A characteristic of horror films is that the antagonist is commonly a male. However, if directors were to consider gender-swapping some of these villains, and create female antagonists, the films could be much more fascinating. In particular, the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was released in 2011, could be modified if Leatherface, the villain, was a female. If the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was altered so that the main antagonist, Leatherface, was female, the film would be far superior, and could even be considered the greatest horror film of all time.
Karen Hollinger is a professor of English at Atlantic University, an author and is also a very strong feminist. Hollinger’s essay, “The Monster as Woman: Two Generations of Cat People,” is an essay merely expressing how most monsters in novels or films are characterized as masculine identities and that viewers forget how powerful feminine identities in novels and films can be. Hollinger’s goal in this essay is to explain that feminine monsters are just as frightening all masculine monsters. She uses many references to movies with feminine monsters and expresses how powerful they are compared to masculine monsters and also expresses that males and females have castration anxieties. I think Hollinger succeeded in a sophisticated way because she
Through gender socialization women are told to stay quiet when it comes to rape and those women are blamed for what happened to them. The patriarchy that still is very prevalent in the college systems today have allowed for this behavior. Gender stratification has allowed for men to get away with their crimes and has forced women to remain silent. When women do speak up they are discriminated against and are called radical feminist. Many feminist movements have started to bring awareness to this issue and are trying to make the world we live in more just for the women who are struggling to have their voice be heard.
Feminist criminology has been around since the late 1960's and started out centered on speculations brought upon traditional theories of crime. Most traditional theories didn't necessarily ignore women in the criminal justice system yet they generalized crime and what causes a person to turn to crime so that women who commit crimes are overlooked by the generalization. Not only are the numbers skewed when you look at gender in criminal justice offenders but there is also a certain bias in the criminal justice systems workers. In the movie Vera Drake there is a clear example of this when the investigator and the officer come into the movie. While watching you can easily assume that the female officer is treated and thought of much differently
Each of these concepts are utilized at the advantage of men, and the disadvantage of women, and has shown to provide detrimental consequences and results for women in society. However, in this film, and other films by Tyler Perry, appear to take the added step to combat these aspects that are present in the media’s portrayal of women. While these are present in the movie, he often makes a point to combat it with an inverse portrayal of each
What is the role of women and crime? A majority of criminology theories do not heavily place women’s stance of crime and, as the emphasis of lawbreaking is focused mainly on men, Feminist theory of crime on the other hand attempts to justify crime and the part of women in society. In the book Criminology Goes to the Movies: Crime Theory and Popular Culture by Nicole Rafter explains crime using multiple alternatives of feminist theory to explain how women in society consider crime based on the societal role of women. in the movie Thelma and Louise, it portrays the struggle of women, as the men in their world overwhelming show their power keeping both the main characters Thelma and Louise under control exhibiting dominance over them. The conflict
You would be hard pressed to find a Noir without a femme fatale. There is usually some spider woman in the middle weaving the men of the plot to her plan. These women challenge male masculinity in Noir and are usually tamed by the protagonists or destroyed. In Vertigo we have Judy. She strings Scottie along acting like she is his friends wife and she is possessed.
The 1996 film Fargo by the Joel and Ethan Coen captivates the rare heroics of a pregnant female officer from Brainerd, Minnesota. The film’s depiction of female heroics is a proponent for empowering women in the film industry. We are always accustomed to seeing men as the primary focus and center of a film and women as the impotent secondary character. Films today should start portraying women as the strong primary character and, a character that’s inspires women to make difference like Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) did. Film is a societal changing platform and The Coen brothers use that to bring some parity in our male dominant society.
The Greater Meaning of Gender and Identity Within the Observational Analysis of the Movie The Silence of the Lambs The Silence of the Lambs directed by Johnathan Demme in 1991, is one of the highly entertaining films, the movie is about tracking down a serial killer. Demme theme associated with the The Silence of the Lambs vary from the internal problems of Clarice Starling however gender is the main idea. In many movies, women are often portrayed as either objects or strong and independent personalities. In the movie The Silence of the Lambs, the director redefines women 's role.
Introduction The film Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976) follows the protagonist Carrie White, Sissy Spacek, who is a shy high school student residing in a small town. After receiving her first period, she acquires telekinetic powers, which turns her world around; especially since she did not understand what the change meant for her as a new woman. Although Carrie is a horror film, the underlying meaning points to feminism as it embarks on the discovery of power, and threatening the patriarchal order. Carrie is a feminist film where fear comes not in blood or telekinesis, but the fears of a strong woman.
Ridley Scott’s ‘female buddy movie’ Thelma and Louise centres around issues of male dominance and the freedom of release from society. Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) are women suppressed by the men in their lives. They take a vacation to escape for a few days and after an attempted rape and murder they end up fugitives on the run for their lives. This unintended event ends up being for them the best adventure of their lives, as they are able to divest from the rules of society and become the independent women they are. By subverting the traditional role of gender in the genre, the film shows how feminism impacted the film industry by challenging Hollywood and the gendered myths and social patriarchy, providing women with a voice, and changing how spectators view how women are looked at through women’s eyes and their experiences.
There is definitely a problem when we talk about gender equality and sexism. It's everywhere: in movies, commercials on television, in music videos, at the workplace and even at school. The gender biases are blatant. One of the sources of the problem lies in the media and the way the media portrays women. For example, the function of an assistant can be fulfilled by both a man and a woman, but when we look at movies and commercials, we often think that it is weird when the assistant of a powerful man is not a woman but a man.
They use their sexuality to control and manipulate the man into doing her bidding, often these tasks are immoral acts that will benefit her, however, it would bring eventual destruction for the man. The femme fatales is often brought to justice and punished by the protagonist, ultimately she gets destroyed. Beckman adds that “the dangerous woman is almost always punished for her threat to masculinity and male power. The strong, independent, and sexually provocative femme fatale is typically subdued toward the end of the film noir, through her death, her abandonment, or her "rescue" from moral decline by a man. If it is correct that a certain Hollywood realism tends to confirm a patriarchal status quo through coordinating the gradual unmasking of the sexual power of the woman with the "epistemological drive of the narrative," then this tradition of narrative continuity itself must be of interest” (p 26-27).
In most feminist movies the protagonist is always a young women, usually between the ages of 25 and 35. This is an important age range because it shows that the protagonist is able to live on her own and support herself but she still has enough time to settle down and have a family. Even though expressing sexuality is an important part of postfeminism, in the end, the main goal is to eventually settle down with a good man and have a family. Since postfeminism goes back on many aspects of feminism, the same happens in post feminists film where in the end the heroine either ends up with a man or finds happiness with a man. This is indeed the ending for the film that is going to be examined in this paper.
Feminist theatre came into being as a by product of the experimental theatre movement of the 1970s’ and 1980’. It was an alternate theatre which enabled women to explore their creative talents on stage independently. Feminist theatre served as a means of constructing an exclusive feminist discourse on stage that questioned the patriarchal norms of female subjugation. Its movement was towards the construction of a theatre space where women are no longer mere stage props. They started functioning as the creators of drama rather than being confined to the roles of wife, lover, mother or lunatic.
