Horror Cinema and Politics of Gender: A Form of Cultural Problem Solving

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Critical Essay
The relationship between horror cinema and the politics of gender is nothing new. Ancient legends portrayed eccentric women as monsters. In the past, men feared castration when they saw female genitals. Besides, evil women in antique myths symbolized the anxiety of male castration. Today, the connection between horror and gender is illustrated in psychoanalytic feminist film theory. In this perspective, the modern horror film seems to be the best platform to discuss the monstrous feminine. According to Williams (4), Psychoanalytic film theory discusses gender within horror films and connects it to society's cultural problem. The question asked in this paper is whether or not the relationship between horror cinema and the politics of gender presents a particular cultural problem and whether horror cinema functions as a form of problem-solving, as commented by Linda Williams. John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) is used to explain this scenario.
Halloween (1978) is about a psychopathic serial killer stalking teenage babysitters. The film presents a plethora of developed horror clichés that describe social commentary of gender fluidity. Laurie, the female protagonist who, Michael Myers, the villain, hunts throughout the movie, observes a gradual shift in gender from a victimized to a surviving female (Carpenter, 201). The narrative follows the representation of a community centered on the daily anxieties of the middle class, such as family activities or babysitting. The film characters can be grouped into two categories: - teenagers and adults. The adults are often absent and do not usually take part in the narrative progression. An example of this observation is when Laurie tries to escape from Michael by running into a neighboring house to seek help (Carpenter, 205). However, the neighbor refuses to open the door. Dr Sam Loomis seems the only adult that participates in the narrative progression and has positive representation.
Teenagers are portrayed as sexually active and deviant behaviors, which entail alcohol and drugs. All characters except the killer's psychiatrist and one female baby sitter die in the film (Carpenter, 209). The baby sitter who survives managed to frustrate the killer towards the end of the movie. The film studies refer to this surviving female character as the ‘‘Final Girl’’ who endures the villain’s onslaught. Laurie is the final girl. Her male-like characteristics: - active, energetic and fearless makes her survive. All these traits, coupled with the fact that she is a virgin, make her the film’s final girl.
The transcendence of gender borders occurs between the killer and the so-called ‘‘Final Girl’’ as they interact. The killer is not considered entirely masculine because of his previous sexual problem. He is either mentally immature or a sexual deviant (Carpenter, 207). Michael is the killer or the monster of this horror film. Although he is human, he has some supernatural characters. Most importantly, he seems to be invulnerable. It triggers the audience's feeling that evil cannot be defeated.
The killer’s sexual ambiguity corresponds to that of the surviving female, depicted as tomboyish. The same way the killer is half-masculine is the same way he is half-feminine. Both characters demonstrate their sexual problems through violence. Stabbing another person gives them shared masculinity. Equally, being penetrated by another person’s weapon gives them shared femininity. The cultural problem arises because an individual's sex category is closely related to their gender. William’s (8) views on gender fall under the substructure model of gender, where he sees gender as existing from the sex of a body. Moreover, stating that the characters' behaviors in Halloween (1978) are either masculine or feminine disregards the processes that put behaviors in gender categories.
To avoid this challenge, it is necessary to take a more sociological approach. This approach states that gender originates from social interaction instead of biological essentialism. In the context of Halloween, gender exists from interactions ...