Monday, November 17, 2014

Nihal Chowdhury - Gender and neglecting the monstrous feminine within Dracula and how viewers perceive it

Gender plays a key role in understanding the dynamics of horror films such as Dracula. Most films portray the social gender norms of the time the film was made or when the script was written. Dracula was written in 1897 so naturally it portrays a male dominant Victorian society where women had only two options: be a model of purity by staying a virgin or get married and become ideal wives and mothers. So as women’s roles in horror movies were ones of the victims. They were portrayed as vulnerable objects, being attacked by the antagonist, usually a male. As the story progressed, they would eventually get rescued by the protagonist, who also happens to be the a male. In this time and era, women were hardly given important roles in movies with their own narrative. When they were given such roles, they would either be embodied as the perfect damsel in distress, or the ideal wife and mother. Her story would revolve around that of her male counterparts’.

“Dracula” however, does include three female antagonists: the three vampire sisters. Even though these three characters had all the qualities of a typical antagonist, their characters did not hold much weight. They were portrayals of what a typical Victorian woman should not be. Their voluptuous physiques and sexual aggression sexualized their characters, thus making their beauty a promise of sexual fulfillment. This correlates to Barbara Creed’s work when she mentions that stereotypically the female monsters are defined in terms of their sexuality. (Barbara, page 3) We completely overlook the fact that these 3 vampires are just as frightening and dangerous and we only remember them by their sexuality.

Furthermore Gerard Lenne said “ women in horror film, is fairly typical of those who find the very idea of a female monster offensive to their rather quint, but deeply sexist, notions of rivalry.” Lenne’s arguments is legit when applied to Dracula. The sisters victimizing Harker is symbolic of a threat to the male dominant society. This also compromised a man’s ability to reason and stay in control. For this reason the sexually aggressive women in this novel were destroyed.

It’s not just the filmmakers or authors that give women these minor roles. The audience also perceives these characters in terms of our societal norms. After watching Dracula if you would’ve asked anyone who was the most dangerous character I would’ve said Count Dracula. All they would’ve remembered of the 3 sisters were that how they looked and what they did to Harker. Also people would’ve thought Harker was less of a man since he got victimized by 3 women. The power of the idea of a male dominant society is overwhelming. That’s why we find it very hard to accept women in any roles other than the ones of wives, lovers, sisters and of mothers. I believe horror movies can explore into new horizons if they kept an open mind about the idea of aggressive and scary female characters. It is important to realize however, that our society has come a long way since the making of Dracula. Today there are horror movies with female antagonists, putting females in power and giving them control. In my personal opinion Emily Rose was much scarier of a character than Count Dracuala.

 Bibliography

• "Watch Dracula Online Free Putlocker | Putlocker - Watch Movies Online Free." Watch Dracula Online Free Putlocker | Putlocker - Watch Movies Online Free. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2014

• Creed, Barbara. The monstrous-feminine: Film; Feminism, Psychoanalysis. London: Routledge, 1992. Print

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