Essay on Why Women Are Presented as ‘Victims’ Essay Example

Essay on Why Women Are Presented as ‘Victims’ Essay Example Essay on Why Women Are Presented as ‘Victims’ Essay Essay on Why Women Are Presented as ‘Victims’ Essay Women are normally presented as ‘victims’ in the horror genre, because of how women were treated as opposed to equal rights. Since women were looked upon as inferior to men, that is how they are portrayed in the media. To get attacked or murdered, women must commit a ‘sinful’ act like having sex, speaking rudely or smoking weed, to then be punished for their actions. For example, like debbz93 says in her article about women’s representation, a common role for women in the media is the dumb blonde. This woman will be sexually active, ignorant of her surroundings and will wear a lot of makeup. These types of women will be attacked or killed during the first 15 minutes of the movie. To survive in a horror movie, a woman needs to be as pure as possible if they want to earn the role of the â€Å"Final Girl†. The Final Girl is the quieter female, either an introvert or simply not interested in partying or committing sexual relations in their teenage years. This is the last girl alive to confront her killer, standing alone with nobody supporting her but herself. Purity is the most important factor for their survival, so no sex, drugs or promiscuous behavior. This trope has evolved over the years, for example, the final girl after protecting herself from the killer gets saved by a strong male, (Police officer or stranger) when they’re held at gunpoint or about to be murdered. But more modern films show the Final girl with abilities she herself can handle, killing the murderer and create a new heroin title. This representation has caused a lot of controversy throughout the history of the horror genre. Women are deliberately shown as provocative through clothing, expression, and dialogue because the filmmakers want them to. They understand that since more males watch the horror genre, they appeal and catch their attention by using codes and conventions, making the perfect seductive woman. A woman’s main role is to not only be objectified, otherwise, that would cause a major commotion to female audiences. Women can fight back, show muscular traits. Hence the Final Girl, showing how the â€Å"inferior† gender is now the hero, strong enough to take care of herself and attack the bad guy. The female representation is the most important character in horror films, because of the many conventions used to make the two tropes. John Carpenter’s â€Å"Halloween† introduces John Carpenter’s â€Å"Halloween† introduces Laurie Strode, a 17-year-old teenager living in the suburban streets of Haddonfield, Illinois. She is described as the â€Å"Final Girl† trope in the horror genre because she is the last to survive and fight off her killer. Instead of coming off as more feminine like her friends, she is taller and more masculine looking to play the part of a female lead. Laurie gets mocked by her friends for having a lack of sexual activity in her life, yet virginity is what saves her in the end. Michael Myers’ murders all share a common trait; sexual activity. From the beginning, we see young Michael Myers murdering his exposed sister shortly after she has sex while babysitting him. Laurie’s friends, Bob, Annie and Linda are all sexually active therefore get murdered on their way to have sex or immediately after. Dialogue is also very important to show a person s characteristics. In Annie’s case, we are introduced to her yelling at Michael, speeding past them in a car. â€Å"Hey, jerk! Speed kills!† Obviously causing a commotion, leaving the audience to think she’s not afraid of starting trouble. To when Laurie replies, â€Å"You know, Annie, someday youre going to get us all in deep trouble.† Even though she is friends with these teens, she has a completely opposite personality. Laurie wears a simple button up top, with denim jeans showing only the skin of her neck and arms. Unlike her friends which dress either promiscuous or nothing at all. Instead of committing sinful acts like drugs, sex etc while babysitting, she stays responsible and looks after the kids with caution. When she is attacked, she does not make stupid decisions like the â€Å"dumb blonde† in most horror movies, she carries a sharp object with her wherever she goes to protect herself from Michael. The killer’s gaze, where the vic tim is being observed, switched around in Halloween. Michael is now the spectacle and Laurie the spectator. The â€Å"Gaze† has now become female. Drew Goddard’s â€Å"Cabin in the Woods† shows us the main role for women, which is used sexually. ‘Jules’ is your stereotypical dumb blonde character who dresses and acts seductively, while being sexually active. She is unaware of her surroundings and only cares about parties and having sex, again another use of sexualizing women in media. This, however, attracts the male audiences through camera angles like the male gaze, her body language and exposing herself. An example of a male gaze scene is where her and her friends are playing a game of truth or dare, and she gets dared to kiss the stuffed wolf head mounted on the wall. As she makes her way over, the camera is at a lower angle and we are looking up at her, like we are in the position of the boys on the couch watching what they want to see. Her body language is extremely flirtatious, attracting the attention of the male’s gaze. ‘Dana’ is the final girl, having her first appearance being a lot more masculine than Jules’s. Since she has red hair, it automatically eliminates her from having the dumb blonde appearance and she also wears clothing that covers up more like a sweater and jeans. She is also the female that cares about her school grades and is more intelligent, which means she doesn’t care about anything Jules is. Dana, as shown when she was fighting with the zombies, is not afraid to fight back, as a brave woman would. She isn’t afraid to put herself at risk in order to protect herself, unlike Jules, where her character is shown as vulnerable and useless. The male gaze has only been shown once in this film with Dana when one of the friends ‘Holden’ removes a painting and Dana is revealed on the other side of the room getting undressed. Her body language is not at all flirtatious, because she is oblivious to the fact that she is seen. Once Holden tells her he can see her, she is clearly shaken, showing the audience t hat she is not that kind of girl into that behavior.