How are women represented in the horror genre?

In our lessons, we studied three different horror movies - Eden Lake, The Shining and Halloween. We watched these movies to look at the different conventions of horror, and how female characters are represented. We also looked to see if the representation of women has changed at all throughout the years, as the movies are spaced out over a few years.

In all of the movies, we looked at the ratio of women:men screen time, mostly of the main characters. The main characters are usually the ones that have the most to say, and we see them the most as they have a big part within the story.
 

In Halloween, the ratio to women:men is 50:50, which is different for a horror movie as there are usually more males within the story line. This can represent the woman as fairly equal to the men, however, within the movie we do see the females doing typical jobs for their stereotype I.e: Cooking, cleaning, babysitting. The main protagonist of the movie is female which – even though there tend to be more men within the movie itself – is typical of horror because the unexpected character usually comes out top in the end and surprises everyone. Our protagonist in Halloween is called Laurie, and although she is female and does take part in traditional female activities like cooking and babysitting, she isn’t shown as the sexual character, which is another role that women usually take. Laurie is quite a ‘tom-boy’ which I think is a reason why she can be easily accepted as the one that defeats the ‘monster’.

There are some female characters that are shown in a sexual way, and they become victims in the story line. This slightly suggests the idea that ‘if you’re a sexual person, you’ll die’ – as it connotes un-responsible teenagers. As Laurie is not a sexual character, we automatically view her as more mature.

Laurie becomes the final girl within the movie. She isn’t ever objectified as a sex object and she remains the most powerful, virginal character that overcomes the evil in the movie.

In The Shining, the ratio to women:men is roughly 40:60. Although this is very close to a fair divide to the middle, it still shows the males as slightly more dominant. The stereotypical roles in The Shining are very prominent. Wendy is the wife of Jack, and mother of Danny. In the movie she is shown as the house wife that stays at home, cooks, cleans and takes care of the child, whereas Jack is the male that goes out and provides for the family.

The use of a ‘male gaze’ is apparent in this movie, as there is a scene where we see a naked woman in one of the hotel rooms. In this case we are placed in Jack’s eyes, and he is very attracted to her. This makes us view her as a sex object, as that’s how he views her. The women in The Shining are either part of a familial role, or a sexual role.

Once again, the familial role of the woman is more dominant. Wendy and her son are the ones that manage to escape the evil that is now her husband, whereas the naked woman in the hotel room was already dead, showing that she couldn’t be a big part of the film as she was just an object.

Eden Lake is the worst movie in terms of the ratio of women:men, with the ratio being 3:8. This is very different to the other two movies. The main role of women in this movie is once again familial. Our main protagonist in this movie, is of course another woman. Jenny is shown as a familial woman, however – she has a job and isn’t virginal, which is different to The Shining and Halloween. However, even though Jenny is our main protagonist, she does not escape as the victim like in the others. We would expect her to come out on top, as she’s a strong woman with her own adult life and unlike some others – she’s not a virgin and she has a job.

Eden Lake is very male dominated. Males are the ‘monster’ of the movie, and we have a few familial roles from women, and one slightly sexual one. There is a girl that’s part of the gang of boys that are the antagonists, and she can be viewed in a sexual way. Even though she’s part of the evil in the film, she’s still got a bit of a background seat and doesn’t take part in much of the violence that occurs.



Overall, from studying these three movies we can see there are slight connections. It’s usually a female protagonist that comes out as the survivor at the end of the movie, and there are generally more males than females. However, all horror movies are different and some challenge these conventions. The fact that women are shown as either familial, domestic or sexual hasn’t changed, and each of these movies show women in different ways. There’s no clear definition of a woman in any of them.