Younger, Beth. “Women in Horror: Victims No More.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 19 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/women-in-horror-victims-no-more-78711.
‘Women in horror: Victims no more’ is an article that was written by Beth Younger and it can be found in The Conversation’ website. The article cites the research conducted by a professor of Southern California Stacy Smith to show the small representation of women in film and TV where between the years 2006 and 2011 women found in film were less than 30%. She goes ahead to illustrate that in these few women that are presented, they are featured talking about the man which is very biased. The article discusses the depiction of women in the horror films, the author illustrates that over the years, and women have always been portrayed as the victims of circumstances in the films. This is however changing and the women are now becoming the protagonists; she gives the examples of horror films such as ‘The Witch’ and ‘The Awakening’ where women are the main characters in the films and they are also the heroes.
This source is very productive and it greatly helps to show how gender roles are changing in the film industry. This article will be very effective in supporting my argument that gender roles are changing in the film industry. it will be effective in helping to show that women roles in the society has changed and that they are now getting more attention in film roles that initially thought them to be fragile and not strong enough to be the protagonists. This source will be presented in my work by use of quotes of some of the films that have been mentioned to help show how the main characters have gone against the perception of the society to represent women as strong characters that can endure horrors just like the men can.
Kao, Hsien-Te; Tang, Carissa; Jain, Anita.“Gender Dichotomy in Horror Characters .” California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 30 May 2017, pp. 2–11., broncoscholar.library.cpp.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.3/191872/KaoHsienTe_Article2017.pdf?sequence=1.
‘Gender Dichotomy in Horror Characters’ is a research paper by Hsien-Te Kao, Carissa Tang and Anita Jain. The article discusses the way that the horror character Slenderman has transformed over the years from a gender neutral character to a gendered character though fan arts. The article examines the history of horror characters with the analysis of both the female and the male horror authors such as Freddy, Frankenstein and Ring. The article goes ahead to show the way that the horror characters have transformed dramatically from the scientific creature to the darkness creatures that are created using the internet. By using Slenderman character, the authors discuss the issue of gender binary, they try to show how over the years the characters of the horror films have changed where in the early years.
Men were often used as the main characters in the horror films a good case example being with Frankenstein and Freddy and this changed in the 20th century where female characters began to be incorporated as the main characters a good example being with the author Ring in 2002 who used a woman as the main character in their horror work. However the article also tries to show that even as the women were incorporated in the films, they were brought out as weak and helpless. This article will be helpful in my work because it will help to show how the society at large has labelled women as the weak gender even in the horror films. I will cite the article in my work by quoting some of the films listed in the article and analysing how the male and female characters have been presented. The article will be effective in helping show how biased the society is when it comes to gender roles and how the horror industry depicts the character of women in the society.
GILLMOR, ALISON. “Feminist Horror.” Herizons, vol. 29, no. 1, Summer 2015, pp. 20–23. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=109190066&site=ehost-live.
Feminist Horror is an article by Gillmor and the article has been published and can be found in various academic data bases. The author just like in most articles that I have earlier looked at discusses the manner in which the women have been presented in horror movies over the years, and how this is changing with time. The author begins by explaining how the horror genre has in the past been viewed for its ability to explore dark and difficult places. The genre probes at trying to test the powers of primal emotions, the transgressions and also the taboos that lurk under the surface of the ordinary life. The author indicates that things have changed in these horror movies and women are no longer viewed as the victims, women in the 21st century have embraced horror films and they enjoy watching them and most especially where the protagonists are female. The article goes ahead to illustrate that the female characters in the horror genre has greatly increased and she goes ahead to give some examples like ‘American psycho’. This article will be effective in my work in that it supports my argument that the supernatural film industry has completely changed when it comes to gender roles. Women are becoming major characters in the films which help to change the perceptions that women are weak. I will creatively use some of the content used the article to support my work and most especially the arguments on women becoming more and more interested in watching horror films.
Ahmad, Zara. “Gender Stereotypes In Horror Films.” The Odyssey Online, Odyssey, 13 Nov. 2017, www.theodysseyonline.com/gender-stereotypes-horror-industry.
Gender stereotype in Horror Films is an article written by Ahmad and it can be found in the Odyssey website online. The article discusses the horror film industry and the manner in which women are represented; women have always been looked at as weak creatures which made them the victims in these horror films. The female characters as illustrated in the article were always presented to be scared and unreasonable and a good case example of this is given with the films, ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Sea Cunningham’ and Psycho’ where the female characters are killed by the males. Things have however changed, now days and women have stopped becoming the victims and they are now always fighting and they end up becoming heroes or ‘final girls’ as they have come to be commonly referred as, a good case example given being ‘The Descent’. This article is effective in that it helps to show the way that women in the past were treated and presented in the society. The female characters have always been thought to be weak and not able to withstand horrific events in their lives. I will use this article to help evidence the manner in which the horror industry in the past represented women and how this concept has changed over the years. I will cite the article in such a way that the current representation of women as heroes or as the ‘final girls’ is well elaborated to show how gender roles in women are changing in the horror film industry as well as the society at large.
