Gender in Horror films

Do the Characters in the horror films we have watched reinforce or challenge dominant assumptions about gender?


Visibilty

Halloween:
. roughly equal numbers but more women in central roles
. significant age difference between genders
. This reinforces the assumptions of gender

The Shining:
. twice as many men (ratio 2:1)
. age - men are older in general.... the one older women is horrific because of her age
. age has very different connotations for male and female
. This reinforces the assumptions of gender




Roles

Halloween:
. Domestic - Laurie and Annie babysit, but the also appear in a non domestic scene such as at school
. Sexual - Linda, Annie and Judith are all presented in a sex role
. Consumer - there were no consumer roles
. Maritial/Feminial - Annie is presented as the daughter of the cop, and Mike Myers is defined through his family
. This reinforces the assumptions of gender


The Shining:
. Domestic - Wendy is the only housewife, she does the cooking and cleaning an is shown to be very caring. Wendy is seen to have two roles,she takes on the roles of a male as well as the female roles
. Sexual - the bathtub ghost woman is the only sexual role
. Consumer - there were no consumer roles
. Maritial/Feminial - Wendy is the only one defined through familial relationships with males.
. This reinforces the assumptions of gender




Gazer

Halloween:
. Judith - object, point of view, sexualised woman, frequent repititions throughout the film (subjective camerawork sustained POV through the monsters eyes) but other POV's present, the boy and more importantly LAURIE. Lauire is not objectified/sexualised by the camera, she is identified (the subject) with most the film.

The Shining:
. Bath lady is a clear example of the 'male gaze' camerawork
. wendy, like Laurie is object by the camera, adopting a male gaze. In fact she is identified with, for most of the film, as the main protagonist


Both films start with male perspective then move to female perspective