Men, Women and Chainsaws Reading

What does Clover mean by 'female victim-hero'?

A female victim-hero as explained by Clover in her book, Men Women and Chainsaws, is a character that is the representative ‘monster’ of women’s liberation. This character rather greedily acts as the monster, hero and as a victim of monstrous abuse from others. this character defeats these others, making her the hero, however, this act happens in the form of monstrous revenge.

Why does Clover say that males relate to the females in horror films, in particular, the 'final girl'?

Giving Clover’s interpretation of what King explains about the original Carrie novel character, males are prepared to identify not just with screen females but with screen females in the horror-film world in fear and pain. Final girls like Carrie who, for example, is pelted with tampons while being taunted at, receives abuse that by nature, boys would give and receive to and from one another. Such an oblique sexual gesture is like a young male having ‘his gym shorts pulled down in Phys Ed’.

Why does Clover suggest that horror research is problematic?

Who does Clover suggest makes-up the typical horror audience?

Because of the horror genre’s long-standing low-budget tradition, the audience is hard to analyse. Horror film audiences are studied less than television audiences therefore far less is known about them. Horror films are based on hunch and imitation, (for example, the slasher films that followed Halloween like Scream and Texas Chainsaw Massacre)  rather than audience statistics however, typical horror film viewing groups include, young men, more so in groups but also solo; heterosexual couples of various ages (mostly younger) and groups of adolescent girls.

Was there parity between horror audiences in regards to those who watched horror films at the cinema and those who watched them at home through rentals?

After a period of four weeks and speaking with 60 video rental employees, clover found that as well as males dominating the audience in cinema, between 3 out of 5 and 9 out of 10 horror film rental customers were males under the age of 30. This is evidence that could prove that males are the more predominant horror film audience and is the main parity between rental viewers and cinema viewers.

What are the two ways identified by Clover in which audiences identify with characters?

Clover states that there are two possible by which the audience are able to identify with characters on screen. This can be done either with primary identification  (which is the use of camera techniques)or secondary identification (the character of empathic choice). Clover explains that primary identification is more frequent due to the way that it connects with the characters, This proposal can be easily backed with Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' Theory.

ZE: Horror Posters and Horror Trailers

The Conjuring 2 was distributed by Warner Bros. and screened in 60 countries. The film made $40,406,314 on its opening weekend in the USA, plus €930,950 in Italy, screening in a total of 3699 cinemas between the two countries.

Production Diary

What we've done today: We have written a synopsis for our horror film, which will now allow us to plan for our horror trailer. We split up our plot up into Todorov's Narrative Theory and also discussed what character types, from Propp's Theory, which we will include in the film. We have researched potential locations for the shoot and discussed props, costume, and special effects for specific shots.

What was agreed: We MUST acquire permission for any of our shooting locations.

What we will do next lesson: Write and document character profiles, the 5 key plot points of our narrative, and email the owners of our desired shooting locations.

What we've done today: We have made a power point on the setting and characters in our narrative, which will allow as to chose a cast. We have also researched names to fit the 1980's era which our film is set in.

What was a agreed: We have agreed on the names of Ray, Chris, Megan, Glen and Patrick found on on '80's name generator' website.

What will we do next lesson: Next lesson we will finish out synopsis and key scene blog post and hopefully get onto the shot list.

What we’ve done today: Today we have watched countless horror trailers and trailers that generally suit our theme. We have selected the best trailers and from those the aspects we like most and we plan to use similar aspects in our trailer

What was agreed: we agreed that the best trailers were: Get Out, The Forest and Stranger Things

What will we do next lesson: we will tie together a full idea for the film and compile a shot list

Representation: The Cabin in the Woods

Representation of women: The cabin in the woods from Charlie Ditcham

Halloween Questions

Halloween Questions

How does the start exemplify a common technical code convention of the horror genre?

The film starts with a POV shot showing Michael walking around his stereotypically American middleclass estate home. The POV shot restricts us as viewers due to us only being able to see what Michael can see which creates suspense; one of the main ingredients in a horror film. The fact that the film starts in a stereotypical suburban environment entails the concept that ‘it can happen to you!’. This keeps the viewer on edge throughout and adds to the overall fear created. The film also starts with an effective spine chilling soundtrack that works perfectly in parallel with the shots and what is happening in them. The soundtrack is conventional to other horror soundtracks at its time having been played on an eerie sounding electric keyboard. 

How does the setting fit with the Horror genre?  

The films series of events conveniently take place on Halloween night which Is the reasoning behind the film’s title. Halloween along with Black Christmas (1975) was one of the first horrors to name the film after the night that the series of events in the narrative take place on. Friday the 13^th and PROM NIGHT (1980) followed shortly after.

Shortly after the opening we are shown two characters who go to a compromised mental institution where potentially dangerous patients are walking the street with Michael Myers amongst them. During the time that Halloween was produced, there was more fear than there was understanding for people with mental disorders. After Hitchcock’s archetypical Psycho (1960) was released, it became a well-known convention of the horror genre to have an antagonist with mental disorders. 

What iconography of “innocence”do we hear or see early on?

Early in the day we see children in Halloween costumes trick or treating like they would in regular American suburban neighbourhoods. We also hear the children in the background of certain shots up until quite late at night in the narrative. The very nature of children in itself is innocent which is important in Halloween because at the beginning of the film we see an innocent looking child stab and kill his naked sister after having watched her make love to her boyfriend while 15 years later we are shown regular innocent children trick or treating. This emphasises how dark and broken Michael Myers’s character Is.   Another representation of innocence is Laurie’s costume. Unlike the other characters Laurie isn’t sexualised in anyway, she is clothed like a middle aged women from head to toe which suggests to us that she isn’t a sexually irresponsible teenager like her friends; this tells us that she is likely a virgin. Laurie also comes across as a bit of a nerd not only because of how important it is to her to go and get her chemistry book because of the scene where she is watching Michael through the window watching her. Laurie’s teacher asks her a question while she is distracted   yet she is still able to provide an answer better than the average class mate.

What was the main industry impact of Halloween?

Halloween was produced on a reasonably sized budget of $300,000 and produced a profit of $47 million at the box office in the United States and $70 million worldwide. In terms of how much the value of the dollar has changed, the film produced a 2016 equivalent of $267 million becoming one of the most profitable independent films that has ever been produced. A lot of critics credit the film as the first in a long line of slasher films inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). The film had such an impact on its generation both culturally and historically that a copy was made for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Name some ‘’slasher ‘’ films which followed in from Halloween

Friday 13^th

Scream

My bloody valentine

What are the four plot rules of the ‘’ slasher ‘’ film sub-genre which Halloween began?

1.    A traumatic event in the past creates a psychopathic killer.

2.    The killer returns to the site of the event, usually on a specific date in the present that allows the makers to use a calendar motif in the title

3.    The killer stalks and graphically kills a group of obnoxious and stupid teens of both sexes, usually with some kind of bladed women, often a garden or farming implement

4.    A ‘’final girl ‘’ survives, usually boyish and often virginal, to thwart the killer, although he is never entirely vanquished.

Gives three ways in which Laurie is androgynous

Unlike any of the other characters including the men, Laurie fights back to try and save herself. She is also very asexualised through her choice of costume that makes her look like a middle aged women and not only this, but Laurie has an unconventionally low voice for a woman in a horror film. She also has a very masculine jaw. 

What does the extract mean by ‘’ a reactionary sexual agenda ‘’?

Unlike the other teens that are ‘distracted’ by sex as John Carpenter puts it in an interview, Laurie the virgin is able to protect herself until the very end. This represents teen sex as wrong which is conventional to the iconography of sex opinion during the late 1970’s after aids was becoming a western pandemic.

How does the director, John Carpenter, counter the suggestion that the Halloween has a reactionary sexual agenda?      

He explains that the other characters are simply ‘’distracted ‘’ by beer and sex and that nothing symbolic was meant by it.

Why does Mike Myers kill his sister?     

Personally I think that Mike Myers is a representation of the aids virus and the fact that he kills his very own sister embodies the idea that Aids, being a sexually transmitted disease does not in any way discriminate against its victims. It is a statement to teenagers who are sexually active to either stop or be extremely careful. I arrived at the conclusion after the killing of Myer’s sister was anchored sexually by the fact the Mike had stood and watched her with her boyfriend and proceeded to kill her in a phallic-like stabbing action while she lay naked on the floor.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

History of Horror