In horror movies we always see a hot naked girl running and screaming for her life. It’s only a movie. But in reality it’s so much more than that. Women starting with the first classic horror movies: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Werewolf, all have that female role in which they are exploited and used for entertainment. Before they used to be about love but now it’s how many people get cut the f*** up.
In the original SCREAM we have the killer call Sidney and ask her why she doesn’t like horror movies and she replies:
“What’s the point? There all the same: some stupid killer stalking some big breasted girl, who can’t act, who’s always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door, it’s insulting!”
This is very true. Women are just exploited for fun and as we can see in the opening scenes of all SCREAM movies all the cast is female and they all end up being ‘cut’ from the movie. http://youtu.be/rBPgEMfkx5c
I don’t really know why women are always used as the girl that ends up with the worse deaths but they are always, well almost always with exceptions to some horror movies, the heroine of the movie and end up outsmarting the killer. Just look at Friday the 13th, Nightmare on elm street, Chainsaw Massacre. These movies always have a female beat the killer and survive.
From me watching every horror movie on the planet, I think that the reason why is because it’s awesome! Just look at Aliens. That chick was bad ass! And even though all horror movies are the same now we all just want to see how the virgin innocent girl will kill the killer.
There is so much more in depth to go into. Why has society made women this object of death to use for the entertainment. And why is it okay for us to watch this happen? what do you guys think? Watch the clip that i post up with this and see what i mean.
A friend of mine was just telling me the other day about this test that barely any movie passes.
ReplyDelete1. Does it have at least two women?
2. Do the women ever talk to each other?
3. Do they ever talk about anything not related to males?
And it really shows to you how women are portrayed doesn't it?
Yeah, the tried and true Bechdel test. That test has ruined watching mainstream movies for me. It is just too sickening.
ReplyDeleteI think that this post raises a couple interesting points: is the fact that the female heroine outsmarts the killer counter-hegemonic? how does the objectifying, unrealistic portrayal of women come into play?
One thing to note is that society LOVES stories of weak women being treated badly. Seriously, people eat that up! This ties directly into the post about how when a white girl goes missing it gets all the news coverage but if a black girl goes missing... *crickets chirping*. I think people like this motif because it keeps women in a weakened position and allows men to save them. They can get emotional about the struggle of the pretty helpless girl and be outraged at her abuse, but in the end she ends up stronger and is saved by someone. I don't want to get into the fetishization of violence against women because it really will make me sick and may be triggering to some people, but it is a widespread phenomenon that it is okay to show rape in a movie but not an orgasm (you know, that whole blue valentine controversy?). This is directly related to how women are used in horror films.