Summery on the different media horror theories
Final Girl
Carol
Clover introduced the theory of the ‘Final Girl’ and the theory is particularly
common in slasher films. Carol Clover said that not all females are damsels in
distress and that the final girl has the capability to fight back, this also
results in the audience identifying with her. She also says that the final girl
is not meant to been seen as a damsel in distress and so is seen as stronger
and with the use of the most common weapon that the final girl grabs is phallic for example a knife which then masculises her.
How Genres (conventions) Change over
Time
To keep
horror fans interested the industry has to change and make new ways to show the
horror genre, it has changed a lot over the years
In the
1920’s film makers had to rely on non-diegetic sound to create the horror and
the tension, use characters from literature and use mis-en-scene to make it
more realistic.
The 1930’s
was the first time they could use diegetic sound which meant they could also
include dialogue
1940’s saw
a ban in Britain on horror as a result from world war two. However, the horror
industry advanced from just using characters from literature and started making
new ones.
Teenagers
had become the specific target In 1950 for horror as they realised they were
most likely to enjoy it
In the
1960’s the films began to finish with open endings and it wasn’t all a happily
ever after, this was also the time when the genre started exploring the human
mind for example Psycho.
The 1970’s
saw an end to optimism and became much darker,
1980’s saw
a technological development and so special effects were used a lot. The
invention of the VCR meant people could watch horror films at home.
In the
1990’s people were bored of predictable stories which is why psychological
horrors became popular.
Finally,
the 2000’s started exploring stories about situations and fears of what could
happen in the real world.
The Male Gaze
The male
gave theory was made by Mulvey this is when the audience is put into the
perspective of a heterosexual male. With this view it is assumed that you
should like what your seeing. Also that the role of the female character in the
film is to make the male character feel something. This theory is seen to
denies women identity as they don’t have a proper purpose.
An example
of the male gaze is in Cabin in the woods where there is a secret mirror and
one of the boys can see into Dana’s room, the audience is the perspective of
the male, however they are also being watched by the scientist.
What Zombies represent
Zombies
represent death, dying, pain and suffering. Also the death of social order.
Zombies represent society and its culture for example the human need for
material objects and the need to go shopping and spend money an example of this
is black Friday. They also represent binary opposition with ghosts with good vs
evil and life vs death, it’s binary opposition with ghosts is that a ghost is a
soul that has no body and a zombie is a body without a soul.
This is when horror films
adapt to different to the time period and introduce knew ways of doing horror
films for example the genre development. They have found new technologies and
different stories and ways of reaching different audiences.
