Halloween Halloween is an American horror film directed by John Carpenter and produced by Debra Hill in 1978. On the night of Halloween in 1963, 6-year-old Michael murdered his sister, 15 years later he escapes from a mental hospital to return to his home town to kill again. This is regarded as the first slasher film, which many films have gone on to follow.
Myers
Todorov suggested that a narrative is structured in a certain way; however Halloween challenges this as it does not start with equilibrium. The opening scene to Halloween starts with Michael Myers killing his sister; straight away causing disequilibrium. However, the normal life of Haddonfield is still unaware of this and they are going about their normal life preparing for the ball; it could be argued that this section of the film is the equilibrium, this however is very brief and is quickly disrupted when Myers escapes from the mental hospital to go back on the night of Halloween to continue killing. Todorov also proposed that the majority of the movie is spent with the characters trying to resolve the issue; however, in this case the characters are not aware there is an issue in the first place apart from the doctor who tries to warn the sheriff. At the end of the film there is not a new equilibrium as the audience sees that Michael has disappeared when pushed out of the window; leaving the audience scared and anxious as to what happens next. Doing this leaves room for a sequel and reinforces the audiences fear that the horror genre manipulates. Halloween has several character types which were devised by Propp. The ‘hero’ character isn’t quite clear as it could be either the doctor or Laurie. Laurie could be seen as the hero as she saves the children from the murderer by telling them to run and hide. She is also the one to go and investigate the neighbour’s house, in which her friends Annie, Lynda and Bob were supposed to be gathering there, when she realises somethings suspicious is going on. In this scene, we see her discover her friends’ dead bodies and then run into the killer, during this the audience sees Laurie fight back and run away to save herself and to make sure the children are also safe. However, the doctor is also the hero as he saves Laurie from being killed. The villain is very obvious in this film as we are shown who he is from the very start of the film. Michael is the one the audience fears and the one that needs to be stopped; fear is something that typical villains tend to spread and this also helps identify that they are the ‘baddie’ in the narrative. Sheriff Brackett is the ‘helper’ of the film as although he doesn’t fully believe the doctor he still helps him look for Michael. The victims of the film are all those under threat, this includes, Laurie, the children, Annie, Lynda and Bob. However, the audience doesn’t sympathise with Annie, Lynda and Bob as they are not portrayed as innocent therefore we do not categorise them as victims. Levi-Strauss looked at the narrative structure of films through binary oppositions. In terms of this good vs evil is extremely clear within the film as it shows the evil character in the first few minutes of the film so it become very apparent to the audience. At one point he is even described as ‘pure evil’ which reinforces this. Additionally, there were many attempts to try and kill Michael, however each
time the characters failed; this suggests the idea that he could possibly be inhumane and actually is the ‘boogeyman’ which was mentioned several times during the film. The good characters are determined through the victims of the film and the ones who try to help resolve the problem. This is seen through characters like Laurie who are seen as heroes. She's also seen as good through her behaviour because unlike her other friends she prioritises school over partying and is described as virginal, which in horror movies is usually a characteristic found in the ‘final girl’. Additionally, the past and present is very clear through the use of text ’15 years later’. The start of the film is Michael when he was 6 years old, the audience finds out this is a flashback when the text appears on the screen telling us the real time the narrative is set in. The flashbacks also relates to Bordwell and Thompson’s time and space theory. They suggested that narrative uses technical techniques to manipulate the audience’s awareness of time and space. The use of this flashback is for the audience to understand the whole narrative of the film, because without showing Michael killing his older sister on the night of Halloween the rest of the film wouldn’t be as relevant as it revolves around that night. The flashback also helps establish why Michael escaped from the mental institution and goes back to his home town. Additionally, Bordwell and Thompson suggested there are 3 distinctions of time within a film. The screen duration being one of these, is the time it takes to watch the film. In this case the film lasts for 90 minutes, during this time we see what happens from start to finish. The length of time the plot of the story covers is called the plot duration. Within this film the plot duration lasts about 2 days from October 30th, the day Michael escaped from the mental institution to October 31st, the day of Halloween where he began to kill again. The story duration, the length of the story covers, is 15 years. From Halloween 1963, the day he killed his sister, to Halloween 1978 to where Dr. Loomis shot him. Despite this, the audience realises that Michael is still out there when the camera shot of where he fell from the balcony after he was shot shows he has disappeared, leaving the story unfinished; suggesting there will be a sequel. Additionally, the audience does not thee the time between 1963 an 1978 so we have to fill in the space with what we assume has happened. Throughout the film we are given clues by Dr. Loomis about what has happened to Michael when he says ‘I tried to treat him’ and when the doctor talks about how Michael has been planning this day since he was imprisoned because he ‘would stare in silence and look beyond the walls to this exact day’ which suggests he has been planning the escape or quite some time. This film has many horror conventions which enables the audience to identify it as part of the horror genre. The film is set in a small suburban community giving the feeling of isolation; something that is common within the horror genre. Additionally, Haddonfield is a place with a past, Michaels past, which is what makes him come back in the first place. Furthermore, all the deaths that take place are at night, making the audience fear the dark; something that is associated with childhood fears, so the feeling of this once again makes the audience scared and anxious. At the start of the film we see a child, which we later find out is Michael, children are often associated with innocence; however in this case the child was a murderer and is the cause for the disequilibrium. This challenges typical character ideologies within horror movies.
Another typical feature of horror films is how they present young women in a provocative or sexual way. Annie, Lynda and Judith are all dressed in short skirts and crop tops or are even seen naked at some point of the film. This is used to appeal to the male audience; the theory was suggested by Laura Mulvey in which she named it ‘male gaze’. Lynda and Judith were both murdered after engaging in sexual activity; this links in with the ideology at the time that young woman having sex was seen as a negative thing. However, this has carried on in horror films since then as part of a typical convention that careless, stupid teenagers are often killed first within the movie. Annie, on the other hand, was then going to meet her boyfriend when she was murdered, leaving her responsibility of babysitting to Laurie; again reinforcing this ideology. Moreover, the idea of the ‘final girl’ is also common amongst horror films. This character is strong willed, determined, virginal and often seen as quite manly. Laurie fits into this category, an example is that she is responsible and studies whilst her other friends are having fun; but due to this she survives. Laurie also turns down the opportunity to go to the ball with Ben and insists on not going at all; this reflects the idea she is sensible and prioritises her education. Additionally, the name Laurie is unisex which makes her seem more masculine and strong. This is also reflected in the way she is dressed, wearing trousers and a shirt instead of clothing easily sexualised. Despite this, Laurie was Michael’s prime target but managed to survive due to the ‘final girl’ characteristics. In conclusion, Halloween follows many typical horror conventions like setting, male gaze and final girl. Although only a few character types define by Propp can be found it still follows this theory. Halloween also follows Bordwell and Thompsons ideas and Levi-Strauss binary opposite’s theory. However, it challenges Todorovs narrative structure theory as it does not start with a clear equilibrium or finish with a new one. Overall, this is a famous horror movie which set the notion of the final girl and influenced many other horrors. It has been deemed a ‘horror masterpiece’ by many.