After All Is Said And Done...

[dotinthesky]

Most girls and women I know hate horror movies. I'd say almost all women don't like horror and make a point of never watching scary movies. It's also interesting to notice that almost all good scary movies (slashers included) have a female protagonist who goes through hell, is traumatized, sees all her friends/family die, before she manages to defeat the monster and survive. A lot of them end up in psychiatric wards afterwards.

My question: are most women turned off by horror because they feel, when watching these movies, that they are being called upon to relate to the main character and go through her ordeal?

In contrast, men don't seem to mind horror. I quite like a scary movie. But, if you look at the victim's list, men seem to die in the following manner:

- very quickly
- having sex with someone very hot
- saving the heroine/protagonist

And what about women who do enjoy watching horror? Are they smarter, or stronger, and can enjoy the genre without getting subconsciously sucked into it? Are they survivers themselves in real life, thus the movie parallels real traumas they suffered in life?

Comments

[icymorning.livejournal.com]

i've always wondered about the strangely important place of women in horror movies compared to other kinds of movies. is it because women are supposed to be / connected with evil ? is it because women are more sensitive ? is it because in real life women are more often victims of crime ?

regards of one of my favourite movies ever, the 1997 Japanese hit Ringu, i've seen the trilogy, and compared with the american remake, and looked for sources (http://ringworld.somrux.com) and it's true that this story is only women-based. men there play more than second roles, they aren't of much importance - and when they play a role, it's a role of betrayal. they're the trigger of hate, of crime, of curses. the place made to the sensivity of women, their empathy and their compassion, their need for vengeance and their inferiority complex is an utter center to the movie and all the movies it inspired.

if you look at the TV, same thing : horror/futurist sitcoms are more often led by women (Buffy being the most evident example. Buffy dies, but lives again ; Buffy is in love with a vampire ; Buffy decides to be independant from the century-long authority supposed to watch over her ; Buffy makes hard decisions. Buffy defeats evil) Buffy, Dark Angel, Charmed, etc ... Though they're produced by men, and screenplays are written by men. Why is there so many powerful female characters ? Maybe because there's an audience for them.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

And let's not forget the Scream trilogy! Apparently, most of the audience consisted of young girls and women.

I have so many ideas about this... I was making a list of the great horror movies of all times, and they all have main female protagonists! I was even thinking about Psycho, and of how the main female dies half-way through... it must have been such a shock to the audience at the time, because he was clearly subverting the convention... and not only that, she was killed by a man in drag!!! (but we only find that out in the end...)

I also like how the Aliens franchise plays with that idea of the defenceless female victim, turning her into this butchy fighter who must defeat the Queen Bitch. It's as if, like you said, men are irrelevant and the true mosters and heroes exist only in the female realm.