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Old 08-20-2010, 01:52 PM
thorlantos thorlantos is offline
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Women as heroes

I've been a fan of horror and monster films since I was a child but something about the genre since the late 70's has been bothering me. It seems that since Halloween it has been very common to have a strong female lead that eventually turns the table on the monster and I've become tired of it. Please don't get me wrong. Some of these movies are classic and I'm not attacking the concept of the tough scream queen type. It's just that I personally like to identify with a lead male caracter and enjoy the old fashion Hero defeats monster and gets girl. Is there anyone else out there who also feels this way or am I alone in this?
Now please remember I am only talking about my prefence as a viewer and am not making a comment abouth the role of women in society. I am more drawn to the image of the damsel in distress who needs to be rescued then to the Xena warrior type. I'd trully like to hear what others have to say about this.
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Old 08-20-2010, 02:23 PM
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instead of being serious and arguing with you, I'm going to tell you about a movie I'm making that you might enjoy because it's like the opposite of the movie you described:

the villain is a 7 foot tall beast of a lady named black bertha (berfa)
the camp is full of cougar councelors and young attractive but stupid boys, it's called camp cougar.
big bertha goes around killing the young attractive but stupid boys after they get out of the shower, have sex with councelors, do jumping jacks in their underwear etc
the lead character is named hank and he is the smartest boy but he's not as great looking as the other campers. he is pretty ignorable for most of the movie which is probably why bertha doesn't kill him
the last part of the movie involves hank falling a lot and screaming while trying to escape from bertha's mean bear hug.
hank eventually "kills" bertha as the police arrive and put a towel over hank who is now half naked from the ordeal, he sips his cocoa and sobs as the credits start to roll.
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Last edited by X¤MurderDoll¤X; 08-20-2010 at 02:30 PM.
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Old 08-20-2010, 03:06 PM
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Is there such a thing?
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Old 08-20-2010, 03:07 PM
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I like female leads because chicks are hot, and I'd rather the film be centered around a hot chick than a dude.

I suppose I could give you a discourse on gender roles in horror films, but that's pretty much why I like chicks as the protagonist.
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Old 08-20-2010, 08:18 PM
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don't matter to me as long as the hero is engaging and the character is well fleshed out.

I'll take a Ripley or Connors any day.


as long as they are wearing a tight t-shirt......preferably on the wet side
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Old 08-20-2010, 09:06 PM
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Well, It's just really hard to have a movie where a man saves a damsel in distress now days, because feminists WILL jump on that. Especially because part of what gets guys into the theater in the first place is a bunch of scatly clad women running around like airheads and being killed. You can't very well do that and not have some kind of empowered female to cover your male gaze tracks.

I think the women of horror often go through some catharsis, emerging as a more masculin character who is finally able to defend themselves. They take the place of both a male and female lead that is empowering to women, kicks ass like a man (ugh my feminist side hurt to type that, but it is what it is) and leaves room for clothing to be ripped and tits to be flashed if the script calls for that sort of thing.
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Old 08-21-2010, 12:07 AM
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Personally, I don't care who the hero is in any particular movie as long as the movie is enjoyable and believable (as far as believable can go in such realms). I've never been one to believe that there is some deep seated Freudian metaphor going on in movies when is came to women defeat the bad guys. Maybe if the movie in some way leans towards it (i.e. I Spit on Your Grave), but other than that its just how its written.

It is true, for an unimaginable amount of time the male protagonist was a very dominant trait in the movie world and that probably did arise from a sort of sexist view that, while being looked down upon today, was definitely in the majority at the time. I just don't think that if it happened now, it would be due to the same mindset as back then. However, I personally feel it is an odd preference to lean towards the idea of a weak female in a horror movie intentionally.

When I watch a horror, there can be many opinions, but I'd prefer to keep the metaphors to the plot (I.E. Frankenstein representing a fear of the unknown effects of science/Rosemary's Baby representing the proverbial "witch hunt" for the enemy next door). I did, however, enjoy the explanation in "Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon" why the female protagonist tends to use a large solid object when attacking the killer. Reasoning being it was a very phallic symbol and so on and so forth.

No one can absolutely know what the motivation behind a writer's choice of protagonist besides the writer. It could be convenience, to avoid cliche, draw of the hat or who knows what else. We can settle with speculating on the idea, but I personally see no evidence that a modern dominant female lead in a horror movie is any sort of statement against the idea of a modern dominant male lead.
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Old 08-21-2010, 05:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thorlantos View Post
I've been a fan of horror and monster films since I was a child but something about the genre since the late 70's has been bothering me. It seems that since Halloween it has been very common to have a strong female lead that eventually turns the table on the monster and I've become tired of it. Please don't get me wrong. Some of these movies are classic and I'm not attacking the concept of the tough scream queen type. It's just that I personally like to identify with a lead male caracter and enjoy the old fashion Hero defeats monster and gets girl. Is there anyone else out there who also feels this way or am I alone in this?
Now please remember I am only talking about my prefence as a viewer and am not making a comment abouth the role of women in society. I am more drawn to the image of the damsel in distress who needs to be rescued then to the Xena warrior type. I'd trully like to hear what others have to say about this.
Go watch Zombieland, though I am getting tired of the whole nerdy-coming-of-age-slub schtick.
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Old 08-28-2010, 09:32 AM
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Saw this on-line and thought it was interesting in relation to this (and the million other) discussion of women and horror.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/26/hor...mepagechannels
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Old 08-28-2010, 10:15 AM
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Interesting. Love the part where they say horror isnt "in" right now. Sad part is reguarding "hollywood" movie its true.
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