Representation Of Women

Representation of Women

Particularly in the horror genre, genders are presented in very stereotypical ideologies thus of which are followed throughout, developing throughout time. In this essay I will be analyzing the theories of three key individuals in the representation of media, Carol Clover, Jeremy Tunstall, and Laura Mulvey, in conjunction to this I will be comparing and assessing multiple horrors that support these concepts and also those that go against these typical conventions. I also aim to analyze the comparatives between modern to older horrors, in order to grasp how these conventions have advanced, either diminishing or becoming more established within the genre.

The films I will be using as my examples will be ‘Wrong Turn’(2003), ‘Halloween’(1978) and ‘House of Wax’(2005), these all depict all aspects of the theories that I will be discussing based on character roles within the film; in one sense or another. The first theory I will be discussing is the ‘Male Gaze’ theory sought out by Laura Mulvey, a feminist film critic with such works as ‘Citizen Kane’ and ‘Invention’, wrote an essay titled ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ this 1975 piece was influenced purely on how females in movies are portrayed. This is a very impacting piece when it comes to media representation, more specifically feminist film theory. The ‘Male Gaze’ is the way in which the camera is essentially the perspective of a stereotypical heterosexual male, where the perception of the woman is often represented in an erotic light, for the audience as well as the characters within the film. This makes the male seen to have a dominant standpoint, where the woman is passively seen falling victim to this, this often becoming described as patriarchal and manipulative. Mulvey links this to Freuds notion of ‘scopophilia’, this is described as a ‘pleasure that is linked to sexual attraction and scopophilic pleasure that is linked to narcissistic identification’, so the egotistical visualization from a male viewpoint is a factor in this instance. An example of this is ‘House of Wax’ this 2005 thriller, that’s taken the inspiration from the 1953 ‘House of Wax’, in which Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert are the direct examples that support the notation of the ‘Male Gaze’ theory in which they are both inclined throughout to wear provocative clothing, for the intention of the male pleasure. Many scenes throughout give the impression of her being an object over a subject, in one scene where Elisha falls into a pit in which all of her clothes become covered in blood from carcasses resulting in her needing to change her clothes, this scene is unnecessary to include in a horror sense, but was left in for male satisfaction. Though this character was only shown in a sexual manner, where she was the character with main intent of the goal that’s been set out, playing into the structural consensus theory, contradictory to this is Paris’ character who is strongly presented as an erotic figure, with examples such as her sex scene where she’s undressed to reveal her lingerie, and the notable death scene in which lasts an extended period of time of her running around with a very minimal amount of clothing covering her, she played into this stereotype with the attractive, blonde, unintelligent portrayal, thus leading her to death due to the stereotypes of sexual activity inevitably leading to death, the only survivors being Elisha’s character and her brother; this is due to the final girl theory.

The final girl theory was an ideology from Carol Clover, a professor of film studies, where her works have been published widely in her multiple fortes. This theory is seen to be  one that opposes others such as male gaze, in which male gaze the woman is portrayed in a way the male wants to see them, though some of these conventions are inherited not all are followed, as will show evident later. The woman that follow this theory follow the goal in order to heed survival, come across as courageous, don’t sexually invite themselves, often taken up some masculine features in their characteristics also, as the name suggests these are the ones that last through to the end of the film due to their focus on the primary concern and not taken away by petty concerns or activities, even when encountered with the primary antagonist. This ideology draws away from the growing concern surrounding subjectivity in movies, especially considering this is after the essay by Laura Mulvey about feminism in movies was published, and her work did seem to make impact. As previously discussed ‘House of Wax’ has Elisha Cuthbert’s character who follows this convention, who throughout is set out on repairing the car, trying to escape as soon as possible, where many of the other characters engage in sexual activity in one form or another in which leads to death, though Elisha is seen under the ‘Male Gaze’ in some instances and features, her personality and intention differs from the others especially the other prominent female played by Paris Hilton who’s intention is her boyfriend. Another film that highlights this theory expendably is ‘Halloween’, the character Laurie Strode played by Jamie Lee Curtis follows every convention of the final girl theory, she is focused on her education, she doesn’t even have the intention of attending a date where instead she would prefer to stay in, she comes from a middle class background, these ideologies are what was conventional at the time of release. Justifying that they haven’t progressed too much through the years as these are still influenced into horrors especially, where Michael Myers would target those who are focused on erotic activities and education over other key intentions, for example overlooking the children, instead giving that responsibility to Laurie who successfully protects them and her-self based on her dominant willpower, though she is saved by a male character, she does still fall under final girl due to her surviving throughout even when encountering the killer. Her character itself is seen to have masculine qualities, deeper voice, and virile determination; even though she rarely even bears any provocative light, other female characters do which still keeps the ‘Male Gaze’ in the movie. The objectification of characters such as Lynda who appears subjected due to her involvement with a sex scene and skimpy apparel does give the ‘Male Gaze’ reinforcement throughout, but as discussed it becomes evident she does get killed by Mike Myers, but this movie does seem to be more from the eyes of the ‘Final Girl’ rather than the camera which around this time was a growing concern in the feminism community.

The final theory is from theorist and author Jeremy Tunstall with his concept being the ideology of women being based around 4 main roles, these being: domestic, sexual, consumer and marital. These are what are believed to be the roles that females pursue throughout the films, sexual is a notation well depicted through the male gaze theory, domestic would be acting in a stereotypical motherly way throughout. Consumer is one that arguably is closely linked to the domestic role, for example ‘The Crazies’ have this role in demonstration where Judy has already planned the babies’ arrival and purchased many items in preparation for the child’s room, though she also takes under multiple roles, where she being pregnant and married are very marital behaviour. Though in some relations she challenges conventions in her suggested earning more money than her husband, giving the impression she is highly educated in being employed as a doctor, this independence that’s developed throughout the movie does make her stray away from typical female roles. Because more of these conventional roles are challenged frequently in modern film, as during the time of Jeremy Tunstall publishing ‘The Media in Britain’ it was 1983 so these have slightly become outdated and not undertaken too often due to the subjectivity of woman in film of recent times taking a higher priority, this is what causes the independence within certain characters.

In conclusion, the theories, in my opinion are still all viable, the camera more often than not have scenes on certain characters where it still takes the perspective of a heterosexual manner, as there are many sexualised female scenes. Also due to the media patriarchy surrounding males, the females are presented as having stereotypical roles, though these theories are being challenged more and more due to integrity women set on character objectivity, these present them in an unconventional manner, for example the ‘Final Girl’ is a formidable example of how these are challenged in every woman as these women follow the theory and survive, sometimes they can possess some roles, such as Judy in ‘The Crazies’ taking on multiple roles due to her relations, ‘Halloween’ Laurie Strode seems to be fairly domestic, though they stray away from certain roles, predominantly sexual.