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11/4/2013, 10:12pm

Women's roles in horror films

By Ana Guenther
Women's roles in horror films

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I would first like to start and say that I hate horror films.

I am a baby when it comes to anything scary, I literally cannot deal with it.

I have a few issues with horror flicks, one of them being that I cannot delineate the lines between reality and fiction.

I will lie in bed at night after watching a scary movie and do nothing but think about the movie I just watched.

My problem is that I over analyze the content.

I know what happens in these movies is not real and all of it is make believe, but my over-active imagination just grabs me and replays the movie again inside my head, rendering me of sleep for at least a week.

Another issue that I have with horror films is the way that women are portrayed in these movies.
In an article written by WorldPress.com, women were described as the innocent damsels in distress in horror films, while men tend to play the heros or the monsters. This has always been the case and is the case in other film genres.

People have this preconceived notion that women could not play the monsters and that is not the case.

“Horror films, and the slasher subgenre, are famous for portraying women as hypersexual damsels in distress who are usually murdered within the first five minutes as punishment for their indiscretions…” said Bellaonline.com blog writers.

What really kills me (no pun intended) is that these films are targeted toward the male demographic who watch these movies for scantily dressed women.

So at first, women are objectified as sex symbols for the entertainment of men in these slasher movies, thenthey are killed for entertainment.

I am just confused. What is the point?

There is no reason that a woman could not be the monster in a film.

For example, in Stephen King’s “Carrie,” Carrie is depicted as a shy religious girl in the beginning.
She is completely innocent to the world around her and is controlled by her mother who is a religious fanatic.

By the end of the movie Carrie is a full-blown monster who destroys most of her hometown.
She is a blonde female character who is a great example of how women can play the monster.

Another thing that I have noticed about Carrie as well is that she could be viewed as the protagonist and antagonist of the movie.

Although her actions are frightening and definitely paint her as the villain, people feel somewhat sympathetic toward her.

She was just a young girl who wanted to understand herself and gain freedom from her mother. Up until she becomes the villain of the movie or book, her peers are the ones who can be viewed as the villains, and they are the ones who release her anger.

This is the 21st century and I just do not understand why women are still constantly subjected as the weaker characters in a lot of movies.

It is something that needs to change, but I worry that it will not any time soon.

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