2. +
Representation of women
As in many horror films the protagonist in “Penance” is a young
girl in her teens with a small group of friends.
In her character profiles she is described as “Closed-
minded, tries to act older than the rest of the people in
her friend group. Can often be quite stubborn, likes to
be in charge and doesn't like doing what other people
tell her to do.” This very much keeps to the
conventions of the protagonists (and often victims) of
other horror films.
In keeping with the conventional paradigm of young girls in horror
movies, we established quickly to the audience the genre of the film and
the formula it was likely to follow. This was to give the audience a sense
of familiarity in watching the film.
3. +
This shot shows the female on the floor with the male figure
standing over her. She is shown to be in a submissive position
while the male is in a position of power. Her helplessness shows
the balance of power to be in favour of the man.
4. +
The aerial view of the girl lying on the floor was again to show
her helplessness, and also to show the scene to be a flashback
as the audience is looking down at the girl after this has
happened.
5. +
The present day scene puts the three female characters on the same
level as the audience, and all three are in an equal position of power.
There characters are represented in this shot as being very different.
One looking enthusiastic with the others appearing disbelieving or
bored. This contrasts the helpless girl on her own in the past with the
girls of the present
6. +
Similar films with a female
stereotype
“Scream” is one of several horror/slasher
films in which a group of older teenagers
find themselves being picked off by an
anonymous killer. It was a later film using
this formula (released in 1996), but became
a staple of the horror genre in the way that
it took the stereotypes and conventions of
earlier slasher movies and heightened
them. Many horror films that followed took
this idea and creating different versions of
the story.
7. + The “young woman in distress”
convention is not just reserved for
teen slasher movies in the horror
genre. Films such as ours,
(featuring a paranormal, “haunting”
aspect can also feature a younger
female character. However, these
characters tend to be slightly more
sympathetic and relatable to a
wider audience.
8. +
Representation of young people
The cast of our film, as in other horror films, is
female and of the ages of 16-17. They are
shown to be “average” teenagers, (telling each
other ghost stories, hanging out at the park),
and not particularly representative of one social
group.
9. +
All of the girls in the film speak in fairly
colloquial terms not particularly connotative of
a specific area or class of people; the only
thing unusual about the way that the cast
speaks is the fact that all have Northern
accents (this being a Northern
production), this is not in keeping with the
conventions of other horror films of this
time, which are generally set in America, or
even other British films which tend to be
Southern based.
