Gender Stereotypes In Slasher Films

Horror movies defy the norm when looking at media theories and arguments. It doesn’t follow mood management theory because no one would possibly watch a movie because they’d like to make their mood darker and sadistic along with the movies plot. One argument that works with horror movies is the idea that they can desensitize the viewer to specific things such as violence in general, or even more specifically violence toward women, especially women who are sexualized in some way. Desensitization is the idea that a person becomes detached to a specific thing such as violence toward women, or begins to believe that something is the norm due to over exposure to something that is down played or glorified.

3) One of the films would be Erin Brockovich, were Erin is judge for being a single mom based on her appearance she is also label as a whore an example would be Ed that tells her that she looks like someone that likes to have fun, these is of course the stereotypes that society inputs on her. Erin in the film does not meet the ideologies of being femininity and at the end we see that she does succeed at work but her love life and family gets scarified by these.

Quentin Tarantino’s films are always controversial, and Pulp Fiction is no exception. The film depicts graphic violence and overt drug usage, while shying away from politically correct language. The film’s controversial topics such as racial stereotypes, has led some critics to hail the movie as racist; however, the movie denies many of these stereotypes, portraying character and character relationships as not exclusive to their stereotype. Furthermore, the movie mocks many of societies stereotypes, and it is not afraid to address, or not to address, uncomfortable racial topics. Thus, Pulp Fiction challenges racial barriers.

Mass murderers are categorized either as organized or unorganized, and inside of each type are three subtypes. Organized killers could be disciple, pseudo-commando, or set and run, while unorganized killers could be family annihilators, disgruntled employees, or spree killers. A disciple killer is someone who follows the dictates of a charismatic leader, such as Jim Jones. Jones led his cult of The People's Temple to mass suicide killing 900 of his followers. His followers drank a cyanide ¬laced punch to commit suicide.

Gender stereotypes are everywhere. Even before we can understand what this means, people are constantly exposed to them through advertisements, toys, clothes, and the media including television shows and movies. To evaluate the prevalence of gender stereotypes in television programs targeted towards young children, I chose to watch four different shows called Phineas and Ferb, Little Einsteins, Horrid Henry, and Sofia the First. When picking what shows to watch, I intentionally selected at least one that looked targeted towards boys, another that appeared to be targeted towards girls, and finally one that seemed gender neutral. I also made sure to watch at least two episodes of each program to determine whether the themes I observed were

Sharp Objects is a novel by Gillian Flynn about a newspaper journalist, Camille Preaker, who has been assigned to return to her hometown to report on a series of brutal murders. In addition to writing a unique and very graphic mystery, Flynn touches upon controversial topics including gender stereotypes. The only real thing I did not enjoy was that Flynn gave away the “mystery” too easily.

Blaxploitation, a sub-genre of Exploitation, becomes fairly popular with Hollywood Cinema during the 1960’s and 1970’s. These films initially targeted urbanized youth and began to appeal to African Americans as well as White audiences. However, various groups, such as the Coalition Against Blaxploitation, formed to stop production on films of this genre as it typically portrayed Blacks in a negative way. Generally, there are two different interpretations of Blaxploitation films. One being that these films empower blacks and the more accepted idea that these films further stereotype blacks with the inclusion of pimps, sex, drugs, crime and more. Due to the huge protests against the films, the movement died in the late 1970’s(Negative Effects of the Blaxploitation Movement.); however, Boyz N’ the Hood, produced by John Singleton in 1991, represents a resurgence of Blaxploitation, referred to as “neo-blaxploitation” which reflects the stereotypical interpretation of a blaxploitation film. (Fancher)

Unlike murderers, a psychopath's urge to kill does not come from average family affairs, financial disputes, or disagreements in relationships. Psycho killers are driven by a desire to kill that is often sexual and causes them to murder strangers and it is imperative to determine what makes a serial killer so distinct from homicidal murderers. It has been proved that genetics is the key role in determining who becomes a serial killer while criminologists and psychologists argue that abuse and abandonment create the foundation in which serial killers grow into vicious murders. The largest difference between a murderer and a serial killer is their desire to kill.

For thousands of years, established gender roles have been a part of our society. Women are commonly known as sensitive, emotional, or passive. On the contrary, men are described as rational, competitive, independent, or aggressive. Believing women are more emotional than men is stereotyping. However, the stereotype is not entirely untrue. Development of gender roles is often conditioned more by environmental or cultural factors than by hereditary or biological factors. The development of gender roles between men and women involves the inference of peer community of each gender, the communication style of male and female and the intimacy or connection level of men and women.

As Miller analyzes the Twilight saga, she states that it encourages negative female stereotypes. For example, Bella Swan always thinks Edward Cullen is good at everything he does. After many people have watched or read the series, most have viewed Edward to be perfect. Others would say that Bella is portrayed as very timid. Comparing the Twilight series to Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a great comparison to learn different views of the way love is portrayed.

Halloween is a popular time of year, where plenty of people dress up and having ‘taste’ or ‘poise’ is optional. However, to many, Halloween may seem harmless and innocent, but as we age and the growth of sex appeal increases, the amount of innocence decreases. Even though Halloween may be simply fun and games, the gender lens and Freud’s psychoanalysis lens assists in helping the reader truly see now nauseating Halloween has become

Horror movies throughout history have been known to have their cheesy storylines or continuous bad acting. Especially horror movies. People nowadays could easily spot the flaws in a film and judge them drastically in reviews. Yet, little do people notice the ongoing discrimination between genders. Horror films tend to portray males and females substantially differently because of stereotypical views. There seems to be a pattern in which each gender takes a certain role in a movie continuously. Females are shown to be “objects” such as sex and emotional symbols, while males are shown as strong or powerful and moreover as the main bad guy. Although some of the newer edition films of the horror genre are displaying each gender more and more equal throughout the ongoing years, the gender discrimination dilemma still exists and can be seen by the statistics in the movie industry in general.

I found that the characters seemed to stereotype each other when they either were in trouble, felt uncomfortable, and / or in and aggravated mood looking for trouble. Which honestly were very realistic because when people are put in a “fight or flight” mode if they resort to the fight one, the thing that is really is easy to come up with is to immediately stereotype and make yourself feel better so yes this really can occur in real life.

Since the inventions of television and film, media influences have become extremely important in modern society with people constantly being inundated by images and messages that come from film, television, magazines, internet and advertising. Researchers and theorists such as Carol J. Clover and Jean Kilborne believe that the fact that people are going to be affected by the media is absolutely unavoidable. Films can act as guides to how people, particularly women, should act and look. Women in horror are typically shown as the ‘damsel in distress’ and are usually attacked by the killer after committing a sinful act like having sex or misusing drugs or alcohol. The females are

From a young age, we are exposed to gender stereotypes. Television, the Internet, and books define what is “feminine” and “masculine” for a child. Feminine is defined as “having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness”. Masculine is defined as “having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, especially strength and aggressiveness”. Media takes this a step further and dictates exactly what girls and boys can and cannot do. In television and movies, women are mainly portrayed as homemakers and damsels who need a man to reach their full potential. They are often uneducated or seen as less intelligent than their male counterparts. Oppositely, men are portrayed as breadwinners and authoritative figures. They control most aspects of their lives and have more opportunities. According to Common Sense Media, these depictions cause “false assumptions and harmful conclusions”. Little girls learn that are worth less without a man and little boys boys learn that they are above women. The media also feeds into rape culture. Rape culture is the normalization of rape in societies. Rape culture is taught to young girls and boys. Girls are taught tactics to avoid rape and boys are taught that