Blog #3 Distruction of The Status Quo

In horror films the relationship between the monster, protagonist, and status quo, play a huge role in making the movie what it is. The films Texas chainsaw Massacre and The Shining are both perfect examples of horror films that personify how gender and the family play a huge role in the monster-protagonist-status quo relationship.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre shows how a family can still represent the traditional nuclear family, even though they butcher people and eat them. The fact that they’re all men does not change things either.  There are still the family aspects that come into play. During the movie the viewer can see that Leather Face is obviously the mother of the family, as he walks around with makeup and an apron on. All he wants to do is fulfill his motherly duties and protect his family from outsiders.  The father, grandfather and son are all represented by different men as well. They all have a very strong bond together, no matter how perverted it is. Another aspect of the movie is how the final girl plays into the female gender role. Through out the whole movie the stereotypical dumb blond main character is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Her whole persona is a generalization of what men thought women would be like in these situations. Women were weaker, irrational and got into dumb situations, as seen in the movie.  “Women in peril work better in the suspense genre. It all goes back to the Perils of Pauline… If you have a haunted house and you have a women walking around with a candelabrum, you fear more for her than you would for a husky man.” (De Palma qtd Clover 77) This explains how gender is a large part of what makes certain scary movies actually frightening. It’s more believable to see a woman, scared and vulnerable, get attacked by a monster then for a man to.  The final girl also plays a part in how the move correlates the Monster, protagonist and the status quo. By having a woman out smart the male monster the status quo of male superiority is destroyed. By giving the women the power, it plays on the male views primal fear of their masculinity being taken away. Another horror film that dissolves a patriarchy with an empowered woman is The Shining

In The Shining the viewer watches in horror as a seemingly peaceful family is torn apart by the dwindling insanity of a father. Jack Torrance, that father, struggles to cope with the ever building stress that his guilt, work and his families downright isolation is causing him. As he looses his mind his rational thoughts all go out the window. From the beginning of the movie each move Jack makes to keep his patriarchal nuclear family only brings it closer and closer to destruction. Wendy, Jacks wife, takes on the role as the protagonist, fighting jack throughout the whole movie. This powers struggle is very similar to what occurs in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Jacks loss of power to Wendy causes her to gain masculinity.  She is seen at many times to be holding many phallic weapons. From bats to knives she is ready to assert herself has the dominant figure.  

The relationship between the monster, protagonist and status quo are demonstrated in both The Shining and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  The films show how the final girl can have such a large impact on the monster and the status quo.

Work sited

Clover,  Carol. “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.” Horror, the Film

Reader. Ed. Mark Jancovich. Psychology Press, 2002. 77.