Slashers- The Destruction of Women

[jodibabe_2325]

Hey Everyone,

I am doing critical research for my A2 exam. I am doing it on the topic of how women are represented in the Slasher Genre and the phenomenon of the 'Final Girl'- the one who overcomes the killer.

It would be a massive help if you could dicuss with me how women are presented, especially how they appear to be victimised and how why the final surviour ends up being a girl and whether that has changed.

I am focusing on mainly on 1970's slashers such as Halloween and Nightmare and Elm street- to see how women are shown in them but also I am lookin at new Slasher films such as The Devils Rejects to see how gender repersentation has changed and to compare them with the beginning of the slashers.

It would be a great help to hear your opinions.

Thank you,
Jodi

[Despare]

Hey Everyone,

I am doing critical research for my A2 exam. I am doing it on the topic of how women are represented in the Slasher Genre and the phenomenon of the 'Final Girl'- the one who overcomes the killer.

It would be a massive help if you could dicuss with me how women are presented, especially how they appear to be victimised and how why the final surviour ends up being a girl and whether that has changed.

I am focusing on mainly on 1970's slashers such as Halloween and Nightmare and Elm street- to see how women are shown in them but also I am lookin at new Slasher films such as The Devils Rejects to see how gender repersentation has changed and to compare them with the beginning of the slashers.

It would be a great help to hear your opinions.

Thank you,
Jodi

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32286

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl



Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon tries to give you the killer's perspective too.

[The Mothman]

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29359&highlight=women+horror

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29401&highlight=women+horror

http://www.horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25590&highlight=women+horror


Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon tries to give you the killer's perspective too.

thats how on top of things we are here at HDC.

[crabapple]

Yeah!









.....

[Cinestro]

I also highly recommend you check out the book - The Horror Film by Peter Hutchings published by Pearson/Longman. It is excellent, if a bit written for the academics. It strongly deals with this topic along with other interesting looks at the Genre, the world and film studies.

[fortunato]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl


i actually wrote the small bit about behind the mask in that entry. for some reason it wasn't in there already.

[Doc Faustus]

My advice: watch Argento movies. Watch all of them. Especially Opera, Suspiria, Phenomenon and Trauma. Paper clip your eyelids open and watch them in your sleep. Ludovico your ass. But ignore Phantom of the Opera. It's a flaming, sentient space turd that will devour two hours of your life and several more, which you will have to squander complaining about something you would rather forget.

[Zero]

You've probably read Carol Clover's book - Men, Women and Chainsaws - given the use of 'final girl.' You might also check out Vera Dika's The Stalker Cycle and Kendall Phillips' Projected Fears for more on stalker flicks.

good luck with the paper!

[jodibabe_2325]

Cheers for all your help. :) x

[ferretchucker]

Yeh, this thread is major league Déja vu!

[Doc Faustus]

We should sticky a "so you're doing a paper on feminism in slasher films..." thread. This comes up every semester.

[jodibabe_2325]

Its because there isn't many horror forums thats why and plus us students are lazy just stick 'horror forum' in google and u get this one lol great research skills! ha.

[The STE]

Is that you, SFF?

[wufongtan.]

. . O
( . )( . )
. - l -
. /*\
Thats how most woman are portrayed in slasher flicks and in horror films in general.

[kilika13]

hey i was just checkin my thread and saw ur's, i take it u r doing media studies as well lol

neways r questions are vertually the same so i thought i'd better post on urs to help you with your research.

my opinion on this matter is that slashers enpower women, although we do see lots killed of before we reach the final girl stage of the movie. However more males did on screen and suffer worse fates the women in the majority of slasher movies, although due to the inherit sexaul element of the women audiences and critics think that women and more victimised then men.

in more recent slashers, and i include the string of terrible remakes, we can see that the final girls is also often sexaully active where as in the past she wasn't, for example in the Rob Zombie Halloween, Laurie makes many sexaul refferances, and in the later scene is pleased at the thought of going out with the guy her friend asks out for her, where as in the original Laurie tells her friend to call the date off.

Also may i recomend that you also try looking at slashers where the killer is a women, for example: I Spit On Your Grave, Sleep Away Camp and Happy Birthday To Me, these could be used as a comparison as they were made around the same date as Nightmare and Halloween.

If there's nefing else i can help you with just give me a shout, i am always wiling to help out.

Gd luck in your exam, all the best

Chris

(Also if you have the time please could you look at my resarch question and give me your opinion on the subject)

[Ferox13]

I am focusing on mainly on 1970's slashers such as Halloween and Nightmare and Elm street

I think with a bit more research u will Realise that Elm Street is an 80's film.

[Rayne]

I think with a bit more research u will Realise that Elm Street is an 80's film.
Made me laugh :D

[stubbornforgey]

Most of the females in these films are damn sickening ..
Come on all you writers..you want the audience to take them seriously ..dumb bitch runs upstairs and there is no escape so her whole 5 ft 3 frame with full makeup tackles the bad guy ..she gets thrown all over the house..chucked down the stairs ..cut with every damn blade out there n her lipstick is perfect..her hair is immaculant..but omg!!!she has a drip of blood coming out of her teeny weeny cut.

bring back hitchcock movies .

[Doc Faustus]

hey i was just checkin my thread and saw ur's, i take it u r doing media studies as well lol

neways r questions are vertually the same so i thought i'd better post on urs to help you with your research.

my opinion on this matter is that slashers enpower women, although we do see lots killed of before we reach the final girl stage of the movie. However more males did on screen and suffer worse fates the women in the majority of slasher movies, although due to the inherit sexaul element of the women audiences and critics think that women and more victimised then men.

in more recent slashers, and i include the string of terrible remakes, we can see that the final girls is also often sexaully active where as in the past she wasn't, for example in the Rob Zombie Halloween, Laurie makes many sexaul refferances, and in the later scene is pleased at the thought of going out with the guy her friend asks out for her, where as in the original Laurie tells her friend to call the date off.

Also may i recomend that you also try looking at slashers where the killer is a women, for example: I Spit On Your Grave, Sleep Away Camp and Happy Birthday To Me, these could be used as a comparison as they were made around the same date as Nightmare and Halloween.

If there's nefing else i can help you with just give me a shout, i am always wiling to help out.

Gd luck in your exam, all the best

Chris

(Also if you have the time please could you look at my resarch question and give me your opinion on the subject)

Two words: Ms. 45. Not a slasher, but damn refreshing.