3. Different types of
representation
To he right is a list of possible representations
that may feature in horror film, and depending on
the context of the film, each one can be portrayed
positively or negatively, such as separating the
male and female gender and showing the males
as the stereotypical hero that eventually saves the
day, and showing the females of the film as weak
and at the mercy of the antagonist(s). Obviously
this can be completely incorrect but it depends
on the context of the film and the thoughts of the
director.
Gender
Age
Nationality
Religion
Sexual orientation
Ethnicity
4. Gender: Male
Portrayed as being the strong and heroic protagonist that stays
level headed in the heat of the moment, for example, in ‘The
Thing’, the entire cast of the movie is male, and the movie ends
with the main male protagonist defeating the ‘Thing’, showing
that they are strong enough to overcome the problems they have
faced.
However quite a lot of the time, the antagonist is played by a
male, so not only are males represented as strong and heroic, but
also as evil and wicked.
Also some films show the male as the weaker gender, but this is
less common than the other, films such as ‘Eden lake’ and ‘The
Descent’ both represent males as the weaker of the gender.
5. Gender: Female
Stereotypically represented as the weaker of the two genders,
and even when the female is shown to be strong and heroic, in
some cases, an event will occur where she is reduced to nothing
and seen as weak as her counterparts.
Two theories are strongly seen in horror films, the first being the
‘Final girl’ theory where the plot of the film will set up one
female character to be the last survivor, this is normally through
her pain and torment, and some of the time, the possibility of
her surviving, is often suggested and then snatched away from
her, again shown in ‘Eden Lake’ and ‘The Descent’
6. Age
Some Representation have been seen regularly such as the old
wrinkly witch or the creepy child who gets possessed by a
demon. However each one has a fitted representation that goes
against what we expect.
Children are meant to be seen as cute, innocent and kind,
however, the only times we see this type of child, they are often
in great danger and require an adult to save them. The more
frequent representation of children is the one who sees dead
people (The sixth sense) or is the spawn of Satan (The omen).
7. Age (cont)
The older generation are in majority represented as the evil and
twisted antagonist, such as the old female gypsy (Mrs. Ganush,
played by Lorna Raver) in ‘Drag me to hell’ or the person
behind jigsaw (John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell). Also the
older generation is very rarely seen as good guy, they are
sometimes seen as the source of wisdom, but more often than
not they are killed off just after revealing the wisdom they have,
either by dying of old age or having a fatal run in with the
antagonist.
