research list :
1.Internet - Bechdel test
2.eBook-women,+murder+representation. this books looks at the change in womens attidue throughout the years, from being passive and dependent on the men to becoming the suspects in more and more crimes commited on their spouses.
3.Book- directed by Alfred Hitchcock , Psycho (the ultimate film guides) pgs. 66-84. this is a helpful piece of research as the book explores different interpretations to the actions and ideology of Marion. quote 'the attitude towards unmarried sex in psycho can be related to the prevalent social ideology of the day'. 'feminist critics who have analysed psycho see see this as evidence both of alfred hitchcocks misogyny and of the more pervasive patriarchal ideology of hollywood'(7).
4.internet-http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/21/alfred-hitchcock-women-psycho-the-birds-bidisha. this article speaks about Hitchcock and Psycho, and how he fails to see women in a positive light. it also touches on the fact that in a lot of his work there are set types of women all having some trait, whether that be deceitful or sexual, but all being weak and deservant of punishment.
5.internet- http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/22/nicole-kidman-hollywood-violence-women. here we have an account that speaks about Nicole Kidman and how she accused Hollywood being a catalyst in violence against women and portraying them as sex objects. the article quotes kidman when she says that she has refused parts depending on how the female character is represented. this shows a clear change in society and strength in female actors, not just a change in the characters. quote "when asked whether the film industry "played a bad role" in the way it portrayed women, Kidman replied "Probably", before going on to say that she refused to take roles that portrayed women as weak sex objects. "I can't be responsible for all of Hollywood, but I can certainly be responsible for my own career." (9)
6.Internet- http://www.slideshare.net/lalaland_xo/horror-film-forms-and-conventions. talks about the conventional characters in slasher movies. quote ' (10)
'8.documentary- miss- representation, quote 'Females are not represent in the Media for doing something, they are represented for how they look'.(2) '97% of publishing companies are owned by Males'. ' 10% of writers of film are female'. (11)
9. film- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtsmQlLuQpc (4). this clip helps show that scream can be seen as a parody and that its self aware that it is a typical horror/slasher film.
10 - http://screampsychohorror.wordpress.com/representation-of-women-in-horror-films/cine-literate . "Traditionally women are represented in horror films as the damsel in distress and are usually being attacked by the killer because they have committed a sinful act." .
11- http://www.bellaonline.com/site/HorrorMovies “Horror films, and the slasher subgenre, are famous for portraying women as hypersexual damsels in distress who are usually murdered within the first five minutes as punishment for their indiscretions…”. (3)
12- http://filmfervor.wordpress.com/tag/objectification/ . "The classical Hollywood format has always empowered men and directly objectified women through ‘visual pleasure.’"(1)
13. tatums death in scream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDDxCkY2u2Y. (5)
14. http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/womenslliberation/womensliberation.htm .
quote " The Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920. This fight for equality was later termed the “first-wave of feminism”. The “second-wave” began in the early 1960’s and ran through the late 1980’s. In this wave, women strived to reach a further sense of equality with men and to allow women to have a greater control over their body and the protection from physical abuse."(6)
In this investigation i will analyse how female protagonists and their ideology are represented in my chosen horror genre texts, 'Psycho' and 'Scream', and if their portrayal and role has evolved
1.
Looking at genre conventions and if they have
changed and if the films fit the conventions regarding women.
2.
Then look at psycho and Marion’s
character and ideology. Use research to explore her sexual relationship out of
marriage, how that was seen at the time, and how she may have been punished.
Also comment on how Sam isn’t.
3.
Begin to talk about the male gaze
theory and how it applies to psycho.
4.
Move on to scream. Talk about
the protagonist’s role and how she seems to be dominant that Marion. Also
comment on the time gap between the two. Use research to show the change in
women’s attitude to a more equal society. Also look at her relationships with men.
5.
Go on to apply the post
feminist/feminist theory to scream and see if it matches with psycho. Is marion
being seen as femininst or pre feminist, is Sidney post feminist/feminist? Make
a note that scream is more feminine dominant.
Has the representation of women and their
ideology evolved in cinema through time, paying particular attention to the
horror genre?
In this
investigation I will analyze how female protagonists and their ideology are
represented
in my chosen horror genre texts, 'Psycho' and 'Scream', and if their
portrayal
and role has evolved. It is believed by some that women, for many years,
have
been represented as being sex objects, weak, and under the rule of men in
many of
Hollywood’s biggest films. The texts I have chosen will help me identify
these
issues and allow me to compare and contrast the two films as they are from
the
same sub genre, that being’ slasher films’, but also made in different eras. I
firstly
will scrutinize the horror genre and its conventions to see if the female
protagonist’s
mindset and ideology has changed making it more relative to our
current
society, and juxtapose their reliance on men. Looking at the genres take on
women
will give me a good indicator as to whether my texts both comply with
having
the weak, over ruled female protagonist or one is more evolved.
Secondly
I will focus on psycho, and build an understanding of why the
protagonist
is portrayed as she is; also question whether her death was some kind
of
punishment for her out of wed lock sexual relations, and if so why isn’t her
lover
punished? Thirdly I shall state the differences between the female
protagonists
in both texts, and the excess of female dominance found in scream. I
will
use gathered research to show the shift in time as to when the film was made
and how
women of a more modern society have better equality to that of the
1960s.
also through research I will bring to attention the growth in violence related
to
women, making them the attacker or more prone to fight back; and seeing if this
has had
an impact on the film media and what we see in scream.
To help
in my investigation I will apply Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze theory’ to
Psycho,
seeing how Hitchcock technically objectifies Marion and at times
addresses
voyeuristic pleasures shared by the audience and the antagonist Norman
Bates. In
doing this I can build an understanding of the time the film was made and
how Hitchcock
wanted to show off his leading actress and why he wanted the
audience
to be included in Norman’s sexual yet murderous desires. After I can then
apply
the theory to scream and begin to see some form of evolution in the female
protagonist
in these iconic horror films. The feminist theory aids the male gaze
concept,
therefore I intend to utilize this to support my investigation, thus proving
that
patriarchy is visible in this text, more so than ‘scream’, due to the era in
which
it was
filmed. This will help me see the way each protagonist is represented and
the
change in their ideology. I will be backing up my statements in this aim with
various
research found on modern actresses, and their take on how women have
been
and still being represented in the film media.
Jordan mistry.
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