How Men & Women Are Represented In Horror Films

The majority of horror films feature a young, attractive female actress who is scared and, more than likely, seen running away from the antagonist (which is usually a male criminal or monster). This is a representation of how women and males are presented in horror films- for example, representing women as the weaker sex while men remain as the superior one. This supports Laura Mulvey's theory explained in her 1975 novel 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' that in Hollywood cinema, women are viewed as objects; for example Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman' is portrayed as a sexualised object. 

Many of the first horror films to be produced had used this technique for their characters, such as 'Dracula', for example, as the culture during that era often accepted and played along with the inferior stereotypes for women due to the fact that the films were released before the second world war etc which was prior to when the notion of independent women swept across the nation.

One of the most stereotypical horror films that represents women in an inferior way to men is the trilogy of the 'Scream' films. This is due to the fact that the antagonist is always a male, and the protagonist is always a female. In addition to this, I believe the films themselves reflect a sense of sexism when referring to blonde females as, from watching the films, you will witness how the majority of the murders committed by the antagonist at the beginning of the film are carried out on a blonde female. This creates a microcosm of all white, blonde females being very naive and incapable of protecting their own lives.

The Screams' trilogy's sexist representation of women is so obvious that it has even been picked up on by the producers and directors of comedy films like 'Scary Movie' where the film mocks Scream on it's representation of females being the weaker sex.

The notion of females being vulnerable and prone to being attacked by an antagonist is carried on throughout the majority of early and present horror films. Most horror films have a male character as the main characters (the antagonist and protagonist- or hero) while the rest of the female cast remain inferior to his role, take 'Insidious 2' for example which is actually a modern horror film and shows that even horror story lines are still based around these sexist stereotypes.