‘Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, ‘have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hardcore pornography?
How far and in what ways do you agree with this?
It is evident that some feminist critics would be in full support of such statement that since ‘Halloween’, the representations of women have changed from not only as victims but are also sexualised, to such an extent that it’s viewed to be hardcore pornography. Thus having a negative and inaccurate representation of women; this has also led me without a doubt to also support such statement by Nicholas Rogers. However others may disagree on such view, taking a different approach to the representation of women, arguing that women are not in fact sexualised within slasher movies, but rather are seen to be more masculine in contemporary times, which in affect changes the conventional representation of women from victims to heroes, hence their disagreement.
Firstly early feminist theory and criticism was directed at the stereotyped representation of women was seen in Hollywood films. These stereotyped images of women in classic Hollywood were negative through the use of voyeurism and male gaze. This led some feminists from 1970s onwards wanting to destroy the classic male narrative; this was whereby men were the protagonist characters, thus the narrative unfolded from their perspective. A prime example of this can be seen with Laura Mulvey (feminist) who suggested that the way women are viewed in cinema was unequal, where the camera presents women as sexualised for pleasure, leading men to have fetishism over women, which she called ‘fetishistic scopophilia’. This support the argument that women are viewed in slasher movies as hard core pornography due to the fact that, they are viewed to be sex objects, visually there for the pleasing of its male audience who have high pleasure in seeing women being sexualised. In addition Mulvey declared that in patriarchal society women are made to be seen as objects of desire for both men in the story and its audience, presenting women as an image or spectacle for men to look at, suggesting that men do the looking, whilst women on the other hand are only there to be looked at. Adding to the agreement of the negativity of the representation of women within the slasher genre, in effect degrading women within society.
However Mulvey argued that the representation of women in classical Hollywood cinema were inevitably due to the fact that during this time period men were the directors and protagonist, which can still be seen in contemporary times hence the way in which women are represented sexually. Such feminist views gave way for other feminists who wanted to destroy the male gaze, by getting rid of visual pleasure men received by sexualised women within the media, especially in slasher genres. This can be seen with ‘Carrie’ during the shower scene, where women are naked walking and bouncing around in the changing room, here slow motion is use in order to show more of the female assert, as well as their actions (braless bouncing around), for the visual pleasure of men and thus an inaccurate representation of women. This therefore supports ‘Nicholas Rogers’ argument that women are decisive in a manner of hardcore pornography.
On the other hand one may argue that the representation of women have changed within the slasher genre, such takes on events is explored in ‘Fear and Fascination’ from the ‘Alien’ extract, which subverts the conventional female representation. Here is apparent that the ways in which women are viewed here are rather positive rather than that of sexual nature, and thus are not treated or viewed as objects. This can be seen with her name ‘Ripley’ echoes masculinity conflicting representation, of there being a female protagonist. In the same way, ‘Ripley’ is a six foot tall with an athletic body and is presented in natural make-up and male clothes, such descriptions makes it hard for one to argue that women within slasher movies are perceived in a manner of hardcore pornography, due to the fact that she is portrayed just like her male counterparts, where sexuality is almost nonexistent. Lastly such extracts challenges the sexual representation of women, which in effect changes the narrative of female roles, as ‘Ripley’ becomes the final girl who saves the human race from the alien villains. Therefore such theories on women being sexualised to such an extent that its been compared to hardcore pornography does not apply to all slasher movies, this therefore does not agree with ‘Nicholas Rogers’ view on the sexual portrayal of women.
Although not directly linked to other feminists, in the same way, states that women are misrepresented, Barbara Creed argues that women are portrayed as ‘monstrous feminine’. This is whereby women are portrayed in slasher films as monsters, subverting the connotations of mothers. This can be seen within slasher movies such as ‘Psycho’, where the audience is led to believe that Norman’s mother is in fact the monstrous killer, destroying any woman who dares to come into Norman’s life. It is not until later on that the narrative reveals that the true identity of the killer is in fact Norman. However the audience is made to sympathise with such a character as he has psychological issues (split personality) and as a result is not entirely at fault for this actions. Another example can be seen with the case of ‘Carrie’, where the mother (Mrs White) is shown to be unloving towards her own daughter Carrie. In contrast the audience here is not made to feel any sorrow for ‘Mrs White’ due to her causing danger towards the one person she’s suppose to love the most, Carrie. This can be argued as giving way for male directors to portray women in any way they please, whether it’s a sexual or monstrous depiction of women. Similarly one could also argue that Propp’s character theory has added to the way women are portrayed within slasher movies, as he presents women to be victims who ultimately need saving from their male counterparts, who in comparison are presented to be the heroes who save the women before everything collapses. Such approaches can be argued are created by the hierocracy society, enabling men to objectify women, in this case sex objects, agreeing with ‘Nicholas Rogers’ view on women presented as decisive manner as hard core pornography.
In conclusion there is evidence to support such observation that some feminist critics according to ‘Nicholas Rogers’ have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in a decisive manner as hard core pornography. This comes down to the fact that I personally believe that the way women are represented has become a unique selling point, by sexualising women as ‘sex sales’. In addition to this, women are sexualised within slasher films due to the fact that most narratives are told and directed from the male’s perspective, so we as women have no choice but to be subjected to being sexualised for the pleasure of men, which has become a normality and thus conventional portrayal of women to be sexualised. However there is evidence to suggest that there has been some subversion of the sexualised woman, which can be seen with the theory of final girl, where women are ultimately become the hero, saving society which can be seen in slasher movies such as ‘Shaun of the Dead’. The new conventional final girl representation of women has led to the way in which media portrays women, within horror films way from being sexualised and thus can’t be argued to being portrayed as hard core pornography.
