The 1960s-80s saw the introduction of 2nd wave feminism – focusing largely on gender inequality within sexuality, family life and the workplace. It was quickly established that mainstream media was playing a large role in the production and reinforcement of the patriarchy, and so began an influx in the analysis of representations of women within the media; or lack thereof. Paralleling the popularisation of 2nd wave feminism, the 60s, 70s and 80s saw a prevalence of horror films within mainstream media; rendering the genre a target for scrutiny.
In this essay I will discuss representations of gender in Stanley Kubrick’s psychological horror, ‘The Shining’ (1980) and Wes Craven’s thriller, ‘Scream’ (1996). Both The Shining and Scream are deemed innovative within their horror subgenres. The Shining, though conformant of most of the codes and conventions of its genre, veered away from normality through Kubrick’s artistic styling. Over time it has become one of the most ambiguous psychological horrors, leaving many questions unanswered.
In what has been described as “the rebirth of slashers”, Scream’s creativity stems from the use of its genre as a pastiche. Rather than simply following the well-recognised “slasher” template, Craven used the genre’s cliches to create what could be described as a selfaware slasher; combining horror with mild parody. A common pattern found within horror is the over-sexualised depiction of women, particularly within the slasher genre. Considered the key influence for the subgenre, Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ (1960) fulfilled the idea that women in lasher films were often represented as sexual objects. In fact, not only did Psycho include the presence of naked women within the film, the narrative was based heavily on Norman Bates’ habit of watching women whilst they were in the shower – treating them as nothing more than sexual objects. Perhaps as an homage to Psycho’s famous shower scene is the scene in The Shining in which Jack Nicholson’s character intrudes on a naked woman in the bath. Nicholson’s character becomes mesmerised by the woman as she approaches and begins to kiss him.
This display of seduction, however, is immediately followed by the realisation that the woman is in fact an old, rotting corpse. This could perchance be viewed as a punishment towards Nicholson’s character for his invasion of the woman’s privacy. In a refreshing change of events, Scream is practically void of any sexualisation whatsoever. Though the character of Sidney Prescott flashes her boyfriend, it is not shown on camera. In both psychological horror and slashers alike; male characters are often represented as strong, brave and masculine.
Males commonly portray the antagonist within the horror genre, whilst females act as the “prey” and are often found to be weak, dumb and helpless. Elements of this can be found in Scream, where the antagonists and the town’s deputy sheriff are all male. In contrast, the female characters of Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) and Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) are both murdered after a relatively effortless struggle. The Shining, however, is not quite as simple.
Whilst it can be agreed that Jack is a strong, masculine character who descends into madness, Shelley Duvall’s character Wendy Torrance has been quite the cause of debate. In an interview with the BBC, Stephen King – the author of the book on which The Shining was based – criticised Duvall’s character, stating that she was “one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film” who was “basically just put there to scream and be stupid” despite him having written the character as a brave, smart woman. Yet from a feminist perspective, Wendy Torrance can be seen as a progressive character.
When faced with her enraged husband, rather than crumbling or becoming another female horror victim, Wendy hits Jack over the head and drags his unconscious body into a locked room before arming herself with a knife, collecting her son and ensuring he escapes before she does. Wendy Torrance could be considered a post-feminist icon in association with Angela McRobbie’s theory on the subject, as ibits stereotypical male characteristics such as strength, courage, control and logic but still plays a stereotypical female role; a wife and mother, who can be spotted cooking, cleaning and looking after both her son and husband to varying degrees.
Something interesting to consider in both The Shining and Scream is the use of male and female stars. Simply the fact that both films contain a star is unusual for the horror genre, which often uses unknown actors and actresses for the sake of realism. In The Shining, Jack Nicholson plays the role of the main character. This not only attracts an audience through the use of star power, but also enables Nicholson to showcase his exceptional talent for acting. In Scream, the star used is Drew Barrymore. In an iconic opening scene, Barrymore plays the first victim of’Ghostface’.
However, this is Barrymore’s only scene in the whole film. This suggests that Barrymore was used merely to attract an audience, without making her the main character or giving her more than 10 minutes of screentime. Carol Clover’s Last Girl Theory explains that in many horror films, the last girl to survive is “pure, chaste and virginal” whilst her more promiscuous friends will be killed. The last girl will often dress androgynously, have a unisex name and have some sort of shared history with the killer. A popular example of this theory is John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978).
Scream very obviously embodies this theory, as the last surviving girl is Sidney (a unisex name), who dresses in androgynous clothing. Not only this, but Sidney safely avoids being murdered or injured by Ghostface throughout the film after having refused to lose her virginity with her boyfriend. Later on in the film, however, Sidney loses her virginity and it is from this point that her life becomes endangered. Finally, the killer is revealed to be her boyfriend, who admits to killing Sidney’s mother; a shared history. One of the first murders in Scream is of Rose McGowan’s character Tatum Riley; Sidney’s more sexually promiscuous friend.
It is not clear if this was simply the narrative of the film, as it often is within the genre, or if this was a carefully executed plot in order to comply to the stereotypes of slashers. Whilst The Shining does have a surviving “last girl”, the character of Wendy Torrance does not comply to Last Girl Theory. She is not virginal, nor does she have a unisex name. She does, however, dress androgynously and have a shared history with the murderer; her husband. A consistent theme in horror films is the use of phallic weapons such as knives and swords. Often these will be the weapons used by monsters in horror films, whether they be male or female.
Not only this, but these same phallic weapons are used by the protagonist to protect themselves against the monster. Both The Shining and Scream can be found guilty of this. In The Shining, in order to protect herself and her son from her husband Wendy Torrance relies on the asisstance of a knife. In Scresm, Sidney Prescott manages to stab her boyfriend Billy using an umberella. These phallic weapons hold a sense of masculinity and perpetuate the idea that without the assistance of masculinity these women would not be able to protect themselves against their male counterparts.
