The Representation of Women in Zombie Horror Films
The Representation of Women in Horror Films
Traditionally, women in horror films are portrayed as damsels in distress that need to be rescued by male dominant characters in order to survive or live. They are weak, innocent and fragile that have absolutely no strength to fend for themselves. Women in horror films are also portrayed with no initiative – they always have to follow some kind of male dominant leader – and don’t have much personal perspective or opinions. Throughout the years since the Woman’s movement occurred in the mid-1960’s, the representation of women in the media slowly began to come through and develop from a serious case of male chauvinism to a slightly acceptable representation of women in modern times. These days, patriarch dominance is still present in some films as female characters are still presented as somewhat weak and fragile due to the fact that in some point of a horror film; females may either be saved by a strong and powerful male character or just get killed and die due to their inability to fight back. Even though this is how they are represented in horror films specifically, there are also other genre and types of media that present them the same way, making their representation in any media form in general reflect on our modern society in real life. The development of the female’s representation in horror films in this report will be discussed in a chronological order starting from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in the 1960’s until the modern ways of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later in the 20th century.
George A. Romero’s The Night of The Living Dead (1968) is one of the earliest zombie films released that portrays zombies as cannibals – corpses that consume living flesh. The traditional portrayal of females are shown since the beginning of the film where Barbra, the main female character, was shown being caring and thoughtful of their mourning mother and the memory of their dead father whereas her brother, Johnny,
Traditionally, women in horror films are portrayed as damsels in distress that need to be rescued by male dominant characters in order to survive or live. They are weak, innocent and fragile that have absolutely no strength to fend for themselves. Women in horror films are also portrayed with no initiative – they always have to follow some kind of male dominant leader – and don’t have much personal perspective or opinions. Throughout the years since the Woman’s movement occurred in the mid-1960’s, the representation of women in the media slowly began to come through and develop from a serious case of male chauvinism to a slightly acceptable representation of women in modern times. These days, patriarch dominance is still present in some films as female characters are still presented as somewhat weak and fragile due to the fact that in some point of a horror film; females may either be saved by a strong and powerful male character or just get killed and die due to their inability to fight back. Even though this is how they are represented in horror films specifically, there are also other genre and types of media that present them the same way, making their representation in any media form in general reflect on our modern society in real life. The development of the female’s representation in horror films in this report will be discussed in a chronological order starting from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in the 1960’s until the modern ways of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later in the 20th century.
George A. Romero’s The Night of The Living Dead (1968) is one of the earliest zombie films released that portrays zombies as cannibals – corpses that consume living flesh. The traditional portrayal of females are shown since the beginning of the film where Barbra, the main female character, was shown being caring and thoughtful of their mourning mother and the memory of their dead father whereas her brother, Johnny,