The document discusses representations of children in horror films. It notes that children are commonly portrayed as either the victim or a ghost. The most popular portrayal is as a "creepy little kid" who is clearly evil from the start, as seen in films about possessed orphans. These creepy children are more often girls portrayed as innocent to make their evil acts more shocking. The document also discusses the stereotypical portrayal of women in horror films, noting they are sometimes heroes who survive to the end or defeat the monster. However, males are usually the initial protagonists who are defeated, with the female then taking over.

1. My opening sequence focuses on the character of a young child. I did further research into how the child is
represented in previous horror conventions.
The horror genre franchise has become very popular amongst its audiences over a period of time, the child
phenomena had increased over time in horror films. For example: “The Exorcist” (1973) gave the effect to the
audience that the child was a demon possessed girl and that then made the audience not just frightened but
wanting more. The role of the child as the demon figure in horror films has become increasingly popular and one of
the best Hollywood reoccurring conventions.
Are children stereotypically in Horror Films?
Children are commonly cast as the face of innocence within the context of the storyline in some ways children are
stereotypically usually you will see a child who appears in the film as a ghost or maybe as the victim.
The most popular way that Children are represented in horror films would be as the creepy little kid. You can tell
from the minute these kids are on screen that they are the evil one. This can be seen in many different kinds of
films in the genre and two that stand out for me is the movies about orphans that get adopted into new families and
then their possessed side comes out or they bring their ghost friend with them, for example the film “Orphan” she
is very creepy looking from the very start when we see her. They have nice hair, dark very plain clothes but there is
something about all their faces that you know right when you see them that something is off. The other aspect of
this type of film is that there are more creepy little girls than little boys. The only reason I think that more girls are
shown as the possessed one is because they are meant to be innocent and act like a princess and when they are
doing evil things it is more shocking. Little boys can often be seen as getting into trouble so it would not be as weird
if it were little boys.
Horror films stereotypically women, can be portrayed as being more active than passive, and their passive roles are
normally conveyed in other forms of media.
In certain horrors they can even be seen as the heroes, or the characters that save the day. For example: the
shining, the main female protagonist also turned out to be a “final girl” she survived to the end.
Also, the final girl normally lasts to the end of the film, by either defeating the demon/monster or actually turning
into the monster. This type of female strength is only portrayed in the horror film genre. The males are
stereotypically portrayed as mainly the aggressive types. However, in horror films you do normally have a male
protagonist, they generally get defeated and the female takes over.

2. • I have represented the social group working class, through the main character, a
young girl, she is a protagonist character and is represented through her age.
• She's a young child, which are stereotypically seen to be innocent and sweet
however, ironically I contrasted this in my horror opening sequence as she turns
into this ‘monster’ which is scary for the audience.
• I have presented her to be middle class as she can afford to live in a nice, good
sized house, also she seems to be wearing pyjamas in a room full of children's toys
and a nice furniture, which shows her and her family (the other character) must
be financially stable, the fact that there are two female characters in it I believe
that the gender representation has more of an impact than ethnicity.