Men, Women and Chainsaws
1)What does Clover mean by 'female victim-hero?' Carol Clover states in her book "the hero part always understood as implying some degree of monstrosity, whose status in both roles has indeed been enabled by 'women's liberation'. Feminism, that is, has given a language to her victimization and a new force to the anger that subsidizes her own act of horrific revenge". I believe Carol is implying that the 'female victim-hero' who is the main character of the film begins as a victim being tormented which is inflicted by other human beings who has a type of relationship with the main protagonist depending on the storyline, but it's most likely to be peers or classmates. This can be represented in many ways including physically, mentally and verbally. However, throughout the film the victim seeks revenge by turning her torment into anger resulting in heroic acts. This particular character is represented in the film Carrie, the main character has pig's blood poured over her as a result of previous events in the girl's locker room where she has tampons and sanitary towels thrown at her due to her starting her period, these scenes represent her as the victim. However, Carrie uses her source of pain as the source of her power and gets her revenge by using her mild telekinetic ability which intensifies after her first menstrual cycle and uses her power to set the students on fire and burn the school down on prom night.
2. Why does Clover say that males relate to the females in horror films, in particular, the 'final girl'? In the text Clover states "pulling gym shorts down and thumb-rubbing glasses are things boys do to each other". Therefore Clover is expressing this is what happens between the male gender, resulting in similar emotions which Carrie experienced. For example, these acts cause the males to feel discluded socially and emotionally due to being a victim of these torments. Although these acts might not be done maliciously they do have an impact on the
victims which encounter the same experiences as Carrie resulting in the male gender being able to relate to females particularly the 'final girl'. In the horror genre females are most likely to be victims which are represented in many characters particularly the 'final girl' which is the only character who survives after being targeted by the villain. Therefore, this represents the 'final girl' uses her anger to effectively overcome the power of the villain and seek revenge. This strongly connects to males who experience victimization as they seek revenge by changing their pain into the source of their revenge.
3. Why does Clover suggest that horror research is problamatic? Film audiences are generally less analysed than television audiences which results in horror audiences being "understudied" as stated by Carol. Institutions tend to focus on mainstream audiences on that genre due to the reliable outcome of profits at the box office. A fair percentage of horror is produced independently and tends to be made on the basis of a hunch and imitation rather than audience statistics hence the squeals and rip-offs which we see today in the horror genre. It becomes complicated when low budget horror films have short theatrical runs or no theatrical release at all but gain their investment on videocassette rentals which results in the audience being hidden from research view. Therefore these audiences aren't being recorded compared to higher-budget cases which test audience results.
4. Who does Clover suggest makes-up the typical horror audience? Carol Clover states the proportion of the audience varies depending on the sub-genre and movie. Overall, she concluded "the more mainstream the film, the more 'normal' the audience", but the preponderance of young males appear constant as males are the unmistakeable target audience of horror fanzines. However, Carol has categorised the horror audience in the following groups;
Young men - often in groups or solo Male-female couples - various ages but mostly young Solo "rogue males" - older men of ominous appearance and/or reactions Adolescent girls - in groups
5. Was there parity between horror audiences in regards to those who watched horror films at the cinema and those who watched them at home through rentals? Clover done her own research which consisted of sixty employees of rental outlets half in San Francisco area and the other half around America, she asked the employees to poll clientele for the following films; Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I Spit on Your Grave, Ms. 45,
Witchboard, Videodrome and The Evil Dead which confirmed a young male bias. Luckily three local outlets were generous enough to track four weeks of rentals of two low-budget rape-revenge films. I Spit on Your grave and Ms. 45 was recorded, Ms. 45 was rented about four times out of the five by men, and its renters of both sexes were nearly all under the age of twenty-five. I Spit on Your Grave, is the grislier of the two, rented nine times out of ten to male viewers, mostly under the age of twenty-five but occasionally older. However, after Carol's results to this poll it's clear the sub-genre of the film would have had an impact to the audience and stereotypes took place as young males are the typical horror genre audience as represented in this research. Although, the films used for this poll are grisly rape-revenge films which isn't your ordinary horror story line.
6. What are the two ways identified by Clover in which audiences identify with characters? Carol Clover identified two ways in which audiences identify characters. Her first suggestion is primary identification which on the cinematographic grounds the camera can entertain different positions with eases both character positions and omniscient ones with different degrees of "personality". An example of this would be the hand-held first person or subjective camera which is known by convention to be the most personal of all. As a result the audience feel as though they are included in the adventures and challenges this specific character faces. This convention of primary identification is particularly useful in films which star a 'hero', 'final girl', 'victim-hero' etc as the audience are taken on a journey and shown the film through their eyes which creates a bond as they have experienced their challenges with them. Carol's other suggestion is secondary identification which is the audiences individual choice to empathise with a character which are commonly represented by two characters such as the masochistic victim and sadistic monster.