** WARNING: This article contains
spoilers for various movies including Halloween,
Nightmare on Elm Street,
Scream and various
other classics that you should have seen by now.**
“Look out! He's behind you!”
She'd could go out the front door but
she goes upstairs instead. She clobbers the murderer over the head
once and leaves the weapon behind. He's been chasing her for over an
hour and she hasn't even taken her shirt off!
I'm sorry, did that sound sexist?
Horror doesn't get a lot of credit.
And trust me, trying to make a critical argument that horror is a
relevant art form over a cup of coffee doesn't earn you much either,
but the topic that always gets the blood boiling is how degrading the
genre is toward women. When someone poses that viewpoint, I feel
more slighted as a woman than when I'm actually watching a slasher.
I would kill (or be killed) to be a Scream Queen. To follow in the
bloody but unbowed footsteps of Laurie Strode, Nancy Thompson, Sidney
Prescott and countless others would be the triumph of a lifetime.
Literally. In third grade, my best friend and I made a sleepover
tradition of renting through the shlock and shock of the local video
store's horror section. The first time I saw the iconic closet scene
in Halloween I knew I was
done for. The fact that someone could be backed into a corner and
terrorized yet keep her wits and
get out alive was baffling. A girl no less! I'm one of those! I
fell in love with horror. Of course, to be fair, it came on to me
first. And it was empowering.
Now, while I don't think that all
horror films are rife with girl power, I think there's a solid case
that the female archetypes found throughout the genre (and especially
the subgenre of the slasher) are actually positive feminist fodder.
On top of the inherent male gaze of Hollywood cinema, the fear
factory tends to bleed out a stream of conventions that demean women
and glorify violence against them. However, no other genre of film
has evolved so intimately with the times; reacting and responding to
real politics and humanity itself. From creature feature to torture
porn, horror has remained a highly stylized caricature of human
nature, and, more importantly, the dynamic between men and women. To
see why these chillers remain one of the few consistent pro-women
vehicles in the media, you have to break down the very conventions
that make the genre what it is.
It really comes down to the characters.
You know them. The Debbie Downer, the Blonde Bimbo, the Mannish
Muscle, the Woebegone Witch, and of course the Scream Queen/Final
Girl. Debbie doesn't even want to be alive, Blondie is hypersexual,
Manny is an “other”, and Sabrina is either too smart or too
superstitious to remain until the end. Instead, it will all boil
down to a showdown between a psychopath wielding a phallic weapon and
the one girl who remained pure and virginal throughout the whole
ordeal. These roles are so reductive it hurts. But take a look at
the cast list reflecting horror's primary audience: The Stoned
Shaggy, the Sweet Geek, the Horny Half-wit, the Brave Boyfriend, and
The Killer himself. Shags is too hazy, Bill Nye is only helpful for
so long, the Horndog more than likely provoked an attack at one point
or another, and trying to be the hero most assuredly leaves you to
die second to last. All that remains is a contorted shell of
madness. Scooby Doo makes a lot more sense now, doesn't it? Of
course they didn't deal with real monsters or ghosts! There isn't an
archetype in the Mystery Machine that could possibly survive an
actual murderous rampage!
 |
| Although I would've put my money on Don Knotts. |
Many would argue that horror films are
often morality tales. The Final Girl is a prudish virgin and
therefore is allowed to live. I think it's important to point out
that Laurie had a crush on a boy, of course Nancy was doing it with
Johnny Depp, and Sidney broke the rule. These iconic women didn't
lack sexuality or desire, it simply was not essential to their
survival. Recent additions to the genre such as Cabin in the
Woods and The Descent
have shown an acquired self awareness within the confines of horror
preconceptions that allows characters to show their clean character
without relying on the merits of their chastity. In fact, a lot of
Final Girls exude commonly male anti-hero flaws.
There is always an exception to the
rule but I guarantee that if one expectation is removed, another will
be reinforced. Even if these character patterns are not adhered to,
another custom will still exist. Look at the final throwdown between
Good and Evil that is usually personified in the two main characters
of the film. The Final Girl epitomizes women's struggle against a
patriarchal society which is often embodied by a faceless, lumbering,
all too powerful source (i.e. Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees,
Leatherface) Have you ever rolled your eyes when the Scream Queen
trips over nothing? She just hit the glass ceiling. By the end
she'll have a limp and no way to actually outrun her foe, forcing her
to confront The Killer head on. During her attempted escape, she
will more than likely find a phallic object to use against her
opposition. Some might say that this further proves the chauvinistic
idea that a woman must arm herself with male aspects in order to
overcome an innate vulnerability. I would argue that it is a bite
back at the gender binary enforced upon our culture.
Being a typically adolescent focused
type of cinema, horror is loaded with sexual symbolism and imagery.
It is usually very apparent within the first ten minutes of a horror
movie who our heroine will be. From that point on, we watch her have
her personal space or home invaded, her friends stripped away, be
possessed in some cases, and endure countless stabbings and other
rape imagery via an intrusive voyeuristic viewpoint. Again, this
seems very sexist, but I can't stress enough how important this
oppression is in presenting viewers with a survivor instead of a
victim.
Let's be honest, the horror genre isn't
the most critically acclaimed film form, nor is it the most cerebral
cinematic experience one could hope to have. However, millions flock
to gorge themselves on popcorn and milk duds while they watch
numerous people (usually women) be gored, gutted, and gouged in the
most unique way possible. Despite the frail attempts at being
creative or reinventing horror, the genre's greatest strengths tend
to lie in it's accepted truths and archetypes.
Yes, some scenes can be excessive and
meant to shock and stun audiences but in the hands of a good director
and an informed audience, they can be inspiration to action. Laurie
used every weapon available (Hello. Knitting needle to the neck.),
Nancy set traps, and Sidney grew the fuck up. They are hardcore.
Think of a horror film as though it's “The Best of the 11 o'clock
News” If you're not disgusted or upset by the actual content and
the fact that far worse trespasses are actually being made against
your fellow people, that women and their rights being threatened has
become an everyday occurrence, doesn't that make you the monster?
All true Queens know that the point is
to scream, not remain silent.
-AP
