Representation of Females and Female Protagonists

Damsel in distress

This is the most commonly used representation of women in horror films. It shows women are weaker, a sex appeal and in need of a male hero.

Jealousy In most cases, horror films portray women as 'always needing a reason to kill' because of anger, jealously or passion which usually involves a man. The idea that women kill because they are lovers, boosts a males ego, therefore this is something my group and I will clearly suggest about Maddie in our trailer so it appeals to our male audience even if she isn't necessarily attempting to kill someone.

Evil, Demon and Seductress

Anita Sarkeesian who is a media critic and the author of the video blog 'Feminist Frequency', stated in one of her videos ''When an evil-demon-seductress is on screen, men get to objectify her while having these sexist, preconceived notions reaffirmed that women are indeed manipulative and deceitful.'' Women use their sexuality to deceive a man, and then naturally uses violence to get what they want.

As my group and I are including a female antagonist in our film (Delaney), after I watched this video, I want to represent her as sexy and deceitful through the use of camera shots and costume and then violent to get what she wants as this will match up to female representations in the horror genre and appeal to our male audience. It will also appeal to our female audience as it will show them that women can be demanding and get what they want.

Final GirlThis refers to the last character standing (usually the female protagonist), which in our case is Maddie who survives the home invasion. Female protagonists are represented as being a mixture of intelligent, a damsel in distress, a sex appeal and a lover so therefore, my group and I will ensure we represent Maddie as the Final Girl to show female power which will appeal to our female audience but to also conform to female horror stereotypes to also ensure it appeals to a wide range of people.

Scream- Tatum’s Death sceneThe film ‘Scream’ has a strong female role, who when they aren’t damsels in distress, they are out fighting to find the killer. When Gale rescues Sidney she is wearing a masculine looking leather trench coat which represents her as very dominant. This is an example of a woman in a male hero role.

For my group and I to represent Maddie as dominant, we will consider dressing her in masculine clothing.

What have I learnt and how will I use this research?

I want to conform to these representations of women therefore I will represent Maddie as weak, vulnerable and a Damsel in Distress. I also want to represent her as a lover and sex appeal throughout the trailer as this will appeal to our male audience. All these representations meet the Final Girl theory, therefore I want to represent Maddie as 'The Final Girl' further on in the trailer as this will give hope to the audience and appeal to women as they will aspire to be like her and therefore will watch the film. However, it is still challenging female stereotypes as the Final Girl is sometimes portrayed as strong and powerful therefore I will consider representing her like this through the use of clothing as women are usually associated with being weak and I want to challenge these stereotypes. I will try to achieve these representations through the use of camera shots by lingering the camera on the female body, mise en scene such as a revealing, masculine or tight costume, soft lighting and make up.