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.