Gender in Horror Films Carrie, Alien and Amityville Horror

The representation of gender in horror films varies from director to director, writer to writer. However certain characteristics of gender representation do, at times follow a certain theme. Whilst studying the evolution of horror films it struck me that in some cases the film, while appearing to differ only ever so slightly from the novel upon which it was based, would create images onscreen that would imply things that the novel had never done. Through the tiny differences between novel and film is where insight is to be gained about the audience to which the film is aimed and also about the director’s perspective on the novel itself. In Brian De Palmas production on Carrie I will analyze the representation of women in the film and of their relationships with men and most importantly with one another. Again in Alien Resurrection, which is interesting because the character of Ripley is developed and so more focus is given to her relationships with other characters but also to her sexuality. Finally Amityville Horror is interesting because while initially it will appear that a normal family dynamic is being attacked in the house it becomes clear that the lack of biological link between George and the children makes him as a male character closer to the audience and therefore more relatable than to the family. Finally I will look fleetingly at the gender representations in Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire and how they appear to differ but in fact are very much like the other three texts.

In Brian De Palma’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel Carrie the focus is completely on all things female. While many films and novels previously were more concerned with the male hero while using female roles as the victims Carrie’s relatable characters were, with the exception of Tommy Ross, all female. While the film does not deviate hugely from the novel certain scenes were cut and more attention is paid to the highly sexed atmosphere between the characters. Filmed in 1979 the film concentrates a large proportion of its subliminal messaging on the changing sexual attitudes and promiscuity of the youth at that time and juxtaposes these new attitudes with its main character, Carrie. The film concerns itself from the beginning with creating a clear difference between Carrie and her peers especially in relation to sex. The opening sequence where the girls are changing in the locker rooms is rife with nudity; girls openly walk around completely naked. There is slow, almost romantic music playing and the scenes are played out in slow motion with the girls laughing and chatting. The eroticism is palpable and the music is dream like and beautiful. When we see Carrie in the shower she faces the wall, she is immediately different in the sense that she does not celebrate her body like the others but rather hides it in an almost shameful way. While the other girls flaunt their bodies and metaphorically their sexuality Carrie denies hers and showers alone. The music changes when we are introduced to Carrie in the shower however and it seems to imply a beauty or an innocence to her that is lacking in the others, Her hair hangs over her breasts and she is very much Eve-like in her stance and image in the shower. The almost religious image is interrupted by the appearance of menstrual blood on her legs where she becomes terrified and seeks help or solace from her peers. What ensues is almost like a witch hunt, a frenzied tribal attack where Carrie is backed into a corner and almost heckled by the girls as they throw sanitary towels at her. What’s interesting here is the way in which women are represented in this opening scene, especially when considering a male audience. The other girls are represented in a slightly erotic fashion. There is no focus on what the girls discuss or laugh about, their nudity and lack of shame is what the attention of the audience is most drawn to. The changing room scene is quite charged sexually, this mood is interrupted by a virginous religious type moment which is quite violently rejected and ridiculed by the girls. Carries lack of understanding of her own femininity and her sexuality is not relatable by the other girls who are therefore portrayed as being not just sexual but also apathetic to someone who is not like they are. The novel by King is interested in the sexual atmosphere between these young adults but the movie brings that to another level. De Palma heightens the atmosphere in the movie, in some early scenes the camera focuses on the groin of some of the male characters, unlike other contemporary horror films the men are more objectified sexually than the women. The film concerns itself with female relationships, Miss Collins adopts a slightly male role when she slaps Carrie when she is hysterical in the shower, however for the most part the film and the novel is based around an all female world in which the male characters not only lack any type of depth but also are merely there as pillars for the plot as opposed to offering any particular insight into the message of the film. One of the most representative characters in the film and novel of the sexually confidant young woman is Chris Hargensen. She is one of the girls carrying out the assault on Carrie in the shower. Although it is fairly subtle in the novel, there is nothing subtle about her sexuality in the film. Everything about her from her stance to her manner of speaking is sexually charged. In the car scene in which Chris travels to a party with her boyfriend Billy Nolan played by John Travolta the sexual tension is rife. The mood of the scene changes quickly several times from one of violence to one of highly charged sexual tension, it presents the main female character, Chris as being highly sexed and also is gives the impression that not only does she have a major weapon at her disposal, sex but also that she knows exactly how to use that weapon too get what she wants. Although the couple argue in the scene and he slaps her a number of times the violence does not have the impact that might be expected, Chris seems to enjoy the act and actually antagonises Billy. The fact that Chris was slapped just one scene before by Miss Collins in a much more violent and forceful way actually takes from the masculinity of the act in this scene and makes it more of an achievement by Chris to have pushed him that far than a show of male strength. When Chris performs a sexual act on Billy at the end of the scene she does it only after proclaiming to him that she wants him to do something for her, the scene ends then not with her explaining what it is she wants him to do but with her statement ‘I hate Carrie White’. This scene is important to our understanding of the male and female roles in the novel. Excluding Sue and Miss Collins the female roles are representative of all that is wrong and malicious in the film. The men are weak, the act only in response to an order by a female character be it out of love, like Tommy or out of sexual desire like Billy Nolan. The differences between male and female characters are expressed with a variety of techniques throughout the film most notably by the split biopter lens technique that De Palma uses. This technique is most obvious in the classroom scene where the teacher reads aloud a poem that Tommy has written, thus giving him a more sensitive and gentle image than that of any other male character in the film or novel. When Carrie announces to the class that she thinks that the poem is ‘beautiful’ the screen splits between a close up of Tommy’s facial expression of sympathy as the teacher ridicules Carrie and a further away view of Carrie in her usual stance with her head hung low. De Palma also uses this technique not just to create a link between the two characters but also to expose a reason for this link; Tommy’s defiance towards the teacher because of his treatment of Carrie. Although initially it might seem that the male role of protector was being acted out here it quickly becomes apparent that this is not so. Tommy is coerced by his girlfriend Sue into bringing Carrie to the prom. In the scene where he finally agrees to do so we see a very deliberate juxtaposition between the relationship between Sue and Tommy, or the ‘good’ relationship and the relationship between Billy and Chris which is the representation of the ‘bad’ in the film and novel. Tommy watches and old western while Sue studies, there is silence between them and then he relents causing her to smile. To compare that with the scene of sex violence and underage drinking in the car between Billy and Chris is to expose a clear difference between the two that is made more deliberate in the movie. But what is the function of these juxtaposing couples? What were King and De Palma trying to encourage their audiences to think? The only one of the four that survives is Sue so the novel makes no dramatic statements about following a certain level of morals to guarantee an extended life as some horror films do, or does it? Tommy’s death is a complete accident totally unrelated to Carrie. The steel bucket hits him on the head and he dies. This occurs both in then novel and in the film. Even though one of the films heroines Miss Collins is killed during Carries wrath However this occurs only in the film where more visual dramatic sequences were necessary, the main focus is on the fear and the chaos. To instil fear in the audience De Palma had to kill off the character that he felt the audience was highly likely to relate to, one that was not going to be the ‘final girl’. The novel tended to be more preoccupied with the story, relationships between characters and the development of Carries rage and her telekinetic abilities than the film. In fact it is interesting that there is no dialogue involved in Miss Collins’s death it is merely visual and as dramatic as any other death scene meaning that De Palma changes the novel but only visually. Sue being the final girl would have been predictable in the film was it not for the death of Miss Collins. In the novel the obsession with the cult of feminine power continues and a psychic relationship between Sue and Carrie after her death is described, in the film however this is omitted and for more dramatic purposes and infamous horrific nightmare scene replaces it. Both the novel and the film make statements on gender, however De Palmas adaptation merely reflects his interpretations of these statements and he omits and adds details that reflect his ideas. In the novel for example Carrie destroys the entire town, this was probably omitted for economical reasons alone. However the novel did not have as many female characters as the film and chose to centre its attentions mainly on smaller more intense group. The fact that the film failed to give the same depth to its characters did, I felt not work to its advantage however considering its genre it’s probable that De Palma was aware that he had to focus on scaring his audience rather than piquing their interests in the lives of characters that were going to die anyway. The screenplay for Carrie was written in the early seventies, what is reflected in the film is a preoccupation with the sexual revolution of sorts that was going on among young people especially women. Although the film retains a large proportion of the novels main themes a difference of perspective is clear in the film. De Palmas adaptation of Carrie dispels the gender stereotypes of other horror films. It is a female film; it creates an air of mystery around women, their relationships with each other, with religion and their fundamental feminine abilities and how they use them individually. Another important gender representation in the film is that of Carries mother. As with most horror films of this type the paternal role is unfulfilled. Motherhood is portrayed as something that needs to be escaped from, however, what is most interesting here and indeed unexpected is that while the novel by King provides no other maternal roles in the novel instead focusing primarily on Carrie and her mother, De Palma adds a mother for Sue and even creates a scene whereby the two mothers meet and Carries mothers extreme religious fanaticism is demonstrated more clearly against the backdrop of a ‘normal’ home with a ‘normal’ mother who after politely attempting to get rid of Carries mother eventually makes a donation in an attempt to be free of her manic religious sermons. There are no father figures in the novel except for that of Chris, which interestingly is omitted from the film. In the novel Chris’s wealthy father contests the refusal of her prom tickets but in the film we learn nothing of her background. Again it comes back to my original point; King was creating a novel within which he created characters with lives, lives that a reader could relate to. By the end of reading the novel the reader would have at some point or another related to one or more of the characters. The film is not really about that, and this is the key difference, the film is about instilling fear in the audience and the statements that it inadvertently makes and its portrayals of gender roles are merely recycled from the novel or merely reflective of society at the time of production and filming.

The theme of the absent paternal role is one that manifests itself in many horror films. In The Amityville Horror the initial impression is that of a normal family with three children moving into a new house. However as the film and novel progresses it becomes apparent that the male character George is not the biological father of any of the children a fact which removes him from the family sphere and makes him, initially a more relatable character. The representation of the individual genders in Amityville is interesting as it is a polar opposite to the representations in Carrie. The children are never properly introduced and the film concentrates mostly on the relationship between the couple especially their sexual relationship. Cathy is throughout the film rarely in a state of full dress but rather is more likely to be in either white virginal nightgowns or lying naked beneath white sheets. Her hair interestingly remains at all times in various types of pigtails, a rather childish hairstyle for a woman of her age. Similar to Carrie a parallel is drawn between Cathy and Eve by her husband; this appears to be an attempt to present Cathy as the ultimate female, so as to make her more accessible to her female audience. These small details when considered cultivate a perception of not only innocence in Cathy but also one of someone weaker than George, someone who needs protecting by a male character. As the film progresses and George deteriorates into madness eventually resorting to violence Cathy turns to another male role model, Father Delaney. When father Delaney fails to be of any kind of help to her she becomes the strong character, she becomes the viewpoint for the audience at least until George retains his sanity and reclaims his role as that of dominant protector. Another interesting gender feature of this film which is comparable to Carrie also is that of the fascination of young girls and the complexities that are implied to go on in their minds. Although as I mentioned before very little regard or attention is given to the children or to their individual characters however when building atmosphere in the film the scene with the babysitter is interesting. Not only does the babysitter represent a power or authority within the household but that fact that the babysitter is left minding only one of the children, Amy and her mischievous ‘imaginary’ friend Jodi is interesting as well because of the state of hysteria that the babysitter ends up in. Amy does nothing to help the screaming girl when she is locked in the cupboard. This implies a sadistic and cruel streak to the child which is juxtaposed by the lack of any insight into any personality traits of the other, male children.

I chose to look at Alien Resurrection as opposed to the first Alien film because in addition to being more modern that the earlier film Alien Resurrection is filmed at a point where Ripley’s character has been developed and with the addition of a new female character played by Winona Ryder there is more focus on the female relationship which is central to the film. While all of the alien films are largely marketed as being aimed at a male audience the central character is and always has been female. This encourages the male audience to relate to a woman which is interesting. In Alien resurrection Ripley has been reincarnated and remains as tough as ever. What’s interesting about Resurrection and what exposes an evolving in films is the fact that Ripley is very much more aware sexually of herself in this film than in any of the others. Ryder’s character also is sexualized by the male characters very early on where she is described as being ‘severely fuckable’. Ripley’s statement after the aliens have escaped is also very telling ‘who do I have to fuck to get off this boat’. So while Ripley is a female figure in the film her language, appearance and attitude has a very masculine energy which makes her, as a leading lady more likely to receive empathy from both sexes in the audience. When Ripley expresses clear emotion for the first time when she finds clones of herself in various monstrous forms the men make light-hearted comments about it associating her upset with her femininity ‘must be a chick thing’. Although there is some sexualisation of Ripley and also some undermining of her emotions based on the fact that she is female the fact is that the audience is and always has been Ripley, we never are offered or care to learn anything in any depth about the other characters because it is at this stage a given that all characters will probably die except Ripley and possibly in this case Call purely because she is representative of a younger more naпve Ripley. When Call initially attempts to kill Ripley and put her out of her misery, but fails a hostile relationship develops between them that transgresses into something else. As Ripley becomes more and more macho she develops a maternal relationship with Call. Especially after it emerges that Call is in fact a robot, when Ripley and call suddenly have something major in common and both suffer the ridicule of the other crew members who we, the audience know are likely to die. Interestingly the main computer system in the ship is called ‘father’ and when Call overrides the system she maintains that father is dead. It’s interesting because as the female relationship central to the film becomes more complex and stronger the male representatives die off one by one, for the computer system on the ship, and therefore the representation of order and civility to be firstly called father and then to be killed makes a statement, I think about the fast rising femininity of the film. Any attempt by any of the male characters to exert any type of power or authority over Ripley or Call is met with fierce masculine aggression. When Ripley is apparently dead the typical male and female roles are resumed with Call becoming the victim and the men once again becoming the macho heroes. This is very short-lived however and Ripley returns to reclaim her position as the Alien annihilator and ending that with a final scene with her and Call together very much like mother and daughter but also very much representations of empowered women who, with very little male intervention succeeded in saving themselves.

Interview with a vampire has interesting similarities and differences with all three of the above. There is, in the film and novel much like Carrie and Alien, no heterosexual relationship but merely a hinted homosexual relationship between Lestat and Louis. The main female role in the film and novel is that of a child, who acts as a representation of Louis remaining humanity and makes him more relatable to his audience and not as a character to which female audiences might relate to. The death of the child represents a further descent by Louis into evil. Women in the novel and in the film are very much objectified; the hero of the film, Louis is very obvious. Women are the constant victims their sexuality is used as and excuse to punish them. For example when Louis and Lestat have the two young French girls in their room. Lestat drinks blood from her breast of the girl, an act which appears to be sexual until he pulls away and the blood is revealed on her white dress. The similarity between the gender representations in this film and that of Alien and Carrie is that the gender of the central characters is not quite as important as their relatability to their audience. The presence of a hero seems to be of more importance than any other representation in the movies. The film concentrates more on the descent of Louis than on his role for the audience. Unlike Carrie there is no question of who the hero is and indeed of whom the villain is. It seems that in horror films to develop a certain issue other issues have to be predeveloped to allow for plenty of scope. In this case the roles of Lois and Lestatt are clear so that more attention can be paid to Louis himself as a character and his battle with descending into pure evil like Lestatt. While studying horror films it became apparent to me that there were distinct and varying representations of gender that were important not only to our understanding of the film but also of the issues that were important in society during filming. Carrie, filmed during the late seventies was very much concerned much more so than the novel with the sexual exploits of its characters and comparing them with the overtly religious life of its main character Carrie. In An Amityville Horror the nuclear family stereotype is created, challenged and then destroyed. Cathy is the eternal victim, acting independently and heroic only when George has descended into madness. When he recovers, she too recovers her original victim image and behaviour. Similarly in Alien, Ripley is the hero with the male characters acting merely to compliment her role, that is until she is removed from the final scene and the men suddenly begin exerting their male power and Call transcends into the role of victim for the first time in the film. What has become apparent is that gender roles and representations in horror are extremely complex and excluding the basic aims of them, tend not to follow a particular mould. While older horror films had clearer male and female roles the more contemporary horror tends to seek the role of the hero without being prejudice of the sex. It struck me that in some cases the film, while appearing to differ only ever so slightly from the novel upon which it was based, creates images onscreen that imply things that the novel does not. It attempts to make a statement or present visually an idea about people and relationships. It plays upon issues that we face daily, it scares us, but in a different way. Social issues like absent fathers and promiscuous teens are challenged and the offenders are punished or celebrated depending on the stance of the director. Through the tiny differences between novel and film is where insight is to be gained about the audience to which the film is aimed and also about the director’s perspective on the novel itself. To end on a positive note, the evolution of the representations of women is very obvious when comparing Carrie with Alien, women’s sexuality is more celebrated, as is their willingness to use it as a weapon (Ripley ‘who do I have to fuck to get off this boat’) a change has occurred in film which is representative of the changing perceptions of women in everyday society.