Representation of Women in Horror Essay

Since the inventions of television and film, media influences have become extremely important in modern society with people constantly being flood by images and messages that come from film, television, magazines, internet and advertising. Researchers and theorists such as Carol J. Clover and Jean Kilborne believe that the fact that people ar going to be affect by the media is absolutely unavoidable. Films can act as guides to how people, particularly women, should act and look.Women in evil ar typic eithery sh induce as the damsel in inconvenience and are usually attacked by the killer after committing a sinful act like having sex or misusing drugs or alcohol. The females are usually real attractive, slim and quite often blonde. These characteristics are usually reinforced by seductive body language, heavy make-up and vulnerability giving the message that women are unable to take care of themselves and have to look a certain air to fit into society.Many directors have tried to change the messages in horror films my introducing the Final Girl where it is a female who is a virgin and does not do drugs or consume alcohol that fights back and becomes the hero rather than a male, giving the unrealistic message that if people dont do wrong, nothing bad will ever happen to them but horror films are notorious for presenting women in a particular way, often making them victims of sexualisation.The representation of women not only influences the way that females think they have to be or the way males think that women should be but they also have a great impact on the values in society. Sexualisation in the representation of women is predominantly straightforward in horror films, specifically Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Rosemarys Baby, directed by Roman Polanski and Scream, directed by Wes Craven. All three movies boast sexualisation using gender stereotyping, victimisation and the male gaze.Scream is known to be extremely unrealistic, being on a mor e imaginary level rather than a realistic one and is full of violence and sexuality while reinforcing the cultural and social values at the time of its release in 1996. It focuses on the issues of military force, danger, sex and anger in females ofthe 1990s. It is important for adults to understand these issues in teenage girls lives although the ways they are presented in Scream make them seem far more disturbing than they actually are. Just like popular culture, Scream has used ideas influenced by other films but in attempt to bring and address different audiences, the messages are presented in different ways.The plot of the original Scream movie is similar to many modern day teenage films, inured in American suburbia with white, affluent homes and a quiet community, which is preyed on by a masked serial killer. The film begins with the stalking a fell killing of a blonde teenage girl who is home alone and, ironically, ab come out of the closet to watch a horror movie.After h er murder, the focus moves to Sidney, who becomes the next target. A year prior, Sidneys mother was found raped and murdered and on this particular weekend Sidney is home alone, as her father has gone away on business. As a result of her grief for her mothers death, she constantly resists the recurring pressure for sex from her boyfriend who she has been dating for two years. In the meantime, word reporter Gale Weathers obsesses over the story of the recent murders.The subsequent events lead to a party during which Sidney decides to have sex with her boyfriend, baton as the murderer gets most of the boys out of the house by calling to say that their principal has been killed and is hanging from a goal post at the school. Following the gruesome battle, an injured and bloody Sidney realises that Billy and his friend Stu have been working hand-in-hand as the killer, Ghost Face. Billy claims that his motive for killing her mother was that her mother was sleeping with his father and co nsequently, his mother leftfield them. With assistance from Gale and Randy, Sydney kills Billy.Screams most dominant issues that are raised are common issues in the lives of teenage girls sexuality and virginity, femininity and its connection to power and identity as it is shaped and influenced by the media, experiences and relationships, particularly a girls relationship with her mother and in this case, the death of her mother.Director Wes Craven confronts all of these issues and solves them in powerful ways which encourage girls to defend themselves by being assertive and finding their identity in their ownway and in their own time. Screams main focuses are sexuality and virginity and how they have an impact on anxiety in young women and have an effect on the report on the girl your mother was a slut bag, Sidney is told.