Throughout the course of this essay I will be exploring the representations of women within the horror genre. I will attempt to analyse these by focusing on historical representations, and continuing through to a more modern portrayal of women within the genre. Doing this will allow me to compare, and comment on any changes that may have developed, while also discussing what the representations say about how women are seen in a wider context and, within society as whole. In order to achieve this, I will investigate the observations of many theorists. The main ones being Laura Mulvey, Carol Clover and Jeremy Tunstall.
The way men and woman are represented in horror films is very stereotypical, and this can be seen in these three horror movie posters that where published between the 1950s and 1960s. In all three the women are presented in sexually suggesting clothing or even naked. This is early proof of Laura Mulveys Male Gaze Theory 1975 . In this theory she states that, during a horror film, the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. She claimed that the classic Hollywood Structure of a film lead to objectification of women always being the case. This is clearly seen in these posters, as the women seem to be there for display purposes, in order to attract a wider, heterosexual male audience, which are often the main target audience for most horror films. Particularly early examples like these. The women in these posters are also shown to be completely submissive and helpless, as well as emotional, whereas any men are shown to be protective and fearless. Harnessing a hero like quality. In both the ‘Monster From The Ocean Floor’ and the ‘Beginning Of The End’ posters, the man is holding the woman as a form of comfort, and one is even holding a gun as if he is protecting her. This attitude that women are more vulnerable and inferior to men is a reflection of the ideologies of gender roles in society during this time period. Although they are often found in horror films right up until the modern day. For example, in House Of Wax (2005) the character of Paige (played by Paris Hilton) is often shown in very little clothing, and running away from her killer in her underwear. She is shown running around in this provocative manor, before being killed, for a substantially longer amount of time than her male friend, whom was killed quickly. This type of objectification is clearly there for the pleasure of men, and therefore is evidence of the Male Gaze Theory.
Jeremy Tunstalls theory (1983) states that women in horror films fit under four categories. Domestic, Sexual, Consumer and Marital. This means that his theory suggests women are depicted as busy housewives and contented mothers, eager consumers and sex objects for men to look at. This can be seen in the 2010 movie ‘The Crazies’, where the main female role Judy fits into the Marital and consumer categories. This is because she is happily married and is also expecting a baby, shown by the baby’s room that she has spent time buying things for in order to decorate it. On the other hand, she does not appear promiscuous and is not seen wearing provocative clothing throughout the film, meaning that she does not fall into the ‘Sexual’ category and following on from this she also doesn’t fit into the ‘Domestic’ category as she has a well-paid job as a doctor, meaning she is independently earning her own money, and is not living as a housewife. It is argued that this theory is out-dated, as the social norms of today mean that in modern society women no longer rely on the men in their lives for financial aid, and have their own jobs instead. Carol Clovers ‘Final Girl’ theory (1992) is perhaps the most popular theory for horror films. This theory states that the girl that is left alive at the end of horror movies will be the most masculine, the most sexually unavailable, and sometimes have a name that is not traditionally feminine, such as Billie or Sam. Clovers theory claims that the woman would also be the most hard-working, and educated, and also the most likely to fight back instead of the stereotype that women are submissive, often seen in the women portraying the Male Gaze Theory. All of these traits can be seen the character of ‘Laurie’ in the 1978 film ‘Halloween’. Her name is unisex, straight away showing masculinity about her. She is virginal and dresses in long skirts and large frumpy jumpers, as appose to her friends who are seen being promiscuous and wear revealing clothing such as crop tops and short skirts. Responsibility is shown in her looking after children when she babysits, and she also works hard, shown when she complains about forgetting her chemistry book. She is the only female in the film that fights back against the killer, and through doing this she survives. This theory can be contradicted however, in the film Wrong Turn (2003) as even though the final girl Jessie has more masculine traits than her feminine friends, she is seen wearing a tight, low cut top. Making her look more sexual than the final girl theory suggests. This is because this is a more modern interpretation of the final girl theory, meaning that in society it has become more acceptable to be more feminine.