authoritative. They argue that females, on the other hand, are represented as submissive and passive with a focus on physical beauty, sexuality and emotionality. They are defined through their relationships with men. Jeremy Tunstall further defined the role of the female within the media by categorising their purpose further as either domestic, sexual, consumer or marital/familial. This is a very conservative representation, illustrating very traditional gender stereotypes. ,[object Object]
1992 research demonstrated another issue with the representation of gender within the media. The research investigated the visibility of females in the media; it found that on screen, men outnumbered women by two to one, apposed to the reality of the population divide of roughly one to one. Many groups such as older women or black women are hugely under represented within the media. ,[object Object]
The “Male Gaze” is a theory largely explored by Laura Mulvey, which focuses mainly on how technical codes represent gender within film. The concept revolves around the idea of the audience often being forced to view scenes via the gaze of a heterosexual male; objectifying women whilst the male is the subject we identify with. The use of close up’s, point of view shots and reaction shots encourage the audience to identify with the male, whilst long shots and tilts up the body are used to objectify women. No matter the age, sexuality or gender of the audience member, they are forced to view women in such a way due to the technical camera strategies. ,[object Object]
The way in which gender is represented in the horror genre differs from some media texts. These differences are evident in the three films we have studied so far, however each film brings with it it’s own pros and cons of the way in which it represents gender.,[object Object]
In “Halloween” the visibility of the two genders is equal; a real life representation. However in “The Shining” and “Eden Lake” the ratio’s supports the 1992 research, as two thirds of the speaking roles are male. Although this is evidence of the visibility of females being less than males within the media, I believe that the sub genre of the horror film determines the gender breakdown for narrative reasons. In “Eden Lake” the narrative relies on the physically domineering presence that the gang of mainly males creates. Whereas in “Halloween” and other such slasher films, it is the vulnerability of foolish teenagers that drives the narrative, no matter what their gender. ,[object Object]
Tunstall’s categorised roles for women within the media are evident within all three films studied. In “Halloween” the girls are seen baby sitting, cooking and cleaning illustrated domestication. Annie and Lynda are portrayed in a sexual way as Annie removes her clothing and changes in to just a shirt, and Lynda lies in bed flaunting her body. Judith is also seen having sex just before her death. There are familial references also, as Annie’s dad is the Sherriff. Annie and Judith are also driven by the desire to be with their boyfriends. However Laurie is not seen in a sexual way as she isn’t concerned with her appearance and is not as driven by the thought of having a boyfriend. “The Shining” presents women as domestic as Wendy is a housewife who is expected to cook whilst at the hotel. Wendy is very strongly defined by her familial relationships with the males in her family; wife of Jack and mother of Danny. In “Eden Lake” Jenny has a stereotypically female job, in the nurturing role of primary teacher. She is also presented as sexual, wearing low cut dresses and relaxing in her bikini. Paige is stereotypical in the fact that she is passive within the gang and commits no physical violence, however to society outside of the gang she is very verbally aggressive, this is a more progressive representation of females. ,[object Object]
Although horror appears to create stereotypical roles for females, these roles are broken as horror breaks-down all normality, leading the audience to view the females in a new light; females that are usually passive and submissive at the beginning of the film become aggressive and dominant by the end. They also often loose their sexuality as their appearance becomes more and more unkempt as the film progresses e.g. Jenny in “Eden Lake”. This is progressive as it allows audiences to experience another representation of females once the normality within the film has deteriorated, however it could be seen as conservative as it suggests that females can only behave in this manner once normality has gone; normally females should fulfil the stereotypes. ,[object Object]
The male gaze is present in all three films. In “Halloween” we view Judith’s death through the male gaze of Mike Myers, using long, point of view shots to film her. In the laundry scene Annie is also seen through the male gaze, again using voyeuristic shots from Mike Myers point of view, putting the audience in his eyes. Lynda is objectified in the bed scene as Mike looks at her through the sheet. Long shots and reaction shots are used to force the audience to identify with Mike; a heterosexual male. However the audience know that Mike is evil and therefore do not wish to identify with him. In “Eden Lake” the male gaze is used when we see through the binoculars of the gang members who are looking at Jenny in her bikini. However as with “Halloween” the audience know that the gang are bad and that Jenny feels uncomfortable, therefore we feel as though we shouldn’t view her in the same way the gang do, but the camera techniques force us to. In “The Shining” the male gaze is used to view the lady in the bath. We see from Jack’s P.O.V with the use of long shots. However Jack is punished for sexually appraising the women as she turns into a dead body. This undermines the male gaze as Jack and therefore the audience who have identified with Jack are left feeling ashamed of themselves for objectifying women. ,[object Object],http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym_XwqOV884,[object Object],All three films break traditional stereotypes as there is a final girl in all of them. The audience are often led to identify with a male protagonist, however in horror we often end up identifying with the female final girl. This identification was ground-breaking as it meant that male viewers were identifying with a female. Carol Clover argues that the reason horror remains popular with mainly male audiences is that every male can identify with not being at the top of the “macho” hierarchy; every male has felt intimidated at some point. She believes that in identifying with the female “underdog” who overcomes the villain, they can live out their own fantasies of heroism. ,[object Object]
Although gender is initially presented in a conservative manner in horror films, this is often not the case by the end. Equilibrium is established with gender stereotypes in place, however once disequilibrium occurs the stereotypes are also altered. The final girl becomes dominant and aggressive; the subject rather than the object. ,[object Object]

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The representation of gender within the horror film

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