Laura Mulvey - Laura Mulveys theory consists of the ‘male gaze’ which was introduced in 1975 and she believes that within film audiences everyone views characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. This is because she thinks that when a male looks at a woman he may decide that she is attractive and also when a woman looks at another woman she may agree that she is attractive where as if a male was looking at another man he might not see the physical appeal as confidently as a women can when looking at another woman even though not homosexual. Paul Willis – Willis stated in 1990 that because of the modern return of feminism “pop stars are symbolic vehicles which young women understand themselves more fully – shaping their personalities to fit the stars”.Merrin – In 2005, Merrin came up with the theory that “the media do not reflect and represent the reality of the public but instead produce it, employing this simulation to justify their own continuing existence”.Branston and Strafford – Their theory stated that representation has characteristics including; A categorizing and evaluation of the group being stereotyped, the evaluation that is often negative, but not always.

Laura Mulveys theory can be linked to the horror genre as in many horror films there is usually a woman to create a love story sub-plot and although portrayed as beautiful, she is weak. The use of women in this genre is to help target the horror demographic target audience of young males. Women in horror films are typically portrayed as sex objects as they enhance the sub-genre of ‘exploitation horror’. This can be seen in the piranha film ‘3DD

The Branston and Stafford theory also related to horror films as within the genre of horror, the female becomes the vulnerable one and is often saved by a male hero who defeats the villain.