This document discusses representations in horror films and society. It defines representation as a construction that reflects societal attitudes rather than accuracy. Gender, social class, age, and national identities are often represented in traditional ways in older horror films. Carol Clover's "Final Girl" theory holds that the last surviving victim, who is often intelligent and virginal, takes on the role of investigating the threat. The document analyzes how representations have changed over time, with women increasingly shown as heroes rather than victims and the working class represented with more nuance. Feminism is seen as pushing for more adaptive representations while not fundamentally changing the dominant ideology.

1. Representation

2. Lesson outcomes
• What does representation mean?
• Understand how representations reflect societal attitudes
• Carol Clover’s Final Girl Theory
• Recognise and analyse representations in Horror films

3. What is representation?
• It’s a construction of an idea or an image
• Representations are not necessarily accurate rather they
reflect societal attitudes of the time
• Who has created the representation? Why? For what
purpose?

4. Representations in our case study films
• Gender (men, women)
• Social class
• Age
• Britain/ British values

5. Changing representations
“Horror films tend to be particularly popular in times of political
unrest, economic depression, war, terrorism, all kinds of domestic
strife…It seems that people need an escape, so they go to horror
films to exorcise a lot of this angst that they have … These films
put a picture to our deepest fears and allow us to deal with these
fears from the safety of our theater seats.”

6. Horror of Dracula (1958) A few facts…
• It cost £81,000 to produce
• Based on literature
• It was released in 1958- the same year the first woman was
allowed to enter the Houses of Parliament
• It was directed by Terrance Fischer
• Prime Minister at the time was Harold MacMillan
(conservative)
• A lot of anxiety about Britain’s place in the world

7. British fears
• Anything ‘foreign’ (losing power) other countries were gaining
their independence, the British Empire was shrinking...Suez
Crisis etc.
• Fear of women becoming more powerful, loss of patriarchal
society.

8. Traditional (hegemonic)
representations
Men Women Britain Class
Heroes (tend to
be white)
The monster
Weak
Victims
Damsels in
distress
Empire
Conservative
values
Christianity
Heroes are the
educated,
middle class
(men)

9. Carol J Clover
“ The functions of monster and hero are far more frequently
represented by males and the function of the victim far more
garishly by females. The fact that female heroes and monsters
when they do appear are masculine in dress and behaviour and
often in name and that male victims are shown in feminine
postures at the moment of their extremity.”

10. Eden Lake
Social and historical context
• Fear of hoodies/ British youth/ Broken Britain
• Based on a true story- Gary Newlove
• Exaggerated and sensationalised representation of British
youth
• Creates fear/ panic in audience

11. Contemporary representations
Men Women Britain Class
Can be the
hero/ monster
as before…
Can also be
more feminised/
emasculated
(The Decent/
Eden Lake)
Can still be
stupid
BUT
Powerful,
masculine, final
girl, sole
survivor
Fear of working
class
Fear of youth
(hoodies)
‘Broken Britain’
Fear of working
class

12. Changing representation of women in
horror
Feminism/ feminist movement
“feminism is an example of an emergent
ideology that forced the dominant ideology to
adapt but not to change fundamentally”
Carol Clover

13. Final Girl theory: Carol Clover
• The Final Girl Theory is a concept within thriller and horror films,
that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the
killer, who then is left to tell the story. A common plot line in many
horror films, particularly prior to the 1990s, is where a series of
victims get killed off one by one leaving which builds up the climax
in which the last person standing from the group, a female, either
defeats the killed or gets away.
• According to Clover the final girl in many typical horror film plots
share a common characteristic, she is typically sexually unavailable
or virginal and they sometimes have a unisex name, such as, Teddy,
Billie, Georgie, Sidney. The final girl is the ‘investigating
consciousness’ of the film, moving the narrative forward and as
such, she exhibits intelligence curiosity and vigilance.

14. “She alone looks death in the face, but she
alone finds the strength either to stay the
killer long enough to be rescued (ending A) or
to kill him herself (ending B).” (Clover 1992,
p.35)
Final Girl Theory
“A psycho killer who slashes to death a string of mostly
female victims, one by one, until they are subdued or
killed, usually by the one girl who has survived.”

15. Watchthefollowingtrailersandmakesnotesonhow
representationsareshown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkAnAqB70Ag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSYg7Z1KS_I