This theory is the way that the males look at the women when they are on the screen.

Many critics have argued that in mainstream visual media the camera routinely objectifies women. This will consequently deny them any subjectivity/identity and treats them as objects to be looked at by the subject, who is almost always a male. Carol Clovers book Men, women and Chainsaws makes a very strong argument that the process of identification going on in many horror texts are much more complicated than the typical male gaze of many genres. Clover argues that instead of a sadistic identification of the woman which occurs in many mainstream texts, horror provides a point of masochistic idenfication with her. Women are often seen as sex objects and people have realised this and surveys have been carried out which suggest people enjoy seeing women like this through the camera. This is typical more the males who see women like that when seen through a camera on screen. The main way the female is represented is as a victim who is the last remaining character and is being hunted down by a male who is on a killing rampage. The stereotype of the dumb blonde is supported by the book Studying the media an introduction Tim OSullivan. The dumb blonde stereotype is seen like; seductive body language and strong make-up. This is supported by the film scream by the character Tatum Riley who gets killed in the most stereotypical way known. Going back to Clover, she supports this by saying The functions of monster and hero are far more

Women in horror have been represented in both good and bad ways. Theorist have tried to summarise the representation of women in horrors for years. One of the main theories is the Male Gaze. The y are commonly viewed as submissive, passive, with a focus on their beauty, sexuality and emotionality. Women are commonly defined and categorized through their relationships with the male gender.

Representation of Women in Horror.

frequently represented by males and the function of the victim far more garishly by females. The fact that female monsters and female heroes, when they do appear are masculine in dress and behavior and often in name and that male victims are shown in feminine postures at the moment of their extremity This quote from the book, explains the representation of both male and females and how differently they are treated and how this type of stereotyping occurs a lot in the horror genre.

Horror films also tend to follow the same trend which is that a male killer goes on a rampage and then leaves the remaining female until last which adds a lot of tension into a scene because of the tension between the opposite sex. The final girl theory suggests this. Pre 90s feminist theorists saw the Sallys, Sydneys and Stretchs of the cinema world as damsels in distress, women who needed rescuing and who were victims of masculine rage. Clover however argues that the final girl fights back and isnt a pushover. The example which is used in her book of the Final Girl is Lila Crane, her first incarnation in Psycho to stretch in Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. A very good and clear exmaple of this theory is the scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street Nancy Thompson knows that Krueger is coming for her and that is

why she sets up the elaborate trap which knocks the killer around. When he comes to, she chases him around the house with a chair. Clover does not argue that feminist representation of women rather that they are not victims of the patriarchy. Many theorists, such as Laura Mulvey in her famous essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema have suggested that much commercial cinema puts the spectator into the position of an appraising heterosexual male by adopting technical camera techniques which present women as objects to be viewed at and men as the subjects who are the ones doing the looking. In 1992 research was carried and showed that males outnumber women on screen two to one. This therefore must mean that the males on screen will inevitably have much more power in the story of the film which is why the theories which I have written about have occurred. This has caused many arguments because of the whole sexist thing which can cause a lot of controversy in the media. Jeremy Tunstall looked at a wide range of existing research which had been carried which was to do with the representation of women in the horror genre. He argued that the research which had previously been carried out, when summarised saw that women were seen as four main things which were;

They are seen as busy housewives, sex objects to the male gender, as contented mothers and as eager consumers. However in the film A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) Nancy initially comes across as this stereotype, but then by the end of the film you are seeing her totally contrast her traits. In conclusion the representation of women in horrors has changed dramatically over the years. With the introduction of equal rights and things such as this, it has helped women has much more respect, not for just them but for them in front of other people. In the current day and age women are being seen much more equally when on the same screen as a male character.

Domestic. Sexual. Consumer. Martial.