Representation of women in horror films

Female characters in horror films are represented as the weaker characters in these films because they are shown being killed in more graphic content than male characters so they are the more memorable victims in horror films. I believe that this is done because the majority of the audience for a horror film will be male and they would rather see a pretty female actress for longer during the lead up to the kill than a male actor.

There are different types of female characters in horror films, they will have certain characteristics which defines them as there own unique character. One female character which will also in most cases end up being the final girl or the hero in some cases will be a nice, quiet and smart girl, also in teen movies this girl may be the virgin of the group and this shows the audience that she is good and well behaved maybe has a slight lack of confidence and could be the one in the group who is the least accepted. Then you get the complete opposite type of female character the loud and stupid girl which is normally attractive, this is the girl that will in most cases get the group into trouble or she will be the first victim that is killed.

The representation of female characters in horror films based on the film ‘Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho’ shows me that a normal working class young lady can still be the main victim in a film. During the murder scene in this film where Marion, the female lead in this film, is killed in the shower with a knife this very much supports Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory because this scene shows parts of a naked female character being killed with a knife which could also be seen as a phallic symbol. This shows this has a mostly male target audience, due to the sexual references towards women in this film.   

The opening scene to the film ‘Scream’ shows an A class celebrity (Drew Barrymore) killed within the first few minutes of the film and also the character that this actor was playing challenges the female gender role a little bit to. At one point during this scene you think that this female character is going to get away from her attacker because she fights back for a little bit, in older films you don’t really tend to get this you will just be shown the woman being killed in a gruesome way. Also this scene would have shocked the audience a little bit as well which I think the creators of this film wanted to do because they have this very famous actor in this film killed of in the first few minutes of the film. This does however follow the male gaze theory again because I knife is used which again could be seen as a phallic symbol and the shots of this character are being shown in quite a bit of detail because the audience, which are mostly male, would much rather be watching a woman on the screen for longer than a male character.

The main character in the film ‘Silent hill’ challenges the way that female roles are seen in horror films. Throughout this whole film all the females in this film could be seen as strong characters and during this film the main character is fighting back to what she knows could kill her all in the hope to get her daughter back. There is a male character in this film and by the end of this film the audience will be able to see that he is a lot weaker than the female character in this film. Throughout this film the audience are show a good selection of dominant female roles some of which are good and some which aren't.  This challenges people ideas on what horror films normally are like because in this film the male character does nothing to help his wife or daughter, its not his fault because he is stuck in a different dimension to them but the male character doesn't go through hardly anything compared to his wife.