How horror represents Gender.

Carol Clover in “Men, Women and Chainsaws” argues that many horror films are interesting in their representation of gender, because they provide a female point of identification for a male core target audience. To what extent do you think horror represents gender progressively?

Men and women are both viewed differently with in the media. Research shows that men and women are portrayed with the classical theoretical view. The classical theoretical view of media is based strongly on old research which suggests stereotypical views of women and men. They seem to show that women are presented as, “submissive, passive, with a focus on physical beauty (defined very narrowly) sexuality and emotionality. They are often defined through relationships through men.” Jeremy Tunstall (1983) views women to have 4 roles in society, domestic, sexual, consumer and marital. They also believe that men are presented to be “dominant, strong, active, independent, intellectual and authoritative.” These stereotypes are how the sexes are presented throughout media. Research shows that the media doesn’t show men and women in equal majorities but at a ratio of 2:1 and 2 being males. However more recent research shows that the media are starting to equal this out and it is close to a 50/50 match with in the media. However the amounts of males and females may be equal the way they are shown is still sexist to the fact that men are shown to have more important jobs and females are still shown to be one of the four, domestic, sexual, consumer or marital. For example a news report on an old lady winning the lottery may be titled “grandmother wins lottery” however if I old man was to win the title would not be written as “grandfather”. These ideas of how men and women are portrayed in the media are thought to then be placed into the movie genre of horror through the description of characters and the roles they for fill in the movie. It also states the amount of male and female characters with in the movie.
Carol clover believes that men are able to view horror through the eyes of a female due to the ability to familiarise them self with female victim. Carol clover talks about the movie “Carrie and the boys” where Carrie is represented as the victim, monster and the hero. This monstrous hero doesn’t become monstrous until forced to by situations or other characters in the movie. As she starts out as more of the victim hero. Where she is victimised by bullying off of her peers and family. The heroic side of her actions always come through as a monstrous act on other people. This monstrous act is seen as revenge to the bullying that she has been getting. Carol believes the reason males are able to familiarise themselves with the final girl is through the understanding of pain and bullying and how in the past they may have been or seen bullying around them. They are therefor able to watch a movie through the gaze of a female as she goes through similar experiences as bullying.
I have watched three horror movies and have decided to test out these theories. The movies I watched include Eden Lake (2008), the shinning (1982) and Halloween (1978). The first section I wanted to analyse is the character visibility of each sex. The movie “Eden lake” (2008) uses the conventional theory as men outnumber women 11-6. This seems to be based on the old conventions of the media and is therefore not representing gender progressively. The movie “The shining” (1982) also follows the 1992 research of men out numbering females 2:1. The movie “Halloween” (1978) has a ratio of 1:1 for male and female characters and is therefore progressively representing genders correctly. I then looked at the roles that the females within them have. In the movie Eden Lake jenny is portrayed as a domestic family member. The waitress is also domestic and Paige objectifies herself when she says “are you looking at my breasts”. She also is shown to be objectified as she wasn’t made to cut the male as he was tied up. This implies she isn’t a subject with in the group but more of an object. The shining represents females as domestic and sexual through the characters Wendy the sectary and the bath tub lady. However Wendy throughout the movie progresses to break the conventional view as she begins to look after the hotel and do her husband’s chores as he becomes more mentally ill. The movie “Halloween” three characters are seen as sex objects and Laurie and Annie are portrayed as domestic. This follows the idea that females are seen to fit within the four sections of media under the theory of the old theoretical view. In all the movies the female character becomes the main protagonist and this goes against the main convections of the classical theoretical view and shows how horror is progressing in its views on the female gender. I then went onto looking at the gaze of the movie. In Eden Lake the character jenny is subjected by the group of youths as they look at her through the binoculars. This is the only time that the camera objectifies a female with in the movie however the next shot is a reaction shot showing how jenny feels when she realises that she is being objectified and she covers herself up and this shows that she doesn’t like the youths looking at her and that looking at people in that way can be harmful or disrespectful. This is the only use of male gaze with in the movie. The movie the shining the bath tub lady is seen to be objectified through a male gaze as she gets out of the bath, then she has her transformation and the male gaze is lost. The transformation could be seen as a punishment for viewing her through a male gaze of bath tub lady. This could be a message through the movie not to see females in that way. Within the movie Halloween the movie at the beginning was viewed all through the point of view of Michael. Most of the females with in the movie are seen to be objectified and seen as a sex object before they die, however Laurie never gets objectified and then becomes the main protagonist and is the final girl who lives on. I then began to look at the narrative of the movies and found that Eden Lake has a none sexist view on females through the fact that jenny becomes the final girl and main protagonist and the body count of females compared to males is not sexist against women as there is a ratio of 4 males and 2 females who die in the movie. The movie The shining Wendy ends up as the main protagonist and the body count is equal and therefore the movie is not sexist and women are not being punished. Halloween has Wendy as the main protagonist and she also throughout the movie she is seen as a weak but ultimately surviving figure who overcomes the monster. The movie has a unequal amount of deaths from males compared to females. Three females die compared to two males and the deaths seem to be punishments for being sexually active.
I conclude that horror movies are mainly following the statistics found in the classic theoretical view of how women are viewed within the media. However some movies throughout the horror genre have a progressive view of gender with in their movies and this is becoming more common throughout the horror movie genre.