Gender Roles In Horror Films

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A person with a chainsaw and no face is about to attack someone because they ran into a dead end and have nowhere to escape. Based on the first thought of the previous line, do you imagine the person with a chainsaw to be male or female? You most likely though male. What about the victim, were they male or female? You most likely thought female. In a different scenario, you would probably think the roles to be reversed. For example, a possessed person clothed in all black is attacking a couple, and this possessed person is eventually killed by one of the couple after they kill the other. Did you think the possessed person in black clothing to be male or female? What about the victim that died at the hands of the possessed person, were they …show more content…

Some of the roles that women play in films are the supporting character, a character who dies a painful death, the evil creature, but seldom the main character. When women play the supporting character, they are usually just acting as a love interest for the male main character. Based on our idea of gender roles, women are considered to be inferior to men, which is why females follow the males in the films and not the other way around. Another role that women typically play is a victim that dies at the hands of an evil creature. When they play these characters, not much background information is given about them, since they will inevitably die, and usually within the first half of the movie. When women play the role of the evil creature, they often have feminine characteristics to emphasize their gender, usually dressing in all black to present them as an evil widow. They are also often portrayed as mothers who want revenge for their children, or simply an evil woman to add a more terrifying effect to a scene that a man could not. Another role that a woman can play is the lead character, and when they play this role, they can either be portrayed as an empowering woman who survives the entire film and saves the day, or as a fragile woman who dies in the end because she can longer outrun the

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