Alice Franklin Write a semiotic analysis of a series of related illustrations. As semiotic texts what sort of reality do these illustrations construct and how they do so? I will be looking at the way woman are perceived within horror films. I am interested in how through codes used in horror movie posters, we have created an ideology of women being a helpless victim and how as a culture, we don’t question this. I will be analyzing semiotics in three different horror movie posters, reading the denotations and connotations, to reveal the hidden meanings portrayed in the media. The main researchers into semiotics are Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce. Semiotics consists of many different things, signs, codes, myths, ideology etc. all playing a part in analyzing text, media, art works and so on. Saussure describes it as being “a science which studies the roles of signs as a part of human life”. Semiotic analysis normally uses information we share collectively as a culture, meaning we might not necessarily speak the same language, but we could interpret a piece of art similarly because of a shared understanding of the signified, connotations and codes, which in turn create myths and ideologies, “what enables us to communicate conceptually are certain shared features at the level of the signified.” Myths, being like the meaning of ‘myth’, a story or belief in something that we cannot see literally (denotation), but still believe it is true somehow (connotation). These codes and myths then create ideologies, things that we as a culture accept, but do not question the authenticity of. We as humans are very advanced thinkers, we could find a hidden meaning in everything if we think about it, “We only think in signs”, Peirce. A lot of art works have hidden meanings in them, which is why semiotic analysis is a really good way in order to break down the meaning of a piece. By analyzing three horror movie posters, I will be able to detect what the connotations are and answer the question easily, creating similarities between the three individual pieces. Both classic and modern horror films seem to all follow the same format, in which women, traditionally, are the most vulnerable of the sexes and they use this myth to their advantage, creating story lines of helpless, very attractive young women looking for a dominant male figure as her savior. But why as a culture have we created this ideology, which we do not question why the woman is always the one seeking help. Would a man not ask for help from a woman if being chased by a man with a knife? Or do men only ask women for help when they want to use the oven? As sexist as people were when the classic horror films were made, the notion of women being the weaker sex has stuck and somehow has not been questioned as times have moved on. Why are the killers/monsters always perceived to be male, even when they are wearing a mask and could be of any gender? But of course, women should be seen and not heard, it’s not a womanly thing to do, to start a killing spree and be smart enough to get away with it. Should we not be reassuring women that we can stand up for ourselves? We have seen strong female roles in other genres of film, such as Lara croft and female superheroes, which unfortunately seen as more of a sex symbol by males, rather than the heroines which they are. Most importantly, the question I am
Alice Franklin asking is why are women always perceived as the victim and why is this accepted in our society? Horror film posters always play on the helpless female victim roll, a women hiding behind a man, hoping he will save her from whatever evil is lurking in the darkness; looking unbelievably attractive, without succeeding in helping herself. Which are all commonly used cultural codes, showing how women are seen to be the weaker sex and needing a male role to save her. Which are signs used in most horror posters; the common “damsel in distress” concept. In the poster by Drew Struzan (fig 1.), we can see an attractive young female being taken by an underwater sea creature. She is wearing a little white bathing costume, showing off all her assets, which is obviously very important in a horror film, and has a scared/screaming expression on her face, whilst reading up on the horror film, I found a statement about the character, describing her as being someone who loves her looks and herself, “Relishing the attention of her bathing suit and skimpy tops.” She looks like a very petite woman, which makes her look less likely to be able to defend herself, she has long, flowing brunette locks and has bright red lipstick, showing that she takes a lot of time making herself look presentable and not learning self defense. The monster seems to be taking her deeper into the sea, where the poster goes into a shade of black, the connotation of this is that the colour black represents, evil and terror etc. which is where she is going if she doesn’t escape. Another connotation of this is he is taking her further down, which could be perceived as hell and that is what experience will be if she doesn’t escape. Towards the top of the poster, the colour seems to get brighter, the denotation being the light reflecting off the surface of the water, but the connotation being the glimmer of hope and freedom, slowly disappearing as she is dragged further and further down towards her grizzly fate. In the distance, there is what looks to be two figures, of which have male features (no curves visible), attempting to save the ‘damsel in distress’, they are wearing deep sea diving attire and are equipped with what looks like knives and a harpoon, the connotation of this is that men are brave and have appropriate weapons and equipment to be able to save a woman from a sea creature. The sea creature itself has quite masculine features, with scales, claws and has a big overpowering structure, the connotation of this is that the creature has to be a male to have to be the villain and is big so that she could not possibly free herself. The illustration has been painted using very dark tones, which sets the mood for the type of movie it is advertising and could also represent the situation the women has found herself in. The typeface used in the poster is in bold capital, almost as if it is being shouted at the viewer, the connotation being a shout for help maybe. The way we perceive a female victim is from all the codes used throughout different media, throughout the years. For example books and films have always made women out to be vulnerable and reliable on others around them. For example, advertisements from the 1950’s, selling cars which are easy enough for a women to drive, the denotation just being the fact that the car is simple enough for a woman, but the connotation being that a man, could drive any car without hassle, referring to him as the most advanced out of the two genders and that women need extra help. All of these codes are what creates an ideology, which is
Alice Franklin what we accept without even questioning and shapes our opinions. Although, is this representing the true role of a woman and why do we not question this? By not questioning this, are we saying that woman are inferior and can’t defend themselves against crime? Are we saying women will always look for a man in their hour of need? And if so, is it because women can’t look after themselves or is it just because if a man is willing to help, why stop them? This is why this is a myth, yet even today, women let men sleep on the side of the bed closer to the door, incase of in intruder. But something tells me, men like to feel the protector for their own ego and not necessarily because the women cant defend themselves. The second illustration (fig. 2) is for the horror film “The House Of Wax”. In the illustration the woman is laid on her back, strapped down with ropes in what could be perceived as an erotic pose, dressed quite provocatively. Horror as a genre has repeatedly been penalized from a feminist approach by the use of violence and the sexual nature of the story line, aimed to target the male audience, “it has been repeatedly claimed that horror involves not only violence against women but violence that is itself highly sexualized”, Jancovich. Whilst reading up on horror movies, I came across a passage about this film, stating how sexual it was, “Sue moans and writhes as she is strapped to a table, Jarrod spurting a hypodermic needle in the air as his obscenely pink face leers over her pink body”. The woman seems to be traditionally attractive, with blonde hair and big breasts, the connotation of this is that attractive, blonde girls are stereotypically ‘dumb’ and would find themselves in danger easily, because of the lack of common sense. This can also be seen by looking at how loose the rope is around her arms, it looks like she would be capable enough to free herself, but instead lays there, looking pretty, shouting for her rescuer. The poster also seems to be aimed at a male audience as the denotation being a nearly naked girl, strapped to a surface. This also shows how men are seen to be the target audience for horror films, as women are seen to be too fragile to be able to watch such a thing. The girl has a very terrified face, screaming out, the connotation being, she is screaming for help, as she can no longer defend herself. Also the angle from how the audience looks at the poster seems like the woman is screaming towards you, drawing you in to the terrible ordeal she is going through, making you feel like you want to save her yourself. Whatever surface she is laying on, is a mustard, yellow colour, which represents the colour of bees wax, an important factor to the concept of the film. The male figure in the illustration is the villain of the film, his face is red, which resembles fear, blood and evil, the connotation being he is the devil or someone just as evil, as he is also stereotyped as a red skinned male. His face then seems to blend into fire, but you can pick out a skull-like form, this makes him look even more menacing and tough, which overall gives you a feeling It would be hard to defeat such a man. The mans facial features are quite hard and structured, covered with lines and piercing eyes and due to the composition of the illustration, his face is much larger than the womans body, the connotation being he is much bigger than her and she will not be able to fight him off by herself, being the small, fragile female which she is. The typeface used is also bold, capitals but has a dripping affect at the bottom of each letter, resembling dripping, hot wax, that is dangerous, the connotation being that women love candles around the household, they make the place more
Alice Franklin elegant, but what women like as a decoration, is also what could end up killing them, a bit like the theory of plastic surgery, women love making things/them look beautiful, but it can also kill you. The tones and colours used in the illustration and type, are all very warm tones, representing heat, fire, warning, and possibly lust, for the male audience. Once again this illustration proved the ideologies people have about women being victimized, but how can we agree with this when females can be just as bad, if not a worse criminal. There are hundreds of cases where men have died from the hands of a woman, falling victim to a female, with no help from a man or woman. For example, ‘Scream 4’, the killer was a teenage female, who killed many different people and it wasn’t expected to be a female throughout the movie, until the end. Although this film was considered to be the worst out of all of the Scream films, could that be because it doesn’t follow the ideologies we all have about men instantly being the criminal? Did the film question what we have all accepted about males being the stronger sex, so obviously being the killer and was disregarded as a good movie? The fact that the female killer committed the crimes out of jealousy for her cousin, shows how they have used the stereotype of women being the most jealous out of the two sexes. The third poster (fig. 3) is from the original “The Evil Dead” movie. The female role in this poster is once again, very attractive. She is hiding behind a male character, the connotation being she is looking at him to protect her from the evil, basically using him as her bodyguard. She looks as if she has not being hurt yet, which suggests the male character has fulfilled his heroic duty so far, as he is covered in blood, sweat and cuts, implying that he is strong and brave, fighting off whatever is after them, even when he is hurt, unlike the lady hiding in the background. She is also screaming, a common code used in horror films, just like hiding; creating ideologies of what people do in state of panic. Unlike the woman, the man is not screaming, he is simply gritting his teeth, like a dog growling, full of adrenaline, ready to fight the enemy. He is holding a chainsaw above his head, which resembles a soldier executing his victim with a sword, the connotation being the man is heroic, fighting for the woman, like a soldier would for his country, putting all his hate and fear into killing the enemy. Ash, the male character in the film is described heroically, changing his personality, to become the hero, “Ash’s trajectory from a naïïve coward to blood-smeared demon slayer”. The chainsaw is also a code used throughout the genre, the noise plus the injuries it causes, makes it a popular choice of weapon in horror films. The rest of the poster is all black, resembling fear, death and evil, it is using the classic horror concept of “what is lurking in the dark?”, suggesting that whatever it is that is trying to kill them, is in the dark somewhere, creating suspense to where exactly it is. The typeface used in this poster is in bright red, resembling blood, it also has pointed tips on each of the letters, emphasized most on the letter “v”, symbolizing sharp, dangerous objects. In this poster, it suggests that women will let a man get hurt in order to save herself, but have we not heard of heroines? Why have horror films painted women in such a negative light? And why have these roles not changes over time, as it has with sexism? The description I found of the male character (Ash) proves that even a male coward can somehow be changed into the hero of the film, but still the female character will always be the victim and in
Alice Franklin no way or form had a change in her personality happened through the film. This makes you think if the female roles in horror films ever change through time? After looking at these three horror movie posters, they all seem to construct the same reality of the female characters being sexualized, helpless victims, only there to be taken (killed) by men or saved by them, and having no real choice whether they live or die, they’re fate all lies in the hands of a male. Although sexism has evolved through the years, the role of a woman in this genre is still yet to evolve into the life of a 21th century female. But do we want it to change? Although by analyzing the semiotics within these posters and concluding that women are perceived as victims, people don’t seem to question these ideologies, people still pay money to see these films, knowing that the average horror plot works well. The use of stereotypes in this genre are so well known, this is why we see spoofs being released, like ‘Scary Movie’, playing on the fact that the female is constantly running away from the killer and never fighting it, searching for a man to save her. I guess the female role will never change, it’s the same in fairytales, history and religion, women are the weaker sex and men always have the leading roles. All of the three posters prove my conclusion on how they show the reality of female victims, through codes, denotations, connotations and ideologies.
Alice Franklin
Figure 1. (1954)
Figure 2. (1953)
Figure 3. (1981) Bibliography Books:
Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics the basics. Abingdon. Routeledge, 2002. Cobley, Paul, Jansz, Litza. Introducing Semiotics. Thriplow, Icon Books LTD,
2004. Davis, Lloyd, Thwaites, Tony, Mules, Warwick. Introducing cultural and media studies a semiotic approach. Hampshire. Palgrave, 1994. Jancovich, Mark. Horror, The Film Reader.London. Routeledge, 2002. Marriot, James, Newman, Kim. Horror! The Definitive Companion To The Most Terrifying Movies Ever Made. London. Carlton Books Limited, 2006.
Alice Franklin
Silverman, Kaja. The Subject Of Semiotics. New York. Oxford University Press, Inc. 1983.
Online:
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html Semiotics For Beginners. Chandler, Daniel.