How is gender represented in horror movies? - Essay

Often is is believed that in cinema, the highest demographic is young males, and as a result many movies feature beefed-up manly men as protagonists so that the predominantly male audience do not hesitate to identify with those characters. In horror movies however, this idea of a muscled macho man identification isn't only questioned, but completely thrown out of the window.

The protagonists in horror movies often are, in fact, women. This may be surprising for some since these women do not seem the type to be able to survive the terrifying grasp of evil. Whilst there are occasions where women are made into protagonists just as "eye candy" for the teenage boys (note the young, sexy blonde Jenny in "Eden Lake", who is constantly running in low-cut dresses, emphasising her breasts), there are also many examples of more androgynous female leads - the type of girls many men would refuse to even look at - in which these young men are made not only to watch them, but also to identify and associate themselves with them.
An example of this is seen in legendary 1978 slasher flick "Halloween" with Jamie-Lee Curtis' portrayal of Laurie. Not only is her name androgynous, but her physical appearance also appears as such. she has distinguished features, fairly broad shoulders, is of a reasonably tall height, a deeper voice than many other girls, and a "blouse and trouser" dress sense rather than a "flirt in skirts" sense, unlike her friends who are respectively murdered throughout the film.



Explaining this is Carol J. Clover's theory suggested in "Men, Women and Chainsaws", that questions the use of women, and states that in the world of cinema there are twice as many men as there are women. This is actually supported in films such as the aforementioned 2004 "Eden Lake", which consists of only two key female roles and six key male roles. This is further supported by the conclusion of the film where both of these females have been killed, whilst two thirds of the males are.
However in 1980 "The Shining", only half of this idea applies. The key males include four cast members whilst only three females - two of which are already dead pre-movie. But should we only count on-screen deaths we see that it is only males who die - Jack and Dick Halloran - which does not follow Clover's man-obsessed theory .
"Halloween" offers an almost equal-gender perspective upon the audience, there are three primary women - Laurie and heer two friends - and two main male parts in Michael Myers and Dr Loomis. Similarly the death count features three women and two men. So whilst Clover's theory is supported in terms of death toll, there are in fact more main women in the story itself.

To conclude, there are multiple perspectives on the idea of women in horror, ranging from "There are twice as many men than women" to "Sexy women make men watch the films" to "manly-looking women are protagonists", so ultimately there are no universally synchronous opinions on the role of gender in horror.

Feedback (Via Sean Offord):

"That theory was not Clover's idea. It is a conclusion of research."

"Your writing is excellent, but you don't really get far enough into depth here. You need to look at visibility, roles, the male gaze and the final girl as protagonist, and have a decent chunk on each. You could be an A grade student with more depth and length in this."

B-