Women Portrayed in Horror and Film Noir Films Works Cited Not Included Horror films have always been more attractive to the male viewer than to the female viewer. Why is that? Usually horror films mainly present the audience with very graphic mutilation and the raping of females, more so than their male counterparts. Horror films have always depicted females as either objects or as the victim of a horrible act. In Linda William's essay 'When the Woman Looks,' she says that 'there is not that much difference between an object of desire and an object of horror as far as the male look is concerned' (Jancovich 63). That is just the way horror films are, and they will probably not change anytime, because the women in the films usually grab the attention of males. This is why horror films are usually more pointed at the male view. Some males like to see women depicted as the punisher because they like seeing evil women in these films precisely for their viewing pleasures, sexual and otherwise. An online essay defines horror as, 'its true subject matter is that of the struggle for recognition of all that society represses? (Niver). Although horror films as well as film noir films are usually fictitious, the violence depicted among women is real and they show the dark side of the human experience especially in women. In some horror films, females are ?often asked to bear witness to [their] own powerlessness in the face of rape, mutilation and murder? (Jancovich 61). Women, who have been traumatized by violence in any way, have to live with their emotions and feelings regarding their situations everyday of their lives.... ... middle of paper ... ...is very scary is that ?one-third of women report being physically or sexually abused by a boyfriend or husband at some time in their lives? (Boss 357-358). These statistics not only happen in real life, but are also depicted on the big screens. They have been for years because it brings people to the movies and they find it interesting to watch. The statistics that are mentioned here need to be changed before it is too late. People and today?s society need to be more cautious of their surroundings, know who they are getting involved with and to try and not make stupid mistakes. Society needs to take more responsibility for their actions and sexual attackers need to be put in prison for a long time. Horror films and film noir films, just like society, do depict a lot of violence among women and they also show the dark side of the human experience.
Throughout time, women in movies and other similar texts are shown to be generally focused on men. This might make sense if every movie ever made was set in a time where women had absolutely no rights but of course, that is not the case. Older and more modern depictions of women in media, both show women whose lives revolve around men. Even movies that market their female characters as strong and powerful are still shown to be dependent on the male leads and puts them first. Also, since women in movies have more of a focus on men, female to female relationships suffer in the same films. There are very few exceptions to this unfortunate truth.
There has been a large variety of horror films produced throughout the last fifty years. People are always going to be frightened and scared by different types of horror films. But, what type of horror film scares more people, and were men or women more frightened by these horror films? Each one of the horror films had its own agenda to frighten its audience using several different methods of horror. Some of these methods were more so directed at the female audience than the male audience. Most horror movies show the female as being vulnerable, because in real life females are defenseless against monsters.
Part one, “The Framework of Violence against Women,” sets the blueprint for what drives individuals, particularly men, to act on their impulses of violence triggered by an underlying fear or loathing, especially those instances of sexual depravity. Sex is comparable to power, creating power over others and thus creating a sense of power within. Violence is introduced at an early age, found in children’s cartoons, television shows, and popular video games. Society has become numb to the objectification of women to the point that violence has become accepted, and the behaviors are not only justified by the oppressor, but also believed by
There are people in today’s society that are always looking for a source of adrenaline, a thrill. They could find this source from jumping out of a plane and opening a parachute to watching a scary movie. The genre of horror has become a major part of the film industry some films even have a cult following such as the film series Paranormal Activity. Horrors films are built to scare the audience watching the film and are made through the uses of suspense and/or gore. These films have become a large part of today’s culture and what is being represented in horror films takes influence on society. The images presented on film influences how the audience views certain groups of people. The way hegemonic masculinity and femininity are being represented is repeated and has in turn become a trope that has placed itself as a normal ideal in the minds of those who watch horror
The movie "Halloween" gives women the sense of superiority. Typically, horror films will make women appear fragile and weak. They make the women scream and cry for help. Films usually make them vulnerable to the attacker and more than often a male character will come to the rescue. This happens because there are "a set of social ideals that identif[y] white women with self-sacrifice, nurture, and the home, and white men with autonomous individualism and the world of capitalist commerce" (Hausman 579). Therefore, women are
Why do women choose to live in abusive and miserable relationships? Instead of taking actions and strive for happy life, women choose to stay silent. They have all the power to go against self-empowered men, but most of women renounce action. There are certain obstacle created by society and especially men that make it harder for women to stand up for themselves. The following articles explore and elucidate the idea of women’s silence and timidness to act. John Berger in his article “The Ways of Seeing” indicates women and men’s roles appearance in society and towards each other. The writer introduces the concept of surveyed and surveyor, where men play a role of an observant and women are an item that they observe. In the article “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” Audre Lorde discusses the importance of speaking out in order to show your true self. Silence only increases anxiety and feeling of oppression. The inspiring story in the excerpt “The Church and Slavery” by Harriet Jacobs tells us about slaves fighting for there freedom and equality through gaining knowledge of reading and writing. A lot of risks were taken to overcome the control of white man and oppression, but in the end those risks brought the start to the better future. Very illustrating and encouraging poster “You Body is a Battleground” shows the conflict that goes within abused women The light side of the poster shows the masked life of abused women, who pretend to live a happy life for others. The dark side illustrates women true feelings and emotions. The colors black, white and red, which were chosen by the artist Barbara Kruger connects us more to the poster, and makes us, share the pain of abused women. In the article “Once classroo...
What are the main roles that female actresses typically portray in horror films? Maggie Freleng, an editor of VitaminW, a website that contributes toward the female empowerment movement, expresses her belief that women are cast in “poor and stereotypical representation of women in the horror genre.” Some roles that many women portray that are seen as stereotypical is the sexually promiscuous women and the saved virgin, evil demon seductress, the overly liberated woman, and the most common role the damsel in distress. The possible reason that women are cast with these roles is because of the belief that women are seen as too dimwitted, overemotional, uncoordinated, weak, and incompetent to survive in a situation much like those in horror films. Anne T. Donahue, an author of Women in Horror: The Revenge an article in The Guardian verifies the belief of the females portrayed as the damsel in distress stereotype with the statement, “We see them [women] waiting for a man to save them, we see them running, bloodied and terrified, we see them tied and cut up,
Too many horror films provide scares and screams throughout their respective cinemas. Not many viewers follow what kind of model the films follow to appease their viewers. However, after reading film theorist Carol Clover’s novel, watching one of the films she associates in the novel “Halloween”, and also watching the movie “Nightmare on Elm Street” I say almost every “slasher” or horror film follows a model similar to Clover’s. The model is a female is featured as a primary character and that females tend to always overcome a situation at some point throughout the film.
Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is
And a good example of which characteristics that men and women are”designed” to have are shown in movies that everyday people watch. Theses films portray men to be strong, dominant, and to show no emotion, and because of it many are influenced to act the same. Because they are shown that being violent is always the answer many people are influenced and take part of being violent to a women or even a child, and because showing emotion is not an acceptable characteristic for men to have man do not sow it, and only show their cold
Attention Getter: According to The National Coalition of Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women are victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. A woman is assaulted or beaten every 9 seconds in the US.
The scary part is that this number does not even account for the numerous cases that are not even reported. Many victims are threatened or even hurt so badly that they must keep their mouth shut in fear of even worse abuse to come. Of course, a large portion of these victims are women, which makes it even more understandable. In order to deal with the after effects of domestic abuse, women need social and emotional support (Svavarsdóttir et al.).
In many films, both men and women are sexualized, but sexualizing women goes beyond the movie screen. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, “91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and 9% are male,” many of which could have been due to the way women are represented in many forms of media.
“Natural Born Killers,” “ Psycho,” “ Friday the 13th ,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are all horror films. In these films there is always some crazy person or monster-like character that goes around and slaughters innocent people. And usually, but not all the time the killer is killed at the end of the movie. The media publishes or broadcasts stories that say that horror films influence people to imitate these wrongful acts of violence. I believe that these movies do not influence people to imitate these murderous crimes onto innocent people. Horror films are a way for people to exercise their violent emotions with out hurting anyone.