WOMEN IN HORROR: WEAK, INCOMPETENT, AND INSANE
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Women in Horror: Weak, Incompetent, and Insane By Madeline Perez
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his Halloween season, I want to talk to you about something frightening. Something horrifying. Something that makes you thrash, screaming “the horror, the horror,” put your face in your hands, and weep. As some of you may have already guessed, I’m talking about women. Honestly, I can’t escape them, as they seem to be drawn to me with the same magnetism that attracts my refrigerator letter magnets to my fridge. Females occupy my living space, dance around in my head, and every morning when I look in the mirror I cower in terror as I find one looking back at me (yikes!). It’s terrifying. Frankly, it’s no wonder that the horror genre is dominated by women. A study by the Geena Davis Institute (and Google) found that horror was the only genre where women appear and speak as often as men. This may not seem like much, but comparing it to the average of men having twice as much screen time as women puts things into perspective. Scary movies seem to be the only ones that regularly employ female main characters more than male ones. But wait a second you guys… I was only kidding around before about that “women are terrifying” stuff. Why do we see such a big difference in gender dynamics here? Some of the most popular movies rely heavily on the projection of the audience onto the main character. This is most apparent in franchises where the main character is bland enough to have a wide range of the audience identify with them, but who is also incredibly unique--chosen by something greater than themselves to save
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the day. Think of Luke in Star Wars or Harry in Harry Potter. No personality. Like at all. They do this on purpose so that YOU, that’s right, YOU can fulfill your fantasy of saving the day, being special, and having everyone like you. Horror movies are no different. They, too, want you to identify with the main character so that you can empathize with them. By making the main characters in horror movies female, they are forcing you to experience the plot through her. Her fragility and inability to handle things. Her physical weakness. Her lack of independence in her own life to change her situation. Arguably most importantly, the questioning of her own sanity as the people around her refuse to take her seriously.
“Women are emotional, hysterical, confusing beings who must be guided through life by a stable man—a lost lamb to a shepherd.” Think of the stereotypical horror film: family moves into a haunted house; something’s off; the dog dies inexplicably. Suddenly, the stupid woman and/or children start witnessing paranormal activity. Normally, the husband won’t accept that the house is haunted until he sees it for himself, and by that time, it’s already too late. In all of his strong, stubborn denial, he is able to dismiss the rest of his frantic family. But why not believe your wife? Clearly, even if your house isn’t haunted, or that orphan you adopted isn’t some psycho woman in a child’s body, you should still be dealing with the fact that your wife is exhibiting a serious mental break… or maybe, this is just normal. She is a woman after all... The instability of the female psyche is a common trope in media as well as, dare I say, misogynistic views of today. Women are emotional, hysterical, confusing beings who must be
guided through life by a stable man—a lost lamb to a shepherd. In this way, the things they say cannot always be taken at face value. Especially in the past, this was a way to disregard valid societal unrest seen in women with no independence, yellow-wall-paperstyle. They called it female hysteria. “Hello, doctor. The fact I cannot leave the house without my husband’s permission and have no purpose other than being a housewife is making me depressed.” The doctor scratches his chin for a moment before answering, “have you tried not being a woman?” and so on and so forth. Women today still have immense trouble being taken seriously and are consistently accused of making things
“Obviously, this is wrong, because I know if you guys saw a poltergeist right now throwing dishes across your kitchen you would be shitting your pants, regardless of gender.” up for attention. If only there was a controversial 2017 social movement focused on this very subject to use as an example. :(. Anyway, this type of refusal to believe women in horror movies will sometimes travel down a path where a woman must confront her own sanity, believing others dismissals
Vol. XXXIV, Issue IV
