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Stereotyping of Gender/Race in Horror Genres

According to De Palma we, the audience would get attached or fear for a women when she is wandering through a haunted house rather than a husky man. From the very beginning of horror films we have seen the stereotyping of gender. It still haven’t changed after all these years. Females were always considered docile and passive and used as a damsel in distress even though when they are portrayed as the final girl, we see them considered as damsel in distress all throughout the movie and rise up in the end against the repression.

From the early horror movies such as the portrayal of the Dracula movies in the 30’s. We see women as victims and bounded by sexual repression. On the other hand we see the male as the big, mean monster who terrorizes the town and acts as the antagonist in the movie. This haven’t changed over the years. When we see De Palma and Hitchcock’s movies we tend not to find the idea of a female who outsmarts much less outfights or outgazes her assailants. This is almost unthinkable in their movies. Although in slasher movies the female are used as sexual teases but they are not simple minded, scheming, physically incompetent like De Palma or Hitchcock’s female victims.

One of the most significant stereotyping while watching horror movies is the use of white/Caucasian female as the final girl or damsel in distress and the use of white/Caucasian male as the main antagonist. From the earliest of movies to the most recent we see victims and perpetrators as Caucasians. For example Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the characters played by Mina and Dracula are both white. Psycho, The Brood, The cabin in the Woods, The Thing, The Shining. Each and everyone of them has a white female as their final girl and almost any other horror movie I can think of. There may be a few films where we don’t see white female portraying the final girl,  for example the 28 Days later but we do see a white female along with her through the end when the final girl scenes appear.

Why is there such use of white female leads as the final girl? Is it because we find it more susceptible if it is a white female or is it because the makers think that white female are easier to terrorize. It’s because who would not watch a blonde woman running in her undergarments from a monster. It is our repression that the makers portray and we find it intriguing and therefore we go and watch it. It is all part of the marketing strategy to bring in more audience. Social construction works here too. We are made to believe that white women are the American dream. Whenever we see advertisements of certain products or models it is mostly white female and from there it is stuck in our mind that a white female is the epitome of beauty.

It is not just that in horror films, the females are being attacked by monsters or psychopaths. They are also being possessed. Almost every other films on possession portrays a female being possessed. For example The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity and many others all portray on thing, a female in the house being possessed and then wreaking havoc for the whole family. It just shows that female are docile and passive and easier to control and corrupt. Therefore demons attack females first as they are easier to break.

We do see changes in the horror movies that are made today. The antagonist or the monster /demons are not just male, there are female characters who play the role of the monster. Movies like the woman in black, Mama, Ouija, Death Silence etc. all portrays women as the monster praying on the men who are the victims here. This is a really good change as it puts us on edge from the stereotyping. The movies are scary as we see the wrath of a female monster unleashed on the men and how it consumes them.Therefore in the midst of all the stereotyping of characters in horror films. We see movies where the makers try to portray a different view using different techniques to break out of the general idea and offer something new to the audience who long more excitement and surprise.

   

Works Cited

Clover, Carol J. Men Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. London: BFI, 1992. Print.

"Pretty Bloody: Women and Stereotypes in Horror Movies." VitaminW. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.