When, and in what way were women re-positioned within the
horror genre?
Women were regularly presented as being weak within the
genre of Horror (damsel in distress), with the probable outcome of being saved by the dominant,
courageous male. While such gender stereotyping was common, in the 1970’s
American cinema endured a reflective transformation inside the horror genre, as
directors such as George A. Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter
reacted to the current affairs during the time – the Vietnam War, race riots,
civil unrest and the increasing Feminist movement.
What are the conventions of the 'stalk and slash' subgenre
of horror?
Stalk and Slasher
A mixed-sex group of youths travel to a isolated place to
consume alcohol and drugs, and often engage in sexual activity. Once this has
occured, the youths are chronologically murdered by an anonymous killer. As the
film comes to its conclusion there is normally just one member of the group
left who, in order to survive the situation, must confront the attacker alone
and defeat them. Once they have been killed, their identity and foundation for
their murder spree is revealed.
Who originally watched these films and why?
The main audience of these films were teenage boys and young
men. Their popularity with this demographic were due to two major visual
elements of the films – scenes of female nudity and the portrayal of attacks
and consequently murder. So popular was the subgenre and so dominant was the want/need to see explicit violence, Slasher films had to find new and increasingly
gory means by which to kill off the cast of teenagers – arrows were pushed
through throats; heads were either squeezed until the eyes popped out of their
sockets, or chopped off; one even featured a character trapped inside a
sleeping bag and beaten to a bloody pulp against a tree.
Why does the author argue that the films were 'significant'?
The Slasher subgenre introduced two of modern horror
cinema’s most long-lived icons – the unstoppable Jason Voorhees from the Friday
the 13th series and Freddy Krueger from The Nightmare on Elm Street series –
due to this, it created the idea of a continual narrative through widespread
horror film franchises.
While both these qualities
certainly have financial properties, the films themselves, despite their graphic
content, were, at their most basic, deeply moral tales. As Whitehead states:
'The killer is punishing the
group either for trespassing upon its territory or is avenging an earlier wrong
perpetrated by that group or a group that they symbolically represent.'
Stalk and Slasher
What is the concept of ' the final girl'?
The concept of The Final Girl was made by Carol J. Clover
and shown in her writing ‘Her Body, Himself’ (1987), in which she conceived the
term ‘The Final Girl’ and utilized it to describe the sole female survivor of
many Slasher films. For Clover, The Final Girl often embodied parameters that
marked a female character out as ‘different’ from her peers.
The Final Girl is:
The Final Girl
• smarter and more cautious than her friends; Clover
describes her as ‘intelligent, watchful, level-headed.
• morally pure and therefore does not get involved
in drinking, drug-taking or sexual activity.
The Final Girl is regularly shown often
instantly as a character who is slightly distanced from her peer group
exactly because of these qualities. By rejecting the drinking, drug use and
sexually active behaviour, The Final Girl is subtly pictured as a repressed
teenager, a potentially weak, virginal young girl who is frightened by the
‘adult’ nature of her friends’ activities and is portrayed as being sensible
and innocent.
|
| Stalk and Slasher |
A mixed-sex group of youths travel to a isolated place to
consume alcohol and drugs, and often engage in sexual activity. Once this has
occured, the youths are chronologically murdered by an anonymous killer. As the
film comes to its conclusion there is normally just one member of the group
left who, in order to survive the situation, must confront the attacker alone
and defeat them. Once they have been killed, their identity and foundation for
their murder spree is revealed.
Who originally watched these films and why?
The main audience of these films were teenage boys and young
men. Their popularity with this demographic were due to two major visual
elements of the films – scenes of female nudity and the portrayal of attacks
and consequently murder. So popular was the subgenre and so dominant was the want/need to see explicit violence, Slasher films had to find new and increasingly
gory means by which to kill off the cast of teenagers – arrows were pushed
through throats; heads were either squeezed until the eyes popped out of their
sockets, or chopped off; one even featured a character trapped inside a
sleeping bag and beaten to a bloody pulp against a tree.
Why does the author argue that the films were 'significant'?
The Slasher subgenre introduced two of modern horror
cinema’s most long-lived icons – the unstoppable Jason Voorhees from the Friday
the 13th series and Freddy Krueger from The Nightmare on Elm Street series –
due to this, it created the idea of a continual narrative through widespread
horror film franchises.
While both these qualities
certainly have financial properties, the films themselves, despite their graphic
content, were, at their most basic, deeply moral tales. As Whitehead states:
'The killer is punishing the
group either for trespassing upon its territory or is avenging an earlier wrong
perpetrated by that group or a group that they symbolically represent.'
|
| Stalk and Slasher |
What is the concept of ' the final girl'?
The concept of The Final Girl was made by Carol J. Clover
and shown in her writing ‘Her Body, Himself’ (1987), in which she conceived the
term ‘The Final Girl’ and utilized it to describe the sole female survivor of
many Slasher films. For Clover, The Final Girl often embodied parameters that
marked a female character out as ‘different’ from her peers.
The Final Girl is:
|
| The Final Girl |
• smarter and more cautious than her friends; Clover
describes her as ‘intelligent, watchful, level-headed.
• morally pure and therefore does not get involved
in drinking, drug-taking or sexual activity.
The Final Girl is regularly shown often
instantly as a character who is slightly distanced from her peer group
exactly because of these qualities. By rejecting the drinking, drug use and
sexually active behaviour, The Final Girl is subtly pictured as a repressed
teenager, a potentially weak, virginal young girl who is frightened by the
‘adult’ nature of her friends’ activities and is portrayed as being sensible
and innocent.
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