Many horror films are interesting in their representation of gender because they provide a female point of identification or a male core target audience. To what extent do you think horror represents gender progressively?

According to Carol J. Clover in her book, ‘Men, Women and Chainsaw’s’ the final girl is usually the last woman standing and who tries to beat the villain. A woman who is resourceful, intelligent, feisty, rarely sexual and hardly ever sexually active. For example, Lynda and Annie, Laurie’s friends in Halloween (1978), are killed. Lynda and Bob are killed after sex while Annie is despatched in her car on her way to see her boyfriend. Women who are sexually and morally transgressive are, seemingly, punished for being sexually active. Sometimes the final girls have unisex names, e.g. Teddy, Billie and Sidney. Occasionally the final girl will have shared a history with the killer. For example, in Halloween II, Michael Myers is revealed to be the brother to Laurie and in Scream 3 the killer is known to be Roman Bridger who is the half brother of the survivor, Sidney. The final girl is the “investigating consciousness” of the film, moving the narrative forward as such; she exhibits intelligence, curiosity and vigilance.

Usually, males in the media are shown to be more dominant, strong, active and independent. Whereas, females are shown as submissive, passive, with a focus on physical beauty, sexuality and emotionality, they are often defined through relationships with men. Jeremy Tunstall looked at a wide range of existing research that had been carried out on gender representation in the media. He argued that overall, women in the media were emphasized to be domestic, sexual, consumers and marital. In 1992 research verified that men outnumber women by two to one on screen. In the three horror films we have watched in class, there are more men but in Halloween it is equal. Women are depicted as housewives, as contented mothers, as eager consumers and as sex objects. This suggests that within films, certain camera techniques are used to show women in the position of a male character looking at her. The most common shots that are used are close ups and also tilting up her body, usually showing her legs. Mulvey says that the male gaze provides men with a sense of pleasure in controlling women.

The female characters in Halloween (1978) were Laurie, Linda, Annie, Judith Myers, baby sitting girl and the nurse. In this film there are roughly more girls or equal which makes the film progressive in this area. Also, it disproves the research that men outnumber women 2:1. Linda is

portrayed as a sex object as we see her and her boyfriend, Bob having sex while the phone rings continuously. Bob goes down stairs to go get beers for him and Linda but he dies. Upstairs, Linda thinks Bob is dressed as a ghost, but it is the killer. When she notices ‘Bob’ isn’t replying to her she then shows him her breasts, we then see a point of view shot from the killer ogling her. As well as Linda being portrayed as a sex object, Annie and Judith are too. For example, when Annie is in the kitchen making popcorn, she accidently pours butter all over her shirt and pants so removes all of her clothes while Michael continues to watch her from outside the window. As for Judith, when her and her boyfriend thinks they have the house to themselves, he suggests that they should go upstairs to go have sex. Also, the next day we see Judith is sitting in front of her mirror, nude except for a pair of knickers. On the other hand, Laurie, the nurse and the babysitting girl are shown to play the domestic role. Laurie was shown to be caring, intelligent and attractive and was the opposite of her best friends, Annie and Linda. Laurie is not objectified as she is the subject. The nurse and the babysitting girl take on the domestic role by caring and looking after other people. By the girls each being portrayed in these different ways makes the film seem conservative and progressive at the same time. Laurie is the final girl in this film and overall, more women die than men by 60% - 40%.

The Shining (1982) fits exactly with the 1992 research of how men outnumber women by two to one making this film very conservative. There were only five female characters. They were Wendy, Grady’s daughters, the hotel boss secretary and the bathtub woman. Unlike Halloween, when there were three characters shown as sex objects in The Shining, the bathtub woman was the only character who was portrayed as this. When she was shown naked in the bath the camera then changed to a point of view shot of Jack. But, as he goes to kiss her she transforms into a corpse, this undermines the gaze and gives the impression that it is bad of Jack to do that. Wendy is shown as and domestic as she is a strong woman and remains at Jack’s side as he struggles to stay sober, but is forced to fight for her and Danny’s life when Jack becomes completely possessed. She then helps Danny to escape to safety with her. The hotel boss secretary is portrayed as domestic as she makes him a drink in the beginning. Again, there is a final girl, Wendy and the deaths are equal. But the females that died in The Shining do not appear to have been punished for sexual activity, and Wendy, the final girl, like Laurie then strengthens the case for The Shining which supports Clover’s theories.

Eden Lake (2008) is shown to be conservative by the number of men appearing on screen compared to women. Men outnumber women by eleven to six. In Halloween and The Shining there are at least two sex objects in each film, but Eden Lake has none. We see Jenny, who is portrayed as familial and domestic as she works at a school and we see her in the classroom with the kids at the beginning of film. Likewise, in Halloween the nurse has a caring occupation, but, they break the domestic stereotype as they are careers instead of acting as wife’s and mothers. But, we can see that Jenny is very caring person and is a good teacher. On the other hand we see the waitress in the cafe that isn’t so caring, she plays the domestic role as she waits on people and maybe does the cooking. We also see Paige, who has a passive role in the gang as she videos everyone who stabs and hurts Steve. Although Jenny wasn’t portrayed as a sex object, we still see a point of view shot from the gang when she is sunbathing in her bikini on the beach. We then get a close up of her and do not identify with the boys as she covers herself up with a towel giving the impression that the gaze is perverted. Also, Paige refers to objectification as a way of insulting Steve by questioning “You looking at my tits?!” Similarly, in the other films, there is a final girl, Jenny, and women are not punished anymore than men.