Gender representation in Horror.

Carol Clover in Men Woman and Chainsaws argues that Horror's representation of gender is very interesting because it frequently offers it's core target audience of males an identification with a female character, unlike any other mainstream genre. To what extent do you think Horror's representation of gender challenges dominant representation?

In most mainstream film genres woman are represented in one of four common ways. They're either represented as a sex object, a consumer, as domestic or marital. This conclusion was drawn from looking at a number of existing research pieces which all came to this common conclusion. In 1992 research was carried out and the results showed that men outnumbered women by two to one onscreen but later research demonstrated that this had changed and both genders were now shown almost equally.  Even though the number of men and woman were said to be similar the roles each gender played didn't seem to have changed.  Men were still much more likely to be shown having a job, being away from home and as authority figures. The females are still mostly being placed into the four categories mentioned above. It could also be said that female roles have digressed slightly in movies. In earlier films like the Alien series the female protagonist played by Sigourney Weaver is a lot different to female protagonists in more recent films. The female protagonist is a strong woman who isn't portrayed in a sexual way. This is different to more common protagonists like Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series who is portrayed in a sexual way via the clothes she wears and the content of the movies. 

The Male Gaze is another popular theory on the ways females are represented in the media. Famous essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' by Laura Mulvey includes a lot about the male gaze. The male gaze theory suggests that viewers of commercial cinema are put into the position of a male because of the use of camera work which presents women as objects and men as subjects. In many media texts there are often shots of females which start at the legs and slowly move up at a tilt to show her body. Shots like this are also often Point of View shots from males. Long shots are also often used when showing females so that their whole body fits on the screen. It is argued by Mulvey and other that mainsteam film has sexist viewing on females because of the way the male gaze and other ways that women are portrayed makes the audience look at them as objects instead of subjects. This is called Sadistic objectification. 

In the horror genre it could be said that there is a very different representation of females. Carol Clover presents the idea of the "final girl" in her book Men, Woman and Chainsaws. The final girl is usually a female with some male characteristics, often with a gender neutral name, who has been victimized throughout the film. Clover also says that by the end of the film this final girl will become somehow monstrous herself. This final girl will be the sole person to come out victorious in many horror movies, which means the males are asked to identify with this female character instead of the strong and macho males that they would usually identify with in most mainstream genres. This raises the question of why horror movies ask males to identify with these female roles, and why they are willing to do it. Carol Clover suggests that it is because the majority of males can relate to the experience of feeling weak and dominated by a male force at some point in their life, even if it is only in childhood. The final girl definitely challenges the representation of females in most mainstream genres. However other female roles in horror films do reinforce the stereotype. In most slasher horror movies there will be women who are portrayed as sex objects, but more often than not these characters will be killed.

I have studied three horror movies which all both reinforce and challenge the idea that females in the horror genre are represented differently to other mainstream genres. The first movie that I will discuss is the 1978 slasher Halloween. This film has equal visibility of both male and female genders but the main protagonist of the movie is Laurie, a female who fits Carol Clover's final girl role and whom the target audience of young males are asked to relate to. Laurie is presented in a domestic way as she is babysitting throughout most of the film and the majority of the other females in the film, Linda, Annie and Judith, are all presented as sex objects. These roles that the females are placed in fit with the roles that  females would be placed in in most mainsteam film genres. Throughout the film there are also a couple of times where the male gaze idea is used. At the start of the film when we are put into the point of view of Michael Myers we see his sister in a state of undress before he kills her. There is also use of the male gaze when Annie is in the laundry room and when Linda is dying. However for all these males gazes the audience is put into the shoes of Michael Myers, the monster of the movie, which is different to the type of male gaze used in other genres. Sixty percent of the deaths that occur in this film are female which is a negative thing for the representation of females in the horror genre. The fact that we are asked to identify with Laurie throughout the film does however challenge the idea of dominant representation. At the end of this film Laurie is the one who is fighting Michael off. In other mainstream genres it would be a strong male character depicted as a saviour. This however is slightly undermined when Dr. Loomis saves Laurie and supposedly defeats Michael.
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The second movie that I will discuss the ways in which the horror genre challenges the dominant idea of female representation is the 1982 film The Shining, which is about a family who move to a hotel to take care of it whilst it is closed for the winter. In this movie that number of males outnumbers the females by quite a lot which supports the 1992 research on the visibility of females onscreen. The females in this film do fit into the four categories that females usually have in mainstream genres. Wendy fits into both the domestic and marital categories as she takes care of the hotel, even though this is meant to be her husband Jacks job, and she takes care of thier son, Danny. The use of woman as sex objects is not as prominant in this film as it is in Halloween. The woman in the bathtub of room 237 is portrayed in a sexual way and the male gaze is used on her. However the transormation of the woman from young to old undermines this. Wendy eventually becomes a protagonist in the film so this fits with the way horror genres ask males to identify with females, which follows the idea that the horror genre represents females in a different way to other mainstream genres. The death count in this movie is equal in both genders and the females in this film do not seem to be punished for transgression like they are in Halloween. I feel that this movie both supports and challenges the idea that females are represented differently in the horror genre compared to other mainstream genres.

The final movie that I will compare to the idea of female represenation being different in horror movies is the 2008 film Eden Lake. This film is about a couple who go on a camping trip and then get tormented by a group of local youths. The visibility in this film is that men outnumber the women eight to five which reinforces the 1992 research of there being more men onscreen than there are women. I personally feel that the female roles in this film steer away from the four categories compared to The Shining and Halloween. Both of the members of the couple in this film work, so this goes against the idea that mostly men are depicted working. Although Jenny is a primary school teacher which could fit into one of the categories as her job is teaching children. We also see a woman who is working as a waitress in this film. Paige, the teenage girl in this film definitely stands away from the four roles that females are usually put into. Her attitude and behaviour could be considered quite masculine which makes up for the fact that the female protagonist that the males audience is asked to identify with is quite feminine. There is one use of the idea of the male gaze in this film, which is when the teens look at Jenny through a pair of binoculars and the camera follows along Jenny's body. This shot however is undermined when the next shot puts Jenny as the subject and not the boys. Throughout this movie four males are killed and two females are killed which shows that this film does not punish women more than men. Like the previous two films I have spoken about, the target audience of young males are asked to identity with a seemingly weak female character. This film however  doesn't have a "final girl" in the strictest sense as we are led to believe that Jenny herself is killed after becoming monstrous herself and causing two of the deaths in this film. I feel that this movie does represent females mostly in ways which challenge other mainstream genres.

Overall, in the genre of horror males are asked to identify with female characters in a masochistic way which is different to the sadistic objectification that occurs in other mainstream genres. I personally feel that horror movies do challenge the dominant representation of female characters in a number of ways but I also feel that they fall guilty of representing females in the often sexist view that mainstream movies do aswell.