Issues of Representation of gender in the horror genre

Like every other genre, Horror as a medium has always stuck to certain rules and conventions that have created stereotypes and structures that we have become associated with. One of these stereotypes commonly put forward is that of horror having a reactionary agenda in terms of the genders (commonly with women being objectified, weak and in a damsel in distress role whilst the men are head strong, objectifiers and commonly actually play the roles of the monsters themselves). Throughout this essay I shall seek to analyse this stereotype to see just how valid it is.

First of all we must recognise a basic structure of horror that largely owes its conception back to the ‘slasher’ films of the late 70s and the 80s starting all the way back in Halloween. Typically there will be a small list of main characters (largely in their teens or considered young by society’s standards) of which most will be promiscuous and hedonistic except for one girl who is commonly identified as “the final girl”. Whilst the rest are slaughtered by the psychopath/monster; the final girl will largely survive, and fight back against the monster in turn becoming slightly monstrous herself. It is this whole “promiscuity = death” ideology reflected in the horror genre that has propagated for many the reactionary stereotype. However is this an implied intention of the genre or simply a misreading on part of the audience?

John Carpenter (director of Halloween) claims that it has been a misinterpretation. He claimed that the reason for the deaths of the more sexually active teens in Halloween over Laurie (the virginal and androgynous protagonist of Halloween) is that they were distracted by modern life over their hedonistic life styles, whilst Laurie is smarter due to her being far more observant.  Whilst this is perhaps true, Halloween had created a larger force horror films to come that would perhaps propagate this incorrect image.

One interesting interpretation of the issue of gender representation is the consistency at which characters are indeed promiscuous. It could indeed be argued that the large consistency in which characters engage in sexual behaviour in the horror genre could be an attempt by the individual creators to show sexual conduct as an act of normality and merely part of society having little to no agenda implied upon it. By and large the horror usually begins as an unusual event in the otherwise normal lives of the individual which if anything interrupts their usual lives rather than condemns it, perhaps vilifying the monster for being the interrupting force oppressing the progressive viewpoint.

Whilst this does perhaps create an interesting discussion point, it also does not deny the general nature of the characters. In class we have been studying for instance 3 distinct films in the forms of Halloween, The Shinning and Eden Lake. By and large we see Laurie from Halloween as weak cowering and screaming for help, Wendy (the female lead of ‘The shining’) attempting to be merely a wife and mother whilst cowering from her violent and abusive husband and finally Jenny (The female lead of ‘Eden Lake’) being originally identified as a sex object and until the very end of the film (in which she kills two children) she is identified as also being helpless. The men on the other hand are shown to be monstrous in the form of Mike Myers, Psychotic and abusive in the form of Jack and Brett being violent and largely one minded. Indeed were we to analyse this from a straightforward basis we would gain the impression that women are the weaker and more vulnerable of the genders whilst men are the more controlling and powerful which is certainly a reactionary agenda. With such a large percentage of the horror audience being men as well, perhaps it could be interpreted that this is an attempt at earning more profit merely by reinforcing the ideology of male empowerment in an otherwise more progressive time.

It must however be noted how the final girls eventually become. In all three cases displayed, the final girls all rise to the occasion and fight back against their male oppressors (with Laurie repeatedly killing Mike Myers, Wendy hitting jack with a baseball bat and stabbing his hand and finally Jenny aiming to stab the hand of the man who ultimately does indeed kill her) perhaps signifying a counter attack to the male empowerment idea with the more reactionary female empowerment as all three women change to their times and events to attain more masculine qualities to survive (e.g. violence and in the cases of Jenny and Wendy a paternal like defensive role).

Weighing the arguments back and forth, I would say that Horror as a genre is perhaps more progressive than it is reactionary, however it is largely deniable that there is at least some very reactionary elements within the medium as a whole.

An explanation of the functions of a film distribution company

The role of the film distributor is primarily and promptly to  ensure that the film gets as many views as possible and is "distributed" to the widest number of sources.

The distribution plan will help the producer when  making the different media items used to advertise the film. The distribution plan will focus on what their target audience wants, their potential competition (something of an issue for any distributor due to the increasing number of people illegally downloading movies every year as well as the number of pirate dvds now on the market) , how succesfful have certain elements been in the past and they must seriously capitulate on the advantages of the cinema experience (e.g. the recent trend to have practically every film in 3D) etc and if made correctly should ensure that the marketing plan runs smoothly and effectivly

The Marketing plan should focus on three key areas, advertising, publicty and promotions  to determine how  they are going to target the right audience.

Advertising will usually include trailers, posters, fliers etc, television advertisements etc. Basically anything that directly advertises the film itself as a product of the company.

Promotions will usually work in accordance with another, non film related company. The best example of this is how Disney Pixar often promotes its movies through Mcdonalds which will sell Pixar toys, show images on the happy meal boxes and on their teleivision adverts, advertising both Mcdonalds and Pixar.

 Publicity is usually generated by the Distribution company arranging interviews for the stars and director. This can include things such as televised interviews on some form of talk show, to giving exclusives to a magazine company so that they orient their magazine and focus on the movie product.

In theory if the marketing and distribution plan is stuck to effectivly, the film should be advertised very effectivly.

The difference between a teaser trailer and a theatrical trailer

When advertising a film, we will usually see a teaser trailer that will later be followed by a theatrical trailer.

The teaser trailer is usually meant to entice the audience and create hype for the production without revealing too much information. The idea is to create a sense of intruige to work alongside the advertising campaign
Likewise, a theatrical trailer is usually meant to explain the plot and general themes of the film, allowing the person watching to make an informed descision as to if they want to watch the film or not.

Common themes that the teaser trailer will have in comparrison to the theatrical trailer is the use much faster music, much shorter shots and generally the trailer as a whole will be smaller.
Whilst both the theatrical and the teaser trailer will often use a large title as part of the usual design, the teaser trailer will usually have a much bigger emphasis on the title (at least in how it stays on longer than most shots)

Applying Narrative theories to the Shinning

In class we have been studying the narrative theories of Tzevtan Todorov, Vladmid Propp, Claude Levi-Strauss, Bordwell and Thompson. The theories of these individuals try to explain how we (the audience) experience a story and how stories are created in turn around these experiences.

To test these theories, we decided to watch "The Shinning" and see if we could apply these theories and see if they related to the narrative structure of the film.

The first theory we analysed was that of Todorov. Todorov suggested that all stories began with a state of equilibrium that is disrupted by some event which creates a series of other events. In theory this "disequilibrium" should then be restored to a new state of equilibrium by the end of the film.

In the narrative of the shinning, we can certainly apply this theory but (in my oppinion) not to a credible extent

We start the film indeed with an arguable state of equilibirum (Jacks an author, lives with his wife and child who live fairly normal lives) that can only be challenged when it is suggested that the family move around alot and havent found time to establish routes (albeit this too can be argued as their form of equilibrium). In the end however no state of Equilibrium is ever achieved as Danny and his Mother drive off into the distance to an uncertain future...

Vladmire Propp suggested that every story had characters which would fulfill a role within the story to help progress the story. These include the Villain, Hero, Donor, Helper, Princess, Father, Dispatcher and the False Hero.

Whilst Propp is certainly applicable in certain areas of the Shinning (e.g. the Princess clearly being Dannys mother), many of the roles are far too ambiguous to be effective (e.g. Jack can be seen as the Villain and a sort of "Hero-victim at the same time) creating a confusing analysis


Levi-Strauss analysed stories from the point of view that they all had Binary Opposites (e.g. Light vs Dark). This is certainly an applicable element to the shinning, as evidenced by the common case of Natural vs Supernatural, Good vs Evil and Living vs Dead themes that reccur consistently throughout the film.

Orphan Movie Trailer

Orphan conforms to the usual trailer conventions quite notably through its use of music. It starts off with a quite nice and upbeat peice of music that changes as some oddity to the plot is added. This highlights the massive change and unusual elements of the film which attract the audience. Whilst it does not use intertitles as its medium of communicating with the audience, there are large extracts from the dialogue designed purely to motivate the audience into viewing the film. There is also the fact that Leonardo Dicaprio worked as a producer for the film, his fame attracting a large audience to the production.

It obeys the horror conventions through its clever use of contrapuntal music (e.g. Esther singing at the end of the trailer "Thats the story of, thats the story of love..." in a rather creepy fashion) ultimately creating an extremely oxymoron like effect. It also utilisesthe whole idea of turning a normal, mundane and innocent entitiy or object (such as a clown or in this case Esther) into something horrifying. Finally iconography of Esther is a method of conforming to the horror stereotype. She is shown to have a pale face, yet startlingly dark eyes and almost obsidian black  hair which creates a witch like supernatural air to her.

What I would most like to implement from the trailer is its consistent oxymoron like themes.  Turning an innocent location, person or scene into something horrific is something I hope I have the ability to implement.

Devil - Official Trailer [HD]

Devil utilises common production conventions in the form of its acknowledging a famous director (in this case M Night Shyamalan), its use of intertitles to build suspense for the viewer and as well as its displaying the studio from which the film was filmed. Interestingly, we as an audience recognise the names and studio with a style and quality we enjoy. Even if we knew very little about the film itself, many of us could be sold purely on the basis that its a M Night Shyamalan film, famous for their plot twists. The studio on the other hand has a different basis. Whilst I have not done enough research to say for certain that this is true, it would appear to me that by listing the name of the company we immediatly get an idea of a set quality. 'Universal 'for instance is recognised and "trusted" in a manner akin to brand awareness to the audience, whilst a film company such as 'Asylum' would largely be unknown and people warey to its standards.
In terms of the horror conventions, Devil - official trailer fulfils this rather nicely. Its general "dark" motif sets the stage for a grim and unnatural film compared to a light hearted and saturated comedy. We also see breif moments of seeming stillness broken by a breif glimpse of a supernatural figure. This "tensed spring" effect is atypical of the horror genre and is seen as a staple in almost all modern horror films. Finally it leaves the audience unknowing who and what the killer is and establishes a sense of mystery, a horror technique that leaves the audience unsatisfied and wanting more.
Ultimatly I chose to look at Devil for its effective use of spring and tension, as well as its unusual setting. Whilst the spring and tension method is of course a standard I would want to implement, the trailer intruiged me for how it was able to turn a mundane setting (e.g. an elevator) into a nightmarish and supernatural setting, something I wish to implement myself.

Sorority Row - Official Trailer [HD]

"The Return of the Repressed"

"The Return of the Repressed" was a theory of Sigmund Freud stating that the wanton desires that we repress to become part of civilisation (e.g. the transition from baby to man involving a lot of repression of want want want if we wish to become a member of society) and that these repressed thoughts and desires will come out in the form of mental symptoms.

This theory is useful to the horror genre for the eerily human factor that is applied to give greater fear of famous villains. An example of this would be Micheal Myers from the "Halloween" series of films with his enthusiasm for killing being identifiable even to a "civilised" audience.

Perhaps then it can be suggested that horror allows for the audience to experience these carnal desires within the safety of the movie and without killing anyone else.
This is however highly debatable as Freuds theories over the years have oft been discredited due to such studies as the Westermark effect, and therefore any such theory as the return of the repressed must be taken with a 'pinch of salt'

Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth [Trailer]

The Walking Dead trailer