The
representation of women in horror films has changed dramatically over the years
even though they are still seen as the inferior sex, and usually seen as a
damsel in distress and needing to be saved by the male lead. The more
provocative girl will always be killed off quickly as a sort of punishment for
their actions in the film but are always given a lot of air time because ‘sex sells’
and it makes good viewing, a good example of this is Paris Hilton in house of
wax this empowering the ‘Dumb Blonde stereotype’ founded by Tim O’Sullivan and
her ‘Death Scene lasts around 10 minutes whereas the equally playing parts such
as her boyfriend was killed of screen and you just see the body.
Men are
typically shown as both the antagonist and the protagonist in horror films and
women shown as the weak victims this mainly because before the act of equal
rights came into place this is how it was in society and still today males are
seen more commonly in these roles but it isn’t impossible to find women playing
these strong roles as seen in the very successful ‘Kill Bill’ sequel where the
main antagonist and protagonist is the same person in a way and that is in fact
a women role with very masculine attributes but also blonde which
challenged Tim O’Sullivan’s ‘Dumb Blonde
theory’. Even when many males are killed in horror films they are shown to have
female weaknesses in there time of death and this if it was more known could be
seen as a very sexist and immoral thing for the producers to be doing.
Horror films
always seem to follow the same Hollywood Narrative structure of having one male
antagonist on a rampage killing everyone and not killing them together but one
by one, I believe that this is going to be a very hard structure to get out off
and will carry on like this for a long time to come this is not necessarily a
bad thing. When females are shown as a heroin or the main antagonist they are shown
in a very masculine light a good example of this is in ‘Scream’ where Gail
managed to shoot the killer in a very manly stance in manly clothes, this may
have been one of the significant films that has changed it for women in horror
films today and made people see that they can be the heroes in horror films,
with women today taking highly paid roles in society with a higher education in
real life they are seen to be becoming like Gail in ‘Scream’ in horror films
and taking this more dominant role in horror films just like they are in real
life.
Women are
now more than ever not being seen as ‘Damsels in Distress’ and not always being
shown in a weak and inferior light to men this is the new ideology of females
in society being powerful businesswomen and this itself has a large input in
how horror films are produced and perceived by the viewer, as well as what
people find horrifying in society at this time and seeing women face these
topics such as terrorism and psycho killers enforces how woman want to be and
are being seen today.
