An Essay About How Women Are Represented Within The Media

Carol Clover in, Men, Women and Chainsaws, argues that horrors representation of gender is very interesting because it frequently offers its core target audience of young males an identification with a female character, unlike any other mainstream genre. To what extent do you think horrors representation of gender challenges dominant representations?

The media has been defining women and men into two separate groups since representation has been displayed on television more and more since television first began. Information from the 1970s and 80s tells us that men are normally categorised as strong and independent whereas women, on TV, have always been known for their beauty and sexuality. Throughout the years of media production there has been a lot of research into representation of gender within the media and Jeremy Tunstall (the media in Britain 1983) the representation of women were categorised in to their domestic, sexual, consumer and marital abilities. Women have also been used as sex objects to sell anything but as the years have been progressing we are beginning to see more leading male roles displayed as sex objects, this could be a sign to equality.

The theorist Laura Mulvey argues that the cinema world has created a ‘male gaze’ that objectifies women making the males to be the subject. This makes the viewers see the female as a sex object, cinemas achieve this by long shots and close ups of the females body parts so that they see the point of view from that of a males making the female an object. We identify with a male as the core target audience for horror movies is known to be a male. Laura Mulvey argues that mainstream film is part of a sexist ‘regime’ that doesn’t allow women to become subjects they only can be objects view by the subject. In many horror films we see the female roles in a sexual manner making them weak and vulnerable, but as films progress over the years we start to see more female roles as main protagonists and we see them to survive at the end making them the final girl. But the final girl is often seen as boyish and virginal therefore this shows them as a subject objectifying a subject.  

 Carol Clover in Men, Women and Chainsaws argues that there is an identification with the final girl to be seen in a more masochistic role. In her book, M,W&C, we see this as there is a ‘final girl’ who is tortured to find she has a magical about her when ‘her source of being becomes her source of power’. We then see the female roles to appear stronger as they survive throughout the film. Carol Clover suggests a theory about why adolescent males who are the core of teenage horror movies are willing to identify with a female main protagonist. Essentially because almost all males are acutely aware of their position of masculinity and they can relate to this experience of being dominated by a stronger force.

In 1992 research proves that the number of male roles outnumber that of women. We see this in the film The Shining (1982) as the male roles are much larger than female roles by a two to one ratio. In this particular movie we also get this as the main protagonist Wendy is categorised familial and domestic. But then we see the main protagonist, Wendy, be the final girl this shows that horror isn’t making the female an object. Also they show Wendy in very baggy unflattering clothes, this tells us that she isn’t the objectified as a sex symbol. There is a slight ‘male gaze’ within this film as we see the women from the bath tub nice then the gaze is undermined by the transformation to an old woman. Over all I think that women are not punished for transgression within this particular movie. On the other hand the movie Halloween (1978) doesn’t reflect on the research from 1992 as there is approximately an equal amount of male and female roles within this movie. But then again the characters within the movie are seen as objects as they all are involved in a sexual manner and end up getting killed. Whereas the main protagonist, Laurie, is seen more domestic, by her baby sitting and studying. Some of the female roles within this movie are seen as objects as they are involved in a sexual way within the movie. Laurie is never objectified and becomes the subject as the movie progresses. In this movie the final girl is weak but still survives this is so that a sequel can be made. I think that the narrative doesn’t punish women for transgressing the rules as the main protagonist and final girl is female and stays alive throughout the movie.

 Whereas Eden Lake (2008) it is visible that there are more males roles within film. But we see a more modern society but that of a lower class and this is shown by the differences between the main protagonists and the rest of the characters that have a more back role. We see the main protagonist, Jenny, to be quite domestic as se is very caring for others around her and she is a teacher. At the beginning of the film we see Jenny as an object as we go to a point of view shot from a male looking at her in her bikini through binoculars. But the male gaze is undermined as we see Jenny as the subject in the next few shots. In this movie we see more male deaths then female therefore women are not punished for transgression.
Over all I think that horror movies will still have a female being objectified by a subject as this is what keeps the main audience to keep watching them. I think that this courses gender to still be in stereotype categories. But I feel over time that it may equal out as there is more availability and rights within the media. At the minute many horrors do challenge the stereotypical role of woman but it isn’t commonly used within a wide range of media. But then again there always has, in some horror movies, been a final girl could this have always been a sign of it beginning to equal out.