Horror Clichés

Clichés are in most films no matter how unique they are. Props and gender stereotypes involve the most clichés especially  in a horror genre:

 

An opening sequence that I think shows these clichés in an effective way rather than making them predictable and boring is Saw:

  

 

This opening sequence introduces the horror genre through many clichés such as: darkness, chains, blood, dirt and a dead body. It perfectly lets the audience know what to expect throughout the film by presenting these commonly used themes in a new and refreshing way.

Gender Representations in Psychological Horrors

(Blog Post on Genre and Gender in Horror + Gender Stereotypes)

 

Psychological horrors rely on atmosphere and the mystery of the unknown to spook the audience whether this is through the actual film or the posters advertising it. However psychological horrors are no different from regular horror films when it comes to stereotypes. The gender stereotypes used in horror films are usually the same: a defenceless young woman as the protagonist that narrowly escapes death throughout the entire movie and the male antagonist that is usually a fully grown man and carries a weapon that matches the way he kills or a young girl or doll that possesses supernatural powers. These stereotypes are used in horror films, psychological included, as they work. The audience is familiar with these stereotypes and immediately put them into categories.

 

The psychological horror 'The Conjuring' was a highly praised film that marketed the film with teaser posters before it was released. The first picture they released was a tree with a noose hanging from it. This only hinted at the themes that would be in the film and gave no suggestions towards who the characters were and what the threat in the film would be. However the second poster included many stereotypes from the horror genre, including gender:

 

 

 

The stereotype for the antagonist is there and the gender stereotype of the protagonist. From the poster it is hinting that the woman in the rocking chair is the protagonist, a female that is unaware of the threat, the doll, and is looking straight forward. She is clueless to the threat which also shows the audience that this is a psychological horror and the girl herself looks unkempt which could be hint towards the characters mental state. This kind of character shows up continually in many different horror films as the audience will know this kind of character well as because of the female protagonist stereotypes they will now what to except from her during the movie.

How Gender Stereotypes are Presented - (Beauty and the Beast)

(Representations of gender in horror films is all ready on the blog)

Stereotypes are ways that people see a certain gender or race and except them to act in a certain way and are used in many films but are overlooked by the audience as they have become almost a default setting for films to include. Gender is one that is used frequently to make it clear to the audience what the character is like straight away through their speech or appearance. One company that plays on gender stereotypes is Disney. Even through animation, rather than using actual people, they show gender stereotypes and represent their characters in the same way. Although this is slightly different to horror or action stereotypes it is where the cliché of gender stereotypes became recognised. Disney has created around 12 princesses for their Disney princess movies and each one shares something with the other. Each princess is considered, by other characters in their film, as beautiful and in some ways, helpless. Disney made the princesses to be role models for young children that will watch the movies by making them the stereotype of a woman: beautiful and depend on a man. This is not the case for some of the more modern princesses but the first 6 all had those two qualities in common. However the men in Disney films are also represented in a similar way. The princes are muscular, charming, handsome and always showing up in the princesses time of need. The male villains are vain and want the beautiful princesses even when they can't have them. One good representation of this is the opening to 'Beauty and the Beast'.

This opening sets the plot for the film by giving the audience some background information. In this stained glass window art style, the prince is shown in rich clothing and is described as spoiled and unkind. This is the stereotype of a rich prince or villain and the audience immediately knows what to except from this character. A beggar woman is then shown to the audience and her appearance is described as haggard matching what people would usually associate with beggars or poorer people. The prince's reaction to the beggar is that he is repulsed by her appearance and turns her away. The narrator explains that the beggar tells the prince that beauty comes from within but even then he dismisses her. However the beggar woman turns out to be a 'beautiful enchantress' that is disgusted by the prince's attitude. The enchantress is then given long, golden curly hair and a large green ball gown to show the audience that this woman is beautiful compared to the beggar and puts her into the stereotype of women. The prince begs for forgiveness when he sees her beauty almost sending the message that beauty can make people forgive them and will favour them than people that are considered as 'ugly'. The enchantress then puts a spell onto the prince to teach him a lesson by turning

him into a beast.

 

The stereotypes in this opening are there but are shown to be almost backwards as the beast/prince starts as a vain villain but turns into what people see as the official Disney prince stereotype and the enchantress disguises herself as a beggar which is something new but then turns out to be a beautiful woman just like all of the other women in Disney.

Genre and Gender Representations - Horror

Genre is the most important part of a film as it lets the audience know what to expect when they hit play. All films have a genre such as horror, action, thriller and comedy and some even combine two together such as action thrillers and romantic comedies. All of these genres have something specific about them which makes the film fall under certain categories.

 

Horror is mostly associated with darkness, blood and murder so in a movie trailer if anything like or similar to those aspects the audience automatically knows that the trailer is advertising a horror film and would be surprised if it turned out to be anything else. For example a rom-com is unlike to involve a killer that walks around in a mask and a bloodied knife during the night as this would usually fall under the horror genre, if it did the audience would likely be very surprised when watching the film.

 

Most people can assign a film a genre with classic 'clichés' that show up in trailers or during the film. For example some horror clichés would be:

 

• Creepy Locations (hospitals, abandoned buildings, forests)
• Darkness (with only a flashlight/small amount of light to see)
• Killer / Dolls / Young Girls as Murderers
• Blood
• Demons / Supernatural

These are only a few but most of these things are the parts of horror films that people enjoy the most. The poster for the horror film Friday the 13th shows most of the points above:

 

 

Genre often includes stereotypes of the two different genders by having characters that are require to act a certain way. Sticking with the genre of horror the main protagonist is usually someone that has no idea of their current situation, whether they are male or female and sometimes a sidekick that will usually be killed. The main character is usually a venerable woman that is victim to the killer however narrowly escapes death throughout the film.  The antagonist is typically a full grown man in a mask with a weapon or a young girl or a doll that can do anything a human can, typically dressed in a dress and the things that people would usually associate as being 'cute' or 'innocent' suddenly become creepy. Instead of a weapon the young girls usually have some supernatural power or be able to kill them without a weapon. If the antagonist is grown male they usually have something unique about them that separates them form other horror killers, this is mainly their weapon choice. A knife or machete is usually chosen but some films have had new and scarier weapons such as chainsaws and pickaxes.

 

 

I personally think that these four pictures play to the horror and gender stereotypes: doll, man in a mask, younger girl victim and/or antagonist and a woman having the main role as the victim. Horror films are usually centred around either the protagonist or the antagonist, this means that the audience has to either route for the character or plot against them. However a oblivious female protagonist makes the audience immediately recognise this character as the one the film will be focusing on