The representation of women in horror films

I am writing about how women are represented in the horror films House of Wax, Wrong Turn, Scream and The Crazies. I have chosen these films as I think at least 2 of them support the female theories about films such as the male gaze theory and the final girl theory. I have watched all of these films recently and they are all on YouTube if I need to re watch a scene. I am writing this essay to see how relevant and true the theories we learn about are in horror films and how women are represented.

The film House of Wax is an American- Australian horror film from 2005 it is about a group of teens who become victims to a set of twins who kill/kidnap people and turn them into wax figures in their house of wax and the fight for their lives brother and sister (also twins) Carly and Nick go through while all their friends become victims to the twisted twins, another film I will be looking at is Wrong Turn from 2003 which is about Chris Flynn crashing into a group of 20ish year olds after their car tyres get burst with barbed wire in a cut through the forest as the main road is traffic jammed the story follows them being hunted down by a group of inbred cannibals, Scream is a 1996 thriller about a masked killer who starts killing off teenagers and  Sydney’s fight as friends become victims to the masked killer and The Crazies is a 2010 apocalyptic style horror about a disease that turns people into viscous killers as it follows Sheriff and his pregnant wife who are not only trying to escape the disease but also from the government who are trying to kill everyone in the town.
Laura Mulvey’s theory ‘the male gaze’ suggests that women in movies are just an object of a man’s desire; they get put in certain clothes- tight and small or very minimal, the camera angles on them will be mainly body parts- legs boobs etc. and they will either die or be saved by the male hero in the film. This theory is supported in House of Wax as the female characters wear tight tops and a scene in House of wax features Paris Hilton stripping down into her underwear and then being chased by the killer, the camera focus’ on her The crazies doesn’t apply to the male gaze theory as the main woman is a wife so therefore older in her 30’s and pregnant and the other girl in it is younger, a bit more innocent and wears patient clothes and the deputy’s jacket for the majority of when she’s in the film. Wrong turn uses male gaze as all the female characters wear tight tops with low cleavages on show, one of the women characters is shown performing a sex act just before she ventures into the forest and is murdered brutally. Scream follows the male gaze theory in the fact that the woman at the start is home alone and is being chatted up my the killer on the phone, then in my opinion doesn’t really follow it much more as the other girl isn’t too sexually dressed and is a virgin right up until the end however her best friend does dress in a short skirt. 

Carol J Clover, born in July 31^st 1940, is an American professor of film studies who published the book ‘men, women and chainsaw’s: gender in the modern horror film’ in 1992 which featured the well-known theory ‘final girl theory’, the final girl theory suggests that if a woman character is to survive to the end of the film she has to be a virgin, not smoke or drink alcohol and not wear provocative clothing, be educated and have a unisex name. My chosen films don’t really fit the final girl theory except House of wax as although she is dressed in tight clothing and has a boyfriend at the start you don’t she isn’t seen being sexual with her boyfriend unlike Paris Hiltons character who then goes on to get murdered, she also discuss’ going to start a new job and she fights back and although her name is Carly it can be shortened down to Carl. The final girl theory doesn’t apply to Wrong Turn as although a female character survives till the end, her name being Jessie isn’t unisex, she wears tight clothing and there is no mention of education. The Crazies’ Judy is a lot older than the others being married and pregnant, she spends most of the film in patient scrubs, being rescued by her husband and her name is Judy although she is well educated as she is a doctor and she almost sacrifices herself for a younger girl so she is brave. In scream the film girl theory applies up until the end as she is a virgin until towards the end, also her name is Sydney which is unisex, she doesn’t dress provocatively and she fights back from killer.

After people started realising that all films would portray women in a sexual, degrading, weak way and the only females that would survive in films would be if they were virgins or if they were saved by the male, films began to change- although some still follow these theories most are more diverse with who survives and how the females are portrayed, this is most likely due to a public outcry from feminists as these theories are sexist and degrading.

Jeremy Tunstall is a theorist who believes that all women in films are represented in four main ways; Domestic, Consumer, Sexual and Marital, for example women are shown as either busy housewives, mothers, sexual objects or shoppers. This is applicable on slightly to some of my chosen films- The Crazies has the pregnant wife as a martial figure as not only is she pregnant she protects and looks after the younger female character. House of wax shows Paris Hilton as the sexual object however none of the four roles fit Carly as she is educated and this isn’t one of the categories, again the main female doesn’t fit the film Wrong Turn as she isn’t particularly any of them however one of the other female characters fits the sexual object, this is the same in Scream.

To conclude, I agree with both the Male Gaze theory and the Final Girl theory as both are obvious and relevant in most horror films, women are sexual objects who will die if they wear provocative clothing- this happened in 3 of the 4 horror films I looked at, all but The Crazies however this doesn’t follow that sort of story line so therefore doesn’t fit either theories.  House of Wax agreed with these theories the most as Paris Hilton dies right after she does a strip tease (filmed with shots on her body parts Male Gaze) she then is chased whilst wearing nothing but her red lacy underwear and a flimsy jacket and is killed- we also know prior to this she thinks she is pregnant therefore not being a virgin so she would ever have fit he Final Girl criteria’s. So therefore I think the Male Gaze and Final Girl theories are both relevant in horror films and I agree with both of them.