this essay, I will be discussing the representation of gender in horror films. I will be commenting on the following films; Halloween (1978), The Shining (1980), and Eden Lake (2008) in the areas of character visibility, character roles, how female characters are framed and their relevance to the narrative, basing many of my findings on Carol Clovers research from her book – Men, Women and Chainsaws.
Halloween, the earliest film from the selection, features an equal number of speaking female and male parts. This means the visibility of the characters is a 50/50 split between males and females. However, the narrative mainly follows the story of Laurie and her attempts to survive attacks from Micheal Myers; when reduced down to the basic number of characters, they both stand at 6.
The roles that the women in the film are mainly stereotyped. The main characters of the film, Laurie and her friends Annie and Lynda are all only seen in domestic roles. At one point in the film most cook, clean, or look after children. Some characters positions in the narrative are also dependant on their familial relation to men. Firstly; Annie is the daughter of the town sheriff, and Judith (Mikes first victim) is Mike’s sister. Annie and Lynda’s characters are also seen sexually. As Annie takes off her clothes to put them in the wash, and also talks about sex throughout the film. Lynda is seen having sex with her boyfriend and is even seen completely topless. These points show that this film stereotypes women, by pinning them down to male family relations and domestic carers, Lynda and Annie are also objectified as they are seen through the male gaze. Especially the murder of Judith which is seen from the point of view of Micheal through the mask. However these objectifications are made up for by the identification with Laurie – who although a girl, is given a gender neutral name, and appears very boyish in appearance.
In terms of deaths within the film, 3 girls die to 1 man, there is another male death, but his character is never seen alive. More importance is placed on the female murders, as the audience are made to see them die. Also, all of the females that die are sexualised. The only female survivor, Laurie, is not seen in a sexual way, or through the male gaze.
Overall, this film can be seen as progressive in terms of the association with Laurie, and the fact that there are equal numbers of men and women in the film. However, it can be seen as stereotyping because of the objectifications of Annie and Lynda.
The Shining, features a bias towards male characters, who outnumber women 2:1 (which backs up Carol Clovers research of horror films from 1992). This film focuses mainly on the male characters. Following Jack Torrence and his transformation from loving husband to monster. Also, the characters of the Grady Daughters have been counted in this accumulation, as I feel they play a pivotal role in the narratives back story.
The female roles in this film are again mainly domestic and familial. Wendy is only really in the film because she is the wife of Jack – the new caretaker of the Overlook hotel. She is basically a housewife, and is seen making lunch with her son (another relation to a male) at home at the very start of the film; however once they move into the hotel she is not seen doing cleaning or domestic chores, but eventually takes over Jacks roles as the caretaker. The other girls, in Grady’s daughters, are also only in the film because they are the daughters of Delbert Grady. Wendy is never objectified with in this film, as she is never seen in a sexual way, therefore the audience identifies with her. This is different to Grady’s wife, who Jack meets in the bath of room 237 – who is very much sexualised as she is seen in a seductive pose, influencing a man to make a move on her. However, when Jack does kiss her, she turns into a corpse, thus undermining the objectification and giving the male viewer an ashamed feeling.
There are 3 female corpses seen in the film, which is 75% of the overall female character count. Two male characters are also seen to be killed or dead. This film once again stereotypes its female characters, but allows the final girl to be identified with, much like in Halloween.
Eden Lake is a modern British horror, based around a couple on a romantic weekend. Male characters again outnumber females in this film, to the point that there are fewer than half as many females as males. However, Jenny is a pivotal character and takes up a vast majority of the screen time, which in my opinion makes this film not stereotypical of women; however some may argue otherwise because of the vast majority of male characters. The roles women play in this film are mainly familial. As Jennie is on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend, Paige is friends with the boys in the gang. The jobs these woman are seen doing are however mainly jobs stereotyped to women. Jennie is a primary school teacher, and the woman seen working in the cafe is cooking/cleaning in a cafe. Paige’s character is very passive within the gang – as she only records the videos. Outside of the gang she is very aggressive, snapping at Steve on the beach. Jenny can be seen as a sexual figure in the film, as she is on a trip with her boyfriend, becoming his fiancée, however being the final girl, her stereotypes are stretched and distorted, like many final girl narratives. Jenny is seen in the male gaze from Brett’s point of view when sitting on the beach. However this is complicated by the gang being signified as bad, and Jennie clearly being uncomfortable with him looking at her. This identifies the audience with Jennie, rather than objectifying her. In this film, a fair number of deaths on males and females are seen based on the number of characters from the start. 2 out of three females die, and 4 out of 8 males die, basically half of each sex. This film does not really feature a reactionary sexual agenda, as gang member who are not seen having sex die. However, it is also important to note that the final girl does not survive. This film, in my opinion is the most progressive of the three, as it reduces the stereotype of Jenny, forcing us to identify with her for the vast majority of the film.
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