Gender representation in horror films

In horror films, gender is represented both progressively and conservatively. For example final girls are often used to provide identification with female characters – for whatever reason this may be for. There are four areas by which gender representation can be analysed in visual media. These are visibility (or how many woman/men there are on screen), roles (domestic/familial/sexual/consumer), gaze and narrative issues.

In Halloween (1978) there are an equal number of male and female characters, showing progressive representation as the ‘typical’ male: female ratio onscreen was shown to be 2:1 in an earlier study. The females in the film take up most of the roles in the film; Lynda and Annie are defined primarily by their sexual role through their activities (we see them undressing and having sex) and their familial roles, such as is shown through their relationships with their family members (for example, as the sheriff’s daughter). They are also shown in the domestic environment, washing up and cleaning etc. None of the women are shown to be buying anything at all, so the consumer role is redundant in the film. As for the ‘gaze’ of the film, or the way cinematography is used to portray them, they are shown both objectively and subjectively. The minor female characters are shown in a more objective way than Laurie, the final girl, is. In other words, though minor characters are objectified, the film offers a principal point of identification with a female. She is not shown in a sexual way, either through mise-en-scene or the way she is filmed. She is androgynous. By this, I mean her name, Laurie, can be a male or female name, she looks fairly masculine and isn’t the typical ‘ditsy’ female character. Through this we can determine that the gaze or identification in the movie is both progressive (in the way that we, the audience, identify with Laurie: a female character and final girl) and conservative (because of the camerawork used to sexualise the minor female characters in scenes such as when they are undressing). The narrative issues of the film, or in the case of horror, which/how many female characters are killed and why, is conservative. Firstly more female characters die than male characters, and all three females and one of the two male characters die for sexual reasons, or so it would appear.

Because of this, it seems the females have been put into their sexual roles for the purpose of their deaths, suggesting a conservative way of representing these female characters in the film. Overall, the use of a final girl who we identify with and her representation in the film makes this film fairly progressive but has an equal number of conservative representations.

The Shining (1980) seems to portray females conservatively rather than progressively, although an interesting scene might betray this suggestion. First, the visibility of women in the film is clearly conservative; there are twice as many men on screen than women, so follows the ‘typical’ ratio found from an earlier study. Although many of the characters counted are minor characters, the most insignificant of these minor characters are female (the receptionist and Grady’s daughters etc.) compared to Grady and the barman. The only significant female characters are Wendy and the woman in the bathroom. Wendy takes on her domestic and familial roles definitively – these are the only things we see her doing. She is represented as a weak, submissive and passive housewife and doesn’t have much character other than what we see through her relationships to her family members. We see her take on a slightly ‘responsible’ role at some points in the film, for example checking the electricity and taking care of the hotel which, while it is supposed to be Jack’s job, is still a domestic role. The woman in the bathroom is represented solely in her sexual role; long takes and reaction shots of Jack are used to identify with him while he objectifies her as a sex object. The interesting thing about this scene, however, is that the scene suddenly turns and changes her into a corpse, completely changing the mood of the scene and taking away her role as a sex object. It might be argued, however, that at this point she is still objectified, but as an object of disgust rather than one of sexual intent. The way the male gaze of Jack is used in this scene is completely different to that used of Wendy, who isn’t objectified at all and is characterized unlike the woman in the bathroom. The narrative of The Shining is interesting in that the final girls gets away but looking at the deaths in the story of the film, there are an equal number of male and female deaths, so looks like the film is progressive in this way – where more female characters in horrors usually die. There are, however, more male characters in the film which means that a higher proportion of female characters die than male characters, so is conservative once again. Overall this film is conservative in representation of female characters, from the number of female characters in the film to their roles and narrative purpose.

The film Eden Lake (2008), a much more modern horror, still has elements of both conservative and progressive views. There are many more men than women in the film; there is almost a 1:4 ratio of onscreen women: men. The main character and final girl in the film, Jenny, is represented as a working woman (although she does have a ‘caring’ job), who wants to marry her boyfriend Steve but isn’t represented either sexually (although you could say so to some extent) or in a consumer role. In this way the film has a both progressive and conservative way of portraying females. The other ‘main’ female character is fairly androgynous in that she is the only female in a group of male characters and is aggressive to strangers, but reverts back to a ‘typical’ woman’s role (submissive and obedient) when in her group. Throughout the film we have a point of identification with Jenny, rather than objectification of her, no long takes of parts of her body are used and she isn’t represented as a sex object through mise-en-scene. There is a point-of-view shot of her through binoculars during the film that seems like it is objectifying her, but the shot emphasises her discomfort at being glared at rather than her sexuality. In this way, through this shot, we identify with her yet again. Slightly more men are killed in the film than women are, but with the total number of men and women, it seems that the narrative is conservative with a higher percentage of women dying than men. Eden Lake is more conservative in representation of gender than the two prior films, but aspects such as the boyish girl from the group of boys and the gaze and cinematography used makes some elements progressive.

Overall, these horror films seem to take both sides of representation and show both sides equally. I think, however, compared to other genres of film horror is progressive in the way it represents women by using final girls as a point of identification to their roles in the films.