Aaron Stephens
How are females represented in the Horror Genre?
The conventions of a Horror film or the Horror genre are lots of blood, Teenagers being stupid, women being
Represented
as weak and the Antagonist being the biggest threat in the film that is
Being showed. In addition, the mise-en-scene of the genre is costumes e.g. fake blood, torn clothes and make up
props e.g. Knives, Cars and Candles. Special effects e.g. flickering lights, muzzle
Flash of a gun and lighting of a scene. Sound e.g. Lightning, TV static and Footsteps. In a Horror film, you can expect
Jump scares and psychotic people, unnatural creatures or behaviour and
Women being disempowered by men in the horror genre.
It is important to study women in film because they are the main the focus to male audience. We also study women
In film because they are shown in different ways in every genre but in horror
They are shown as a weak sex, which cowers down to the males and relies on them to protect them. We portray
Women like this to give the males something to watch for example in Nightmare
On Elm Street Tina is shown as a female who does not know how to protect herself and ends up dead by the hands
Of the antagonist.
The synopsis of The Ring is that it is about a woman called Rachel whose nephew was murdered and she wants to
Find out what happened to her. She finds out that there’s a myth that if you
Watch a certain tape you will get a phone call after the tape has finished with a girl on the other side telling you
7 Days. This happens to Rachel and she goes to find a deeper meaning of the tape
Instead of that, she discovers its dark history. The reason that The Ring fits the Horror genre is because there
Is a number of a thing that you would not see in the real world like dead girls?
Coming out of TVs and a hand coming out of Rachel’s hair when in the shower.
The synopsis of Nightmare on Elm street is when you fall asleep a mass murderer by the name of Freddy Kruger
Try’s to put you to sleep for good while you’re dreaming. The reason why
Nightmare on Elm Street fits the horror genre is because there is a lot of blood and gore, which suggests this film,
Is not for children and mainly for a mature audience.
The characteristics of Tina from Nightmare on Elm Street is that she is vulnerable, weak and she is the Damsel
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In distress of the film because she relies on her boyfriend to save her Tina is disempowered in two ways: 1.
Through sound and two. Through her wearing her boyfriend’s clothes. In Nightmare on Elm Street Tina is
Disempowered from the clothes she is wearing. My evidence from the extract is that she is wearing white
Underwear and her boyfriend’s shirt. Her boyfriend’s shirt makes her feel protected and she is no longer
Vulnerable .The connotations from the costume she is wearing is purity, innocence, goodness and peace.
This disempowers her because she thinks her boyfriend will help her because she is the Damsel in distress.
The characteristics of Nancy are brave, Heroic and she is the Protagonist/Troublemaker. She is like this because in
The end of nightmare on Elm Street she brings Freddy Kruger (Antagonist) out of the dream world and traps him
In her room with a trap outside the door. This scene shows her in a way which females are not usually showed in the h
Tina and Nancy are shown to be weak in the beginning of the film but are shown to be stronger throughout the
Course of the film. The scene of Tina’s death is the final scene we can see her and how she actually has grown
Stronger over the films period but she did not grow strong enough to take on Freddy as Nancy did at the end of the
Film. Instead, he killed her.
In Psycho, the females in the film Marion and Lila are not exactly innocent Marion (The Damsel in Distress) stole
$100,000 from her boss. In addition, she tries escaping which she succeeds in doing then is killed by The Antagonist
(Norman Bates) while in the shower. When Lila is the troublemaker and relies on her boyfriend Sam to save her.
Overall these two characters are the definition of the female role in horror films
a
s they are weak, attractive and young.
The characteristics of the women in black (Jennet) are dark, evil, mysterious and she is also the antagonist because
She makes young children commit suicide when somebody sees her. When the characteristics of Arthurs wife
(Stella) are goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity these are the connotations of white because she is
Wearing a white dress. She is wearing the white dress because she died and she is in heaven. We can compare
These two because the women in black is the strongest one out of the two because she is the one who we got
To know the most plus she killed many children from the village. In addition, this affects Stella because she has the
less screen time of all the characters. Since we do not see her till the very end.
Non-diegetic sounds such as narrator's commentary, sound effects and music, which is added later in
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Development of a film. These portray women in a negative way in the majority of films. The media of films
Portray women
Irrational voice is when women is shown disempowered by her voice and acts irrationally such as screaming
And shouting and screaming if in danger by the antagonist or another threat. Irrational voice disempowers
Women by making them just scream and shout if there life is in danger. For example, Tina from NOES is represented
Via the irrational voice as she would act in an irrational manor any time, she felt threatened by
Freddy.
In conclusion, women in the horror genre are greatly disempowered as they are always over
powered by the antagonist and greatly mistreated by the males and are seen as a sexual object,
which you get rid of instantly. Proven by the male gaze theory.