How Does The Horror Genre Represent Women

Gender is represented in many ways throughout the media, and is beginning to change towards equality however, females are still represented differently to males. Jeremy Tunstall argued that the research he found showed that most women in the media fitted into four categories: domestic, sexual, consumer and marital. Another theory about the representation of women in the media is the way in which the camera ‘looks’ at women. This is also known as ‘the male gaze’, it shows the woman as the object from the males point of view.




Unlike women in the media, men are often shown as dominant, authoritative, strong, intellectual and active. This is juxtaposed with the submissive, passive, emotionality and sexuality of women, due to representation of men, women are then defined through their relationships with males. This kind of research that Jeremy Tunstall found to support his theory of categorising the representation of women, suggests that all women in the media are portrayed as housewives, mothers, shoppers and sex objects.



Similar numbers are husbands and fathers, however, their wives and children are rarely used as a way of representing the male character. Unlike a mother or wife who’s husband and children are ‘a part of them’, a husband’s or father’s wife and children are like an added extra. However, Tunstall concluded his theory in 1983 (over fifteen years ago) meaning it could be dated, and not entirely valid for the media today. Although, in 1992 research showed that men out-numbered women on screen, two to one.

‘Halloween’ (1978 directed by John Carpenter) is a good example of gender representation in the horror genre. Laurie (the final girl) is domestic, in the film she is seen babysitting two young children, Tommy and Lindsey. She reads them stories, helps them make a pumpkin, watches television with them and comforts them when they are scared. This is very similar to the role of a housewife, therefore falling into the ‘domestic’ category. Laurie is never objectified sexually and doesn’t buy anything during the film (ruling out sexuality and consumer) her father’s voice is heard at the beginning, suggesting she has a family but she is not represented through her family (ruling out marital/familial).  However, she is also a main protagonist, so even though she only fits into one of Tunstall's four categories, she does fit into Vladimir Propp's theory about the characters in a narrative, Laurie being the final girl.

Laurie’s friends, Lynda and Annie, on the other hand, are represented as sexual. From the first time they are on screen they are talking about their relationships with men. Annie is objective to the monster’s point of view as a sex object, similarly Lynda is seen in a passionate scene with a man, representing her a sex object. Annie is also represented through her family, her father is the cop working with ‘the monster’s’ doctor. They are seen in a scene together and it is mentioned in other parts of the film.



Laurie is the ‘final girl’ in this film, the fact that she is also in the domestic category reinforces good vs. evil. Having somebody that has been looked upon as innocent throughout the film, ‘get away’ from the monster is quite symbolic. However, the characters that have been portrayed as sex objects (Annie and Lynda) are defeated by the monster. Being objectified sexually is not seen as innocent, like Laurie, again being symbolic that they have been defeated by the monster. Women are also shown as quite weak, which is why at the end of ‘Halloween’ Dr.Loomis saves Laurie from the monster. Annie and Lynda are classic examples of how women can represented through their relationships with men and are sexual, emotion and concentrate on physical beauty, but due to the fact that Laurie is the ‘final girl’ she is identified with in the film as a subject.



Laura Mulvey suggested that the media puts the audience in the eyes of ‘an appraising heterosexual male’, making women as the object being looked at by the subjective male. The audience is then put in the eyes of the male (usually the main protagonist) looking at the female. This is done using camera shots and angles to create the ‘male gaze’. The use of close-up shots and reaction shots of the male, allows the audience to identify with him being the subject. To look at the female, long shots are often used as well as tilts up the body. By using tilts the audience can see parts of the body, e.g: legs. This is known as fragmentation, this encourages the audience to look at the female as an object, usually being displayed in a sexual manner.



The male gaze is used in the horror genre, normally through the monsters’ eyes, to show the female as the object (normally the victim). This can add to the suspense of the film, if you can see the girl through the monsters’ eyes knowing she cannot see ‘you’. By using tilts/fragmentation and point of view shots, it puts the audience in the position of the monster. This contributes to the tension because it allows the audience to have an insight to what the monster is thinking and not the victim.

An example of the male gaze in the horror genre, is in ‘The Shining’ (1980 directed by Stanley Kubrick). The scene, where Jack (in this case ‘the monster’) enters room 237 and finds a beautiful, young, naked woman in the bathtub. The technical code used in this scene is an example of the ‘male gaze’. The audience identifies with Jack, looking at woman being objectified sexually, due to the way the camera has used a close-up of Jack and a long-shot of the woman, then a reaction shot of Jack.  However, like in 'Halloween', in 'The Shining', Wendy is a main protagonist, but still fits into the domestic and marital/familial categories of Jeremy Tunstall.

The visibility of gender is also another contribution to the way females are represented in the horror genre. Theories suggest that more men appear on screen than females, which are usually older. This is because in male roles, age connotes wisdom, authority and respect. However, older females roles are either used for comedy or shown as horrific, an example of this is in ‘The Shining’ when they young and beautiful woman turns into an old and mouldy woman. The age in this example is used to be horrific and to disgust the audience, not used to connote wisdom, for example.



Both ‘Halloween’ and ‘The Shining’ reinforce the ideology of visibility. ‘Halloween’ has roughly equal numbers of men and women, however, there is a significant age difference between the genders. All the male roles are older (youngest being around 21) than the females roles (teenagers). ‘The Shining’ has twice as many male roles than female roles, and the majority of the male roles are older. The only exception is the old bath lady who is horrendous because of her age.



In conclusion, the representation of women in the horror genre comes down to three aspects: visibility, role and gaze. The visibility shows that women are not on screen as much as men, and if they are they are normally younger. An older female would only be used for comedy value or to horrify the audience. The roles of females are split into four categories (theorised by Jeremy Tunstall): domestic, sexual, marital and consumer. Women seen in the horror genre are depicted through one of those categories and through their relationship with a male character. The camera shot used to shoot the female also shows that usually the female is objectified sexually rather than identified with subjectively, by the use of long shots and tilts to fragment the body in the eyes of a heterosexual male.