Representations of women within the horror genre.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

The first film I will be looking at is Halloween, made in 1978. Halloween is the mother of all modern slasher movies. The camera angles and shots from the POV of the monster are still being recreated today.

Within Halloween there is an equal gender mix, roughly 50/50 males and females. Halloween seems to abide to classic gender stereotypes of women in the way that Laurie (the main character) and other female characters are portrayed. Laurie is often portrayed in domestic and motherly roles, looking after children, washing clothes, being caring. These follow the stereotypical view of women and mothers which we all know. Despite this, Laurie differs from the other female characters within the film. Unlike Laurie whose character seems to be quite ‘mature’ other female characters are mischievous and seem to follow the stereotype of teenagers, drinking and having sex. The contrast between the two sets of characters is made quite clear by the almost over the top actions of Annie and Lynda. Although both Annie and Lynda also both carry out domestic duties, this is overshadowed by the way throughout the film they proceed to drink and be sexually promiscuous. Ultimately the film seems to condemn these characters to a brutal murder because of their behaviour which may suggest, the film is attempting to take a stand against this stereotype of teenage boys and girls. These acts of murder upon sexually promiscuous girls are started within the first scene of the movie. In this scene the camera in within the male gaze of a young Mike Myers in which he stalks his older sister who has just had sex with her boyfriend, he then proceeds to commit a bloody murder upon her. Throughout the film the camera returns to this Myers POV shot, and in the scene with Lynda objectifies her as she tries to be sexually provocative. It could be said that this is done specifically to target the male audience (the largest section of horror movie audiences), and the use of the male gaze helps to draw the male audience in.

 Men within Halloween are also portrayed in a very stereotypical manner. The two older male characters are doctors and sheriffs, both very cliché roles for a man. The younger man spends the whole film drinking and having sex, unsurprisingly he dies.

Halloween seems to have a mixed representation of gender, the differences between Laurie and the other clear due to Laurie being so metrosexual. The way she acts, the clothes she wears, her general refusal to join the other girls and her lack of interest in boys all create a massive contrast between the two sets of female characters. The amount of female deaths within Halloween outnumbers male ones by 2/3, and it seems these is more importance put upon the death of the female characters with the condemning of their sexual behaviour. Halloween seems to mostly follow gender stereotypes, with the exception of Laurie and her metrosexual personality.