Intro - introduce the idea of stereotypes and intorduce the main group which i will be looking at which is women and also introduce the second group which is asians and talk about what stereotypes have been linked with the group previusly.
Para 1 - talk more about the representations that both groups have had before, for womens will talk about how they have been shown as sex obbjects and how asians before were seen as the other and then i will ask the question if they are still represented in the same way.
Para 2 - introduce texts which show these representations, for women i will talk abit films in general but make links to films like pretty women as then women are shown to be premiscious.
Para 3 - are this representations to change? will look at contemproary texts to see if the groups who are still shown in the same way providing relvent examples.
Para 4 - how stereotypes can change, with the example of women being more inpowered now and how they are seen to be independent
Conclusion - talk about if stereotypes can change and provide information to show that they are in the process of changing but they havent changed yet.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
How does the media represent a social group that you have studied?
Intro - I will introduce the group which the essay is based on which is women, also i will give a deffinition of a stereotype and what it is
Para 1 - one stereotype of women that has been known in the past was that women belonged in households where they would be doing domestic chores and cater to their families, there were not seen as indepenedent and it was thought that they were not able to cope on their own, i will introduce texts such as the shake and vac advert as it shows women with their domestic roles.
Para 2 - another stereotype which women have been associated with is that they are premiscious and that they are seen as sex objects in different films through history one example of how women were shown to be premiscious is in films like pretty women.
Para 3 - talk more about this representation but with more contemporary examples also include information about the male gaze and show how it is still relevent today.
Para 4 - talk about how this theory could not be in effect now as there are examples were women are not shown in this way, for example tomb raider and also wanted.
Para 5 - talk about how even though women are shown as being stronger in wanted and tomb raider they are still represented as sex objects as there are times in both films were the character is potrayed as being sex objects as they are shown wearing provactive clothing and also some nude scenes.
Conclusion -
Para 1 - one stereotype of women that has been known in the past was that women belonged in households where they would be doing domestic chores and cater to their families, there were not seen as indepenedent and it was thought that they were not able to cope on their own, i will introduce texts such as the shake and vac advert as it shows women with their domestic roles.
Para 2 - another stereotype which women have been associated with is that they are premiscious and that they are seen as sex objects in different films through history one example of how women were shown to be premiscious is in films like pretty women.
Para 3 - talk more about this representation but with more contemporary examples also include information about the male gaze and show how it is still relevent today.
Para 4 - talk about how this theory could not be in effect now as there are examples were women are not shown in this way, for example tomb raider and also wanted.
Para 5 - talk about how even though women are shown as being stronger in wanted and tomb raider they are still represented as sex objects as there are times in both films were the character is potrayed as being sex objects as they are shown wearing provactive clothing and also some nude scenes.
Conclusion -
Do stereotypes change over time? Answer with specific reference to examples
Intro- introduce the group that i will be looking at which is women, will talk about how throughout the history of womens representation there has been many different stereotypes, will also include information on how they have changed or if the stereotypes are still present.
para1- The first main stereotype of women being weaker then men and how they were shown, will include texts such as psycho and also friday the 13th were the women were shown to be much more scared and weaker.
Para 2 - here i will talk about if the stereotype that was mentioned above is still around today, will use more recent examples like how the female character is not seen as weak in the new texas chainsaw massacre, will talk about how she survives becuase of her own will.
Para 3 - this paragrapgh will counter the last and add that even in more contemporary texts women are not seen as equal as men, films like wolf creek where the male character posses more power.
Para 4 - talk about how films like wanted show the female character to be powerful but in the end she dies.
conclusion - summerise points, and add final view.
para1- The first main stereotype of women being weaker then men and how they were shown, will include texts such as psycho and also friday the 13th were the women were shown to be much more scared and weaker.
Para 2 - here i will talk about if the stereotype that was mentioned above is still around today, will use more recent examples like how the female character is not seen as weak in the new texas chainsaw massacre, will talk about how she survives becuase of her own will.
Para 3 - this paragrapgh will counter the last and add that even in more contemporary texts women are not seen as equal as men, films like wolf creek where the male character posses more power.
Para 4 - talk about how films like wanted show the female character to be powerful but in the end she dies.
conclusion - summerise points, and add final view.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Final Draft Of Independent Study !
We’re not alone, there is something living in the hills.”[1]
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed[4]” this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The Hills Have Eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many elements from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type” the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies”. This was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they were in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability”. [5] This suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7] he adds “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used. Often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been one of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genre’s popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally would not, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audience’s with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the public’s fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). “Scream” is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horror’s key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been affected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the slasher genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in the past have been “symbolically annihilated[17]” in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character.[18]” This quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[19]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there is some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that is noticeable was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film. This is interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong would not have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men than both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the New Man and women working which is also known as the femme fatal. At this time there was a “male backlash”[20] which was when the women started gaining more independence, this caused males to backlash against women and show females in roles where they are seducing males and controlling them.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons. This is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and writing explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a “moral panic”[21] to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage people’s lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[22]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her two other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[23]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being part of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which includes the key elements of the genre in the film; however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been affected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,111
Bibliography
Works Cited
Books
Clover, C. (1993). Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. London : Bfi Publishing.
Cohen, S. (1987). Folk Devils and Moral Panics the Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Malden: Blackwell Pub.
Faludi , S. (1991). Backlash, London: Crown Publishers
Levi-Strauss, C. (1987). Myth & Meaning. New York: Schocken.
Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood Cinema. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Mulvey, L. (1993). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. London: British Film Institute.
Murphy, B. (2005). Monster Movies. London: Spruce.
Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute.
Neale, S. (1998). Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. New York: Routledge.
Phillips, P. (2001). Understanding Film Texts: Meaning and Experience (Distributed for the British Film Institute). London: British Film Institute.
Smith, S. (1998). Women And Film. London: British Film Institute.
Tuchman, G. (1978), ‘The symbolic annihilation of women in the mass media: New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Wood, R. (2007). Introduction. London: British Film Institute.
Wood, R. (1979). Genre and Cinema: London: British Film Institute.
Websites
http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp - this website provides information about the final girl and its role in horror films. From this website I found a definition of the final girl and some characteristics of the character.
Moving Image Texts
Frankenstein (1910), Howard W. Koch
Halloween (1978), John Carpenter's
Halloween H20 (1998), Steve Miner
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Tobe Hooper
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2006), Jonathan Liebesman
The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Wes Craven
The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Alexandre Aja
Scream (1996), Wes Craven
Work Consulted
Books
Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(2006_film) – this site gives a overview of the film, it includes information such as directors and story writers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/ - site which has information about the hills have eyes from the internet movie database, the site provides useful information to do with the industry side of the film.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808716060/info - another site that offered information about the film.
http://sci-fi-online.50megs.com/2006_Interviews/06-06-26_AlexandreAja.htm - this site had a interview with the director of the film, it talked about reasons for certain things in the film and about the relationship between this film and its original.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film) – information about the original hills have eyes.
http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20051109_exclusive_interview_wes_craven.html - website featuring an interview with the director of the original hills have eyes.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824233928/www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Final_Girl.shtml - this site featured more information about the final girl and some examples of the final girl in numerous other horror films.
http://www.pretty-scary.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=368 - a online article about horror films, the article featured information about the change in horror films and the rise of hybrid genres.
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html - site featuring information about the horror genre, provides a list of the different types of horror.
Moving Image Texts
Freddie Vs Jason (2003), Ronny Yu
Friday 13th (1980), Sean S. Cunningham
The Reaping (2007), Stephen Hopkins
Scary Movie (2000), Keenen Ivory Wayans
Silent Hill (2006), Christophe Gans
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) Wes Craven, United States
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg.72
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg.55
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts pg.21
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg. 55
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg.73
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss(1987) myth and meaning: cracking the code of culture pg.24
[14] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 32
[15] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 35
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies pg. 58
[17] Tuchman Gaye, (1978), ‘The symbolic annihilation of women in the mass media pg.10
[18] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film pg. 40
[19] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[20] Susan Faludi(1991): Backlash pg.60
[21] Stanley Cohen(1973): Folk Devils and Moral Panics pg. 5
[22] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[23] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed[4]” this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The Hills Have Eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many elements from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type” the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies”. This was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they were in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability”. [5] This suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7] he adds “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used. Often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been one of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genre’s popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally would not, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audience’s with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the public’s fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). “Scream” is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horror’s key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been affected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the slasher genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in the past have been “symbolically annihilated[17]” in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character.[18]” This quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[19]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there is some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that is noticeable was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film. This is interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong would not have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men than both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the New Man and women working which is also known as the femme fatal. At this time there was a “male backlash”[20] which was when the women started gaining more independence, this caused males to backlash against women and show females in roles where they are seducing males and controlling them.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons. This is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and writing explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a “moral panic”[21] to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage people’s lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[22]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her two other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[23]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being part of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which includes the key elements of the genre in the film; however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been affected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,111
Bibliography
Works Cited
Books
Clover, C. (1993). Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. London : Bfi Publishing.
Cohen, S. (1987). Folk Devils and Moral Panics the Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Malden: Blackwell Pub.
Faludi , S. (1991). Backlash, London: Crown Publishers
Levi-Strauss, C. (1987). Myth & Meaning. New York: Schocken.
Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood Cinema. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Mulvey, L. (1993). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. London: British Film Institute.
Murphy, B. (2005). Monster Movies. London: Spruce.
Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute.
Neale, S. (1998). Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. New York: Routledge.
Phillips, P. (2001). Understanding Film Texts: Meaning and Experience (Distributed for the British Film Institute). London: British Film Institute.
Smith, S. (1998). Women And Film. London: British Film Institute.
Tuchman, G. (1978), ‘The symbolic annihilation of women in the mass media: New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Wood, R. (2007). Introduction. London: British Film Institute.
Wood, R. (1979). Genre and Cinema: London: British Film Institute.
Websites
http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp - this website provides information about the final girl and its role in horror films. From this website I found a definition of the final girl and some characteristics of the character.
Moving Image Texts
Frankenstein (1910), Howard W. Koch
Halloween (1978), John Carpenter's
Halloween H20 (1998), Steve Miner
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Tobe Hooper
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2006), Jonathan Liebesman
The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Wes Craven
The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Alexandre Aja
Scream (1996), Wes Craven
Work Consulted
Books
Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(2006_film) – this site gives a overview of the film, it includes information such as directors and story writers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/ - site which has information about the hills have eyes from the internet movie database, the site provides useful information to do with the industry side of the film.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808716060/info - another site that offered information about the film.
http://sci-fi-online.50megs.com/2006_Interviews/06-06-26_AlexandreAja.htm - this site had a interview with the director of the film, it talked about reasons for certain things in the film and about the relationship between this film and its original.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film) – information about the original hills have eyes.
http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20051109_exclusive_interview_wes_craven.html - website featuring an interview with the director of the original hills have eyes.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824233928/www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Final_Girl.shtml - this site featured more information about the final girl and some examples of the final girl in numerous other horror films.
http://www.pretty-scary.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=368 - a online article about horror films, the article featured information about the change in horror films and the rise of hybrid genres.
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html - site featuring information about the horror genre, provides a list of the different types of horror.
Moving Image Texts
Freddie Vs Jason (2003), Ronny Yu
Friday 13th (1980), Sean S. Cunningham
The Reaping (2007), Stephen Hopkins
Scary Movie (2000), Keenen Ivory Wayans
Silent Hill (2006), Christophe Gans
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) Wes Craven, United States
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg.72
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg.55
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts pg.21
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg. 55
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg.73
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss(1987) myth and meaning: cracking the code of culture pg.24
[14] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 32
[15] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 35
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies pg. 58
[17] Tuchman Gaye, (1978), ‘The symbolic annihilation of women in the mass media pg.10
[18] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film pg. 40
[19] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[20] Susan Faludi(1991): Backlash pg.60
[21] Stanley Cohen(1973): Folk Devils and Moral Panics pg. 5
[22] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[23] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Essay Question Plan III
Genres Must Adapt In Order To Survive, Discuss.
Introduction
introduce the main text i will be looking at which is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, give introduction into the story line and plot and ten talk about the time it was made in. talk about why genres need to change to survive where i will link theory of the zeitagist, also a brief look into the genre life cycle.
Para 1
in this paragraph i will talk more about the genre life cycle at what it means to the films, making refrence to my main text i will talk abot how the the texas chainsaw massacre first started with the early horror style. Also i will include audience expectations of genre and what they include and what they expect from the genre.
Para 2
look at another reason of why the genre might adapt or change, introduce the idea of new technology and how this has played a important part in the change of the genre
Para 3
another change which could have forced the genre to change is changes in society, different views on certain things, for example how the audience has become desensortised and now expect films to be more gorry and horific.
Para 4
this will be the other side of the argument and show how some genre conventions have stayed the same as it has proven to be succesful before, will talk more about horror genres and how they still use similiar techniques that are shown in earlier horror films.
Conclusion
give final answer that genres have to adapt over to time to attract audiences becuase the new audience expects different things, and if they were to stick to the same as before then it would not be effective becuase the level of entertainment has changed and what pople used to find entertaining they may not now.
Introduction
introduce the main text i will be looking at which is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, give introduction into the story line and plot and ten talk about the time it was made in. talk about why genres need to change to survive where i will link theory of the zeitagist, also a brief look into the genre life cycle.
Para 1
in this paragraph i will talk more about the genre life cycle at what it means to the films, making refrence to my main text i will talk abot how the the texas chainsaw massacre first started with the early horror style. Also i will include audience expectations of genre and what they include and what they expect from the genre.
Para 2
look at another reason of why the genre might adapt or change, introduce the idea of new technology and how this has played a important part in the change of the genre
Para 3
another change which could have forced the genre to change is changes in society, different views on certain things, for example how the audience has become desensortised and now expect films to be more gorry and horific.
Para 4
this will be the other side of the argument and show how some genre conventions have stayed the same as it has proven to be succesful before, will talk more about horror genres and how they still use similiar techniques that are shown in earlier horror films.
Conclusion
give final answer that genres have to adapt over to time to attract audiences becuase the new audience expects different things, and if they were to stick to the same as before then it would not be effective becuase the level of entertainment has changed and what pople used to find entertaining they may not now.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Essay Question Plan II
Can we determine genre from Mise - en - Scene ?
Introduction
to introduce the topic i will explain what mise en scene is, i will explain how it is possible that genre is able to show the genre of films.
Para 1
in this task i will explain how mise en scene can effect genres, for example certain settings fit with certain genres, for example texas and deserts are common to the genre of westerns and dark subarabs are usually settings of horror films.
Para 2
In this paragraph i will show the other side to what was being said in the first praragraph and explain how some genres use settings from other films but have different meanings, for example a dark suburb area could be a horror genre or a thriller or maybe even a action movie.
Para 3
talk about spoof's and how they play on genres settings so it is impossible to say settings make genre becuase spoofs will use genres from all kinds of films so the audience cannot make up the genre of the film just based on.
Conclusion
conclude on the different ideas presented in the essay, talk about my own opinion of weather i think thay the mise en scene can determine the genre of a film or not.
Introduction
to introduce the topic i will explain what mise en scene is, i will explain how it is possible that genre is able to show the genre of films.
Para 1
in this task i will explain how mise en scene can effect genres, for example certain settings fit with certain genres, for example texas and deserts are common to the genre of westerns and dark subarabs are usually settings of horror films.
Para 2
In this paragraph i will show the other side to what was being said in the first praragraph and explain how some genres use settings from other films but have different meanings, for example a dark suburb area could be a horror genre or a thriller or maybe even a action movie.
Para 3
talk about spoof's and how they play on genres settings so it is impossible to say settings make genre becuase spoofs will use genres from all kinds of films so the audience cannot make up the genre of the film just based on.
Conclusion
conclude on the different ideas presented in the essay, talk about my own opinion of weather i think thay the mise en scene can determine the genre of a film or not.
Essay Question Plan
Compare two examples, from different decades, of any media genre of your choice. Describe and account for the major differences and similarities between them?
Introduction
To start of the essay i will introduce my two chosen texts which are the oringial texas chainsaw massacre 1974 and then the more contemporary version of the film which was released in 2003. i will talk about the general plot of the film and give instituion details such as directors, and summerise the differences of both films.
Para 1
in this paragraph i will talk about the difference in representation, this will feature a detailed explanation about how the representation of teenagers have changed, i will look at how the use of marijuana and drug culture has effected the representation.
para 2
Talk about and state that the same generic codes such as both films have a final girl, Leatheface the killer, same murder weapon, group of friends, "the slaughter house" Leatherfaces home
para 3
Discuss and show how the technology has adapted a lot since that decade, such as how the mask of Leatherface has changed more and also the props used such as the chainsaw the meat hooks and more help to touch on this wider context issue, thus showing and emphasising the zeitgeist in the texts and difference between both eras thy were both filmed in.
para 4
Whether changes in the genre and films reflect the zeitgeist , and see what social factors could be responsible for the differences in the films.
conclusion
talk about how the spirit of the age is responsible for the difference in the texts, also what other things may impact the change like social issues or econimical issues, also the use of special effects may have contributed to the difference.
Introduction
To start of the essay i will introduce my two chosen texts which are the oringial texas chainsaw massacre 1974 and then the more contemporary version of the film which was released in 2003. i will talk about the general plot of the film and give instituion details such as directors, and summerise the differences of both films.
Para 1
in this paragraph i will talk about the difference in representation, this will feature a detailed explanation about how the representation of teenagers have changed, i will look at how the use of marijuana and drug culture has effected the representation.
para 2
Talk about and state that the same generic codes such as both films have a final girl, Leatheface the killer, same murder weapon, group of friends, "the slaughter house" Leatherfaces home
para 3
Discuss and show how the technology has adapted a lot since that decade, such as how the mask of Leatherface has changed more and also the props used such as the chainsaw the meat hooks and more help to touch on this wider context issue, thus showing and emphasising the zeitgeist in the texts and difference between both eras thy were both filmed in.
para 4
Whether changes in the genre and films reflect the zeitgeist , and see what social factors could be responsible for the differences in the films.
conclusion
talk about how the spirit of the age is responsible for the difference in the texts, also what other things may impact the change like social issues or econimical issues, also the use of special effects may have contributed to the difference.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Comparison Points
Iconography
1974- the main iconography from this version of the film is that of the famous mask which is used by the character leatherface.
2003- the same mask is used however with the use of make up more detail was put into the mask and also the same chain saw is used, but it is used more often in the newer film compared to the older film
Setting
1974 - the setting of the film is in America, Texas the film is based in the desert with other scenes featuring the house of leatherface and different shots of the outdoors in that area.
2003 - the film features in the same area of texas, the film shows all other bits of the old film but inside the house it is quite different, in the older film they didnt go into leatherfaces headquaters as much but in the new film characters are acctually shown moving about.
Narrative
1974 - narrative of this movie follows the narrative of a classic slasher movie/ kids get stuck in the middle of nowhere looking for shelter and get killed one by one
2003 -The narrative in this movie is the same/ kids in a van get trapped in the middle of nowhere where they look for shelter and go into the wrong place and get killed
Characters
1974 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
2003 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
Girl who kills herself and her brother
People who lived in the caravan
Themes
villain vs. hero ( both)
final girl/ good vs. Evil (both)
1974- the main iconography from this version of the film is that of the famous mask which is used by the character leatherface.
2003- the same mask is used however with the use of make up more detail was put into the mask and also the same chain saw is used, but it is used more often in the newer film compared to the older film
Setting
1974 - the setting of the film is in America, Texas the film is based in the desert with other scenes featuring the house of leatherface and different shots of the outdoors in that area.
2003 - the film features in the same area of texas, the film shows all other bits of the old film but inside the house it is quite different, in the older film they didnt go into leatherfaces headquaters as much but in the new film characters are acctually shown moving about.
Narrative
1974 - narrative of this movie follows the narrative of a classic slasher movie/ kids get stuck in the middle of nowhere looking for shelter and get killed one by one
2003 -The narrative in this movie is the same/ kids in a van get trapped in the middle of nowhere where they look for shelter and go into the wrong place and get killed
Characters
1974 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
2003 - final girl
main male character
other members of their group
leatherface
leatherface family
Girl who kills herself and her brother
People who lived in the caravan
Themes
villain vs. hero ( both)
final girl/ good vs. Evil (both)
Comparing Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Texas chainsaw massacre is a popular slasher film which was released in 1974, the film is a icon for the genre, the birth of the genre started with Hithcocks Psycho but was really devloped during this film, the film was based on true events which happened in america, since the oringial many sequals have been made to recapture the spirit of the film, the film which is being compared in this essay is the 2003 version of the film. The original and the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre have many similarities and differences which are shown through the iconography and the setting of the both films The similarities we see in both films is the same psycho killer which is “Leatherface” and the final girl, however other differences are shown like the the difference in some characters, and the difference in representation of the main female.
As said before the main similiarty between the texts is the setting, the setting for both films is in the same location, in a desert in texas. the film also starts in the same way with a group of teenagers who are traveling to certain places, in the older film they are traveling to see a grave but in the new version they have gone to collect marijuana, this shows the change in represention assisiated with teenagers, in the older film the link between teenagers and drugs may not have been as common as it is now, another point for this change could be to do with the fact that the drug culture has grown and horror movies have always beena genre that wants to show societys views, for example they may show them doing drugs so people are aware that bad things happen to people who do drugs, in this instance the characters end up dead, and the only character which does not die is the one which did not take the drugs.
Another rule that is shown in the film is to do with sex, the rule of most horror films is that if
the two teenagers to get intimate and have sex or mess around with each other are either to die first or will eventually get killed in the films, this rule is also shown in the texas chainsaw becuase the teenagers that do have sex are the ones that end up dead first, this is not just in the new version of the film, both of the films feature the same rule which shows it was a problem before iswell.
Although, there is one other similarity between both texts, which is the ending where we see Leather face appear and wields his chainsaw in the air, which conveys him wielding his phallic symbol in the air. We also see a member of the family helping out the final girl to escape the horrors she may experience. Although as well as similarities in both texts, there are some differences in the generics of both texts
Another difference was that at the end of the newer texas chainsaw the final girl kills a member of leatherfaces family and also the female character manages to injure leatherface, this shows the stronger roles in females as in the new film the female character is able to cuase damage to leather face in the old version the character was passive and was not able to hurt leatherface. this shows the uprising of womens positions in society becuase in the first film women were seen as weak and this was represented in the film in the newer film the character is shown to be stronger which reflects womens rise in power in society.
The ending of the films is also different in some aspects, at the end of the first film the character relies on someone else to give her a lift back to safety, in the new film the final girl makes her own way back home by steeling the police car and then driving away, even though it may seem like only a minar thing the way the film ends is important in terms of females rights. Because the female character made her own way home it shows the movements of females and that they have the ability to be independent by helping herself it reflects the way women are in today’s society, that they are able to help themselves and do not need anyone to help, in the first film the person who helped was also a male character which enforces the idea that women depended on men but with the new film showing the character on her it definitely states the new independence within females.
As said before the main similiarty between the texts is the setting, the setting for both films is in the same location, in a desert in texas. the film also starts in the same way with a group of teenagers who are traveling to certain places, in the older film they are traveling to see a grave but in the new version they have gone to collect marijuana, this shows the change in represention assisiated with teenagers, in the older film the link between teenagers and drugs may not have been as common as it is now, another point for this change could be to do with the fact that the drug culture has grown and horror movies have always beena genre that wants to show societys views, for example they may show them doing drugs so people are aware that bad things happen to people who do drugs, in this instance the characters end up dead, and the only character which does not die is the one which did not take the drugs.
Another rule that is shown in the film is to do with sex, the rule of most horror films is that if
the two teenagers to get intimate and have sex or mess around with each other are either to die first or will eventually get killed in the films, this rule is also shown in the texas chainsaw becuase the teenagers that do have sex are the ones that end up dead first, this is not just in the new version of the film, both of the films feature the same rule which shows it was a problem before iswell.
Although, there is one other similarity between both texts, which is the ending where we see Leather face appear and wields his chainsaw in the air, which conveys him wielding his phallic symbol in the air. We also see a member of the family helping out the final girl to escape the horrors she may experience. Although as well as similarities in both texts, there are some differences in the generics of both texts
Another difference was that at the end of the newer texas chainsaw the final girl kills a member of leatherfaces family and also the female character manages to injure leatherface, this shows the stronger roles in females as in the new film the female character is able to cuase damage to leather face in the old version the character was passive and was not able to hurt leatherface. this shows the uprising of womens positions in society becuase in the first film women were seen as weak and this was represented in the film in the newer film the character is shown to be stronger which reflects womens rise in power in society.
The ending of the films is also different in some aspects, at the end of the first film the character relies on someone else to give her a lift back to safety, in the new film the final girl makes her own way back home by steeling the police car and then driving away, even though it may seem like only a minar thing the way the film ends is important in terms of females rights. Because the female character made her own way home it shows the movements of females and that they have the ability to be independent by helping herself it reflects the way women are in today’s society, that they are able to help themselves and do not need anyone to help, in the first film the person who helped was also a male character which enforces the idea that women depended on men but with the new film showing the character on her it definitely states the new independence within females.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Objectives
Feedback
WWW:
- Good genre theory
- Good research
- Presented Clearly
- Good Audience Theory
EBI:
- Make more reference to The Hills Have Eyes
- Cut down long sentances
- Don't keep saying "also"
- Talk more about Ideology and Narrative
Next Step:
-Introduce your film in more detail & keep linking theory back to your text
- Add page numbers on the footnotes
- Do more research - internet research especially
WWW:
- Good genre theory
- Good research
- Presented Clearly
- Good Audience Theory
EBI:
- Make more reference to The Hills Have Eyes
- Cut down long sentances
- Don't keep saying "also"
- Talk more about Ideology and Narrative
Next Step:
-Introduce your film in more detail & keep linking theory back to your text
- Add page numbers on the footnotes
- Do more research - internet research especially
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Scary Movie
Films that feature in "Scary Movie" :
- Scream
- I know what you did last summer
- The Matrix
- The blair witch project
- The usual Suspects
Scary movie 1
8 September 2000 (UK)
A group of teenagers including Cindy Campbell and Bobby Prinze, accidentally hit a man when driving, and dispose of the body, but now they are being stalked by a very recognisable masked killer. The victim count increases, whilst Cindy must survive the carnage that has she has seen in so many films before. Six friends - Cindy Campbell, Bobby Prinze, Buffy Gilmore, Greg Phillipe, Ray Wilkins, and Brenda Meeks - are being stalked by a serial killer. A serial killer that is after them because of an accident that they caused last Halloween. A serial killer that seems to have come out of every other scary movie. The body count has already started with Drew Decker, the local town slut, and it's starting to build up. The friends are going to have to escape from both the killer's clutches and annoying news reporter Gail Hailstorm if they plan on living.
Scary movie 2
7 September 2001 (UK)
A group of teens including Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks are invited to spend a night in Hell House. Professor Oldman has convinced them it for a school project, but the night won't go past quietly. Master Kane is long dead, but still plans on enjoying himself, especially with Alex Monday. When things really start getting bad, the gang must work together to find a way to capture this ghostly menace.Megan Voorhees is possessed and two priests, Father McFeely and Father Harris, must drive the demon out, but the exorcism doesn't go as planned. A year later, survivors Cindy Campbell, Ray Wilkins, and Shorty and Brenda Meeks, are at college, trying to forget the incidents that occurred last Halloween. Cindy is falling for Buddy, who loves to give wedgies, and Ray is still confused about his sexuality. Professor Oldman and his paralyzed assistant, Dwight, have decided to do a research study at Hell House, the house where the bad exorcism took place, and disguise it as a sleep disorder study. Chaos starts as soon as Cindy arrives and meets the creepy caretaker with the funny hand. But the house has some deep dark secrets that the group has to solve, even if they are scary or disgusting.
Scary movie 3
23 January 2004 (UK)
A mysterious killer video tape is circulating around. One look at this tape and you have seven days left to live. News Reporter Cindy Campbell (Faris) witnesses this video tape and tries to work out a way to prevent her death. But this is not the only mystery to appear. Crop circles have been appearing in the local farm of Tom (Sheen) and George (Rex). With help from Aunt Shaneequa (Latifah), Cindy suspects that the aliens may be linked with the killer tape and must now work out both mysteries before it's the end of the world.
Scary movie 4
13 April 2006 (UK)
Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back as the lovable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her self-serving, sex-crazed pal Brenda respectively. They are joined this time around by Craig Bierko as the cute, but utterly clueless, Tom Ryan. Together, they battle to save the world from a ruthless alien invasion. Cindy Campbell moves in next to Tom Ryan because she's taking care of an old lady. She finds out the house is haunted by a little boy and goes on a quest in the village to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and Cindy has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.
The film was released on July 7, 2000 and grossed $42,346,669 (USD) in the opening weekend in the box-office. It went on to gross a total of $157,019,771 at the domestic box-office and a world-wide total of $278,019,771. Critics gave the film mixed reviews. The film currently has a "Rotten" rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Scary movie being post modernised
Pastiche -A media text made up from other media text pieces or of imitations of other styles
Irony- Irony is when humour is based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Intertextuality- The practice of purposely including a reference of one text in the narrative of another, it can generate levels of meaning for the viewer.
Parody- A parody is in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.
Spoof - a composition that imitates or misrepresents some body's style, usually in a humorous way.
Each of the of the words listed above are all linked with the film scary movie, scary movie is pastiche becuase the film is based on other films that have been before, the film also features alot of scenes which show irony as some humerous scenes show things which are not ment to be humerous. intertextuality means having other texts inside a certain text, this links with scary movie becuase it has links to many other texts. it is a parody becuase it mocks the orignal films that it was based on, for example how it makes the killer of the film a alcaholic, the killer was from the original scream movie. the genre of the film is spoof, a spoof is a genre of film which makes fun out of other films which is what is done all through the scary movie series.
- Scream
- I know what you did last summer
- The Matrix
- The blair witch project
- The usual Suspects
Scary movie 1
8 September 2000 (UK)
A group of teenagers including Cindy Campbell and Bobby Prinze, accidentally hit a man when driving, and dispose of the body, but now they are being stalked by a very recognisable masked killer. The victim count increases, whilst Cindy must survive the carnage that has she has seen in so many films before. Six friends - Cindy Campbell, Bobby Prinze, Buffy Gilmore, Greg Phillipe, Ray Wilkins, and Brenda Meeks - are being stalked by a serial killer. A serial killer that is after them because of an accident that they caused last Halloween. A serial killer that seems to have come out of every other scary movie. The body count has already started with Drew Decker, the local town slut, and it's starting to build up. The friends are going to have to escape from both the killer's clutches and annoying news reporter Gail Hailstorm if they plan on living.
Scary movie 2
7 September 2001 (UK)
A group of teens including Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks are invited to spend a night in Hell House. Professor Oldman has convinced them it for a school project, but the night won't go past quietly. Master Kane is long dead, but still plans on enjoying himself, especially with Alex Monday. When things really start getting bad, the gang must work together to find a way to capture this ghostly menace.Megan Voorhees is possessed and two priests, Father McFeely and Father Harris, must drive the demon out, but the exorcism doesn't go as planned. A year later, survivors Cindy Campbell, Ray Wilkins, and Shorty and Brenda Meeks, are at college, trying to forget the incidents that occurred last Halloween. Cindy is falling for Buddy, who loves to give wedgies, and Ray is still confused about his sexuality. Professor Oldman and his paralyzed assistant, Dwight, have decided to do a research study at Hell House, the house where the bad exorcism took place, and disguise it as a sleep disorder study. Chaos starts as soon as Cindy arrives and meets the creepy caretaker with the funny hand. But the house has some deep dark secrets that the group has to solve, even if they are scary or disgusting.
Scary movie 3
23 January 2004 (UK)
A mysterious killer video tape is circulating around. One look at this tape and you have seven days left to live. News Reporter Cindy Campbell (Faris) witnesses this video tape and tries to work out a way to prevent her death. But this is not the only mystery to appear. Crop circles have been appearing in the local farm of Tom (Sheen) and George (Rex). With help from Aunt Shaneequa (Latifah), Cindy suspects that the aliens may be linked with the killer tape and must now work out both mysteries before it's the end of the world.
Scary movie 4
13 April 2006 (UK)
Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back as the lovable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her self-serving, sex-crazed pal Brenda respectively. They are joined this time around by Craig Bierko as the cute, but utterly clueless, Tom Ryan. Together, they battle to save the world from a ruthless alien invasion. Cindy Campbell moves in next to Tom Ryan because she's taking care of an old lady. She finds out the house is haunted by a little boy and goes on a quest in the village to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and Cindy has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.
The film was released on July 7, 2000 and grossed $42,346,669 (USD) in the opening weekend in the box-office. It went on to gross a total of $157,019,771 at the domestic box-office and a world-wide total of $278,019,771. Critics gave the film mixed reviews. The film currently has a "Rotten" rating of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Scary movie being post modernised
Pastiche -A media text made up from other media text pieces or of imitations of other styles
Irony- Irony is when humour is based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
Intertextuality- The practice of purposely including a reference of one text in the narrative of another, it can generate levels of meaning for the viewer.
Parody- A parody is in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation.
Spoof - a composition that imitates or misrepresents some body's style, usually in a humorous way.
Each of the of the words listed above are all linked with the film scary movie, scary movie is pastiche becuase the film is based on other films that have been before, the film also features alot of scenes which show irony as some humerous scenes show things which are not ment to be humerous. intertextuality means having other texts inside a certain text, this links with scary movie becuase it has links to many other texts. it is a parody becuase it mocks the orignal films that it was based on, for example how it makes the killer of the film a alcaholic, the killer was from the original scream movie. the genre of the film is spoof, a spoof is a genre of film which makes fun out of other films which is what is done all through the scary movie series.
Scream
Scream is one of the most famous of the slasher films, the film is based on around a serial killer and a group of teenagers.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008
out of the scream series there was three films made, also a a parody film called scary movie was also inspired by the original.
Scream became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 84% "fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3. A fourth film was announced by The Weinstein Company in July 2008
out of the scream series there was three films made, also a a parody film called scary movie was also inspired by the original.
Nightmare On Elm Street
The Nightmare on Elm Street films have been said to be perhaps the most successful within the genre of slasher and yet they introduced a new sub genre, being the supernatural sub genre.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Wes Craven set out to make a deliberately more cerebral film than the previous entries to the franchise - which he regarded as cartoonish and not faithful to his original themes. This was the main reason for changing some of the themes involved in the film and modifying the mask slightly to make it look more scary. More of the props of the original movie have been changed or modified to fit in with the more sinister theme of the movie, for instance the glove which was made to be more sinister.Wes Cravens New Nightmare was preceeded by Freddy's dead and it was followed by Freddy Vs Jason which was the merge of the two most popular characters within the slasher genre and both have made a name of themselves through killing people and contrasting in their killings.This film was a forerunner to Wes Cravens Scream which was made just two years later.
Friday The 13th
the original 'Friday the 13th' film was released 29 years ago, in 1980. A number of sequels were made afterwards, most recently the remake of the original was made this year in 2009 in order to keep the younger generation up to date with famous slasher films.
since the original there has been 13 parts of the film which have all been rated lower then the original, this could be due the fact that the directors have over used certain elements, and make the films to repetitive, one of the films is about jason in a big city, this film was rated the lowest out of the series.
since then, a film called feddy vs jason was made but this film also was rated low, another film was released called Jason X, in this film jason was taken into space. the latest film was relased in 2008 the film was also rinsed out with the elemtents and the film is getting boring becuase the audience have realeased that jason never dies.
since the original there has been 13 parts of the film which have all been rated lower then the original, this could be due the fact that the directors have over used certain elements, and make the films to repetitive, one of the films is about jason in a big city, this film was rated the lowest out of the series.
since then, a film called feddy vs jason was made but this film also was rated low, another film was released called Jason X, in this film jason was taken into space. the latest film was relased in 2008 the film was also rinsed out with the elemtents and the film is getting boring becuase the audience have realeased that jason never dies.
Halloween:UK
the halloween films have been very succesful due to the elements which have been shown again, although some of these elemts are very succesful some have been out done and therefore make the film to repetitive.
things to keep
the halloween mask - the reason for keeping this mask the same is becuase it is effective and also the film is recognised by the mask.
another key point to the film is the location, i would keep the location the same as the subs is a good place to host a horror film becuase people asume this area is the most safest and when something bad happens it is amplified becuase it is more scarier then before.
things to change
the plot about him killing girls who lived in his area has been out done, there should be a new plot behind why he has come back to kill people.
things to keep
the halloween mask - the reason for keeping this mask the same is becuase it is effective and also the film is recognised by the mask.
another key point to the film is the location, i would keep the location the same as the subs is a good place to host a horror film becuase people asume this area is the most safest and when something bad happens it is amplified becuase it is more scarier then before.
things to change
the plot about him killing girls who lived in his area has been out done, there should be a new plot behind why he has come back to kill people.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Second Draft
“Where not alone, there is something living in the hills”[1]
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed[4]” this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The Hills Have Eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many elements from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type” the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies” this was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they were in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability” [5] this suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7] he added “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used. Often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. Evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been one of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genres popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally wouldn’t, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on the on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audiences with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the publics fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). Scream is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horrors key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been effected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the horror genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character[17]” this quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[18]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there was some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that was noticed was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film, this was interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong wouldn’t have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men then both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the new man and women working.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons this is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and witting explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a moral panic to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage peoples lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[19]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her 2 other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[20]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being apart of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which included the key elements of the genre in the film, however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been effected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,000
Bibliography
Works Cited
Books
Clover, C. (1993). Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. London : Bfi Publishing.
Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood Cinema. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Mulvey, L. (1993). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. London: British Film Institute.
Murphy, B. (2005). Monster Movies. London: Spruce.
Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute.
Neale, S. (1998). Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. New York: Routledge.
Phillips, P. (2001). Understanding Film Texts: Meaning and Experience (Distributed for the British Film Institute). London: British Film Institute.
Smith, S. (1998). Women And Film. London: British Film Institute.
Wood, R. (2007). Introduction. London: British Film Institute.
Websites
http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp - this website provides information about the final girl and its role in horror films. From this website I found a definition of the final girl and some characteristics of the character.
Moving Image Texts
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Frankenstein (1910)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2006)
Scream (1996)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween H20 (1998)
Work Consulted
Books
Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(2006_film) – this site gives a overview of the film, it includes information such as directors and story writers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/ - site which has information about the hills have eyes from the internet movie database, the site provides useful information to do with the industry side of the film.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808716060/info - another site that offered information about the film.
http://sci-fi-online.50megs.com/2006_Interviews/06-06-26_AlexandreAja.htm - this site had a interview with the director of the film, it talked about reasons for certain things in the film and about the relationship between this film and its original.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film) – information about the original hills have eyes.
http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20051109_exclusive_interview_wes_craven.html - website featuring an interview with the director of the original hills have eyes.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824233928/www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Final_Girl.shtml - this site featured more information about the final girl and some examples of the final girl in numerous other horror films.
http://www.pretty-scary.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=368 - a online article about horror films, the article featured information about the change in horror films and the rise of hybrid genres.
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html - site featuring information about the horror genre, provides a list of the different types of horror.
Moving Image Texts
Silent Hill (2006)
The Reaping (2007)
Freddie Vs Jason (2003)
Friday 13th (1980)
Scary Movie (2000)
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) Wes Craven, United States
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg.72
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg.55
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts pg.21
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg. 55
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg.73
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss
[14] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 32
[15] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 35
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies pg. 58
[17] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film pg. 40
[18] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[19] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[20] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed[4]” this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The Hills Have Eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many elements from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type” the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies” this was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they were in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability” [5] this suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7] he added “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used. Often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. Evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been one of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genres popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally wouldn’t, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on the on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audiences with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the publics fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). Scream is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horrors key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been effected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the horror genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character[17]” this quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[18]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there was some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that was noticed was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film, this was interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong wouldn’t have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men then both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the new man and women working.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons this is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and witting explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a moral panic to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage peoples lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[19]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her 2 other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[20]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being apart of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which included the key elements of the genre in the film, however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been effected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,000
Bibliography
Works Cited
Books
Clover, C. (1993). Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. London : Bfi Publishing.
Maltby, R. (2003). Hollywood Cinema. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Mulvey, L. (1993). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. London: British Film Institute.
Murphy, B. (2005). Monster Movies. London: Spruce.
Neale, S. (2002). Genre and Contemporary Hollywood. London: British Film Institute.
Neale, S. (1998). Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. New York: Routledge.
Phillips, P. (2001). Understanding Film Texts: Meaning and Experience (Distributed for the British Film Institute). London: British Film Institute.
Smith, S. (1998). Women And Film. London: British Film Institute.
Wood, R. (2007). Introduction. London: British Film Institute.
Websites
http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp - this website provides information about the final girl and its role in horror films. From this website I found a definition of the final girl and some characteristics of the character.
Moving Image Texts
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Frankenstein (1910)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2006)
Scream (1996)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween H20 (1998)
Work Consulted
Books
Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(2006_film) – this site gives a overview of the film, it includes information such as directors and story writers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454841/ - site which has information about the hills have eyes from the internet movie database, the site provides useful information to do with the industry side of the film.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808716060/info - another site that offered information about the film.
http://sci-fi-online.50megs.com/2006_Interviews/06-06-26_AlexandreAja.htm - this site had a interview with the director of the film, it talked about reasons for certain things in the film and about the relationship between this film and its original.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film) – information about the original hills have eyes.
http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20051109_exclusive_interview_wes_craven.html - website featuring an interview with the director of the original hills have eyes.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070824233928/www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Final_Girl.shtml - this site featured more information about the final girl and some examples of the final girl in numerous other horror films.
http://www.pretty-scary.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=368 - a online article about horror films, the article featured information about the change in horror films and the rise of hybrid genres.
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html - site featuring information about the horror genre, provides a list of the different types of horror.
Moving Image Texts
Silent Hill (2006)
The Reaping (2007)
Freddie Vs Jason (2003)
Friday 13th (1980)
Scary Movie (2000)
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) Wes Craven, United States
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg.72
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg.64
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg.55
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts pg.21
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema pg. 55
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Genre and contemporary Hollywood pg.73
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film pg. 64
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss
[14] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 32
[15] Wood (1979): Genre and Cinema pg. 35
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies pg. 58
[17] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film pg. 40
[18] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[19] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[20] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood pg. 72
Friday, March 13, 2009
Cover Work
Unit one:
- Genre is a French word meaning "Type" or "Category
- Genres are not fixed, they are used to help us understand films
- Genre is associated with commercial filmmaking, which means that most of the films discussed in terms of genre are part of mainstream commerical cinema.
- Films outside the main stream are called "art films" which are intended for select or specialist audiences
Unit Two:
- Iconography can be both visual image and sound image
- Most genres offer a narrative of Reassurance
- Some characters are so"tightly" associated with the genre that they then become "Generic types"
- The repetoire of elements feature iconogrpahy, style, setting, narrative, charcters, themes
Unit Three:
- "Hollywood is a generic cinema, which is not quite the same as saying it is a cinema of genres" Richard Maltby, 1995
- Genre began to decline because genre theorist argued that "genres began as fairly loose groupings that gradually evolved towards a "mature" or "classic" period."
- "B" films and genres, like genre fiction, were seen as "low status" by critics and commentators
Unit Four:
There are many pleasures that audiences get from film genres. These pleasures are the following:
Emotional Pleasures
Visceral Pleasures
Intellectual Puzzles
Counter-Culture Attraction
Unit Five:
- Ellis (1992) and Dyer (1987) have suggested ways in which audiences engage with stars and why they have become central to our understanding of hollywood cinema.
- The relationship between stars and genre or even generic elements are fluid
- Dyer identifified various major stars from the studio system as represeneting "social types" across a range of films:
- the " good joe"
- the "tough guy"
- the "pin up"
- the "rebel"
- the "independent women"
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog millionaire was released in 2009 and is about the tv show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” the film is based in India and is about how one character who came from poverty manages to win the show however is accused of cheating, throughout this film there numerous representations of Indians shown.
The first representation shown is of India itself, India is shown to be very westernised by the fact that they have modernised and have programmes such as who wants to be a millionaire which was a hit show in the united kingdom. The role of some characters can be said to westernised, in the film there is a sense of gang culture when the main characters brother joins the gang and calls himself “ Gun Master G” this is typical of teenagers in the western culture by making nicknames for themselves and following gang culture.
Another clear representation is to with the Indian people themselves, in the film the Indians are portrayed to be second class under the British, in the film there is a scene where a female character asks her friends about “East enders” a hit British show showing that their lives are orientated by the British as they wish to follow their television. This idea is also reconfirmed when it shows the main character Jamal working as a customer service salesman selling phones to people in England. In one scene it shows a conversation between Jamal and a women in England and the way she asks so where are you from then, and how he lies by saying just down the road from you shows how the character is lying because he also believes that Indians and English are not on the same level. Another scene which also infers this ideology is when an American mans car had been vandalised and an Indian man beat up Jamal as he was the American couples tour and then the American couple say this is how we do in America shows that they are placing the Indians under the Americans.
Some of the stereotypes that British have are shown in the film, one stereotype of the Indians is that they are spiritual, this spiritual side of India is shown when they talk about the different Gods and religions in India. Another stereotype is to do with sex, Indians have often been associated with sex due the book of karma sutra and other factors but this side is also shown as there are scenes in which show prostitution which is allow showing this modern westernised culture.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/24/oscars-india-slumdog-millionaire-ian-jack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/18/slumdog-millionaire-british-asian-reaction
The first representation shown is of India itself, India is shown to be very westernised by the fact that they have modernised and have programmes such as who wants to be a millionaire which was a hit show in the united kingdom. The role of some characters can be said to westernised, in the film there is a sense of gang culture when the main characters brother joins the gang and calls himself “ Gun Master G” this is typical of teenagers in the western culture by making nicknames for themselves and following gang culture.
Another clear representation is to with the Indian people themselves, in the film the Indians are portrayed to be second class under the British, in the film there is a scene where a female character asks her friends about “East enders” a hit British show showing that their lives are orientated by the British as they wish to follow their television. This idea is also reconfirmed when it shows the main character Jamal working as a customer service salesman selling phones to people in England. In one scene it shows a conversation between Jamal and a women in England and the way she asks so where are you from then, and how he lies by saying just down the road from you shows how the character is lying because he also believes that Indians and English are not on the same level. Another scene which also infers this ideology is when an American mans car had been vandalised and an Indian man beat up Jamal as he was the American couples tour and then the American couple say this is how we do in America shows that they are placing the Indians under the Americans.
Some of the stereotypes that British have are shown in the film, one stereotype of the Indians is that they are spiritual, this spiritual side of India is shown when they talk about the different Gods and religions in India. Another stereotype is to do with sex, Indians have often been associated with sex due the book of karma sutra and other factors but this side is also shown as there are scenes in which show prostitution which is allow showing this modern westernised culture.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/24/oscars-india-slumdog-millionaire-ian-jack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/18/slumdog-millionaire-british-asian-reaction
Monday, February 2, 2009
Independent Study 1st Draft
“Were not alone, there is something living in the hills”[1]
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed” [4] this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The hills have eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many element from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type”, the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies”, this was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they was in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability”[5] this suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7], he added “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This quote suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used, often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. Evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been on of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genres popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally wouldn’t, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on the on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audiences with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the publics fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). Scream is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horrors key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been effected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the horror genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character[17]” this quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[18]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there was some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that was noticed was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film, this was interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong wouldn’t have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men then both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the new man and women working.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons this is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and witting explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a moral panic to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage peoples lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[19]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her 2 other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[20]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being apart of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which included the key elements of the genre in the film, however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been effected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,044
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006)
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Introduction
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Introduction
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss
[14] Wood (1979): introduction
[15] Wood (1979): introduction
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies
[17] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film
[18] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[19] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[20] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
To what extent is “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) a typical horror film?
According to Steve Neale the word typical represents the “repertoire of elements”[2]. The repertoire of elements refers to themes and conventions which are repeated in a certain genre. The horror genre has many conventions that stand out that have been recognised as key aspects of the horror genre, things such as “The Final Girl”[3] and “Evil Entity”. Many contemporary horror films have been accused of borrowing elements from other genres of film; this is known as “hybridity. These films are called hybrid films as they are two or more genres mixed together. Richard Maltby states “Genre is not fixed” [4] this suggests that genre is not based on recurring elements but based on the zeitgeist, the spirit of the age. The hills have eyes shows some of the conventions of a typical horror film but it has also borrowed many element from other genres of film, so can it still be classed as a horror? Or a hybrid genre?
The word genre is a French word meaning “type”, the concept of genre has been used since the ancient Greek times when plays were grouped into different categories such as “tragedies” and “comedies”, this was done so audiences would be able to recognise which type of play they wanted to see depending on the mood they was in. Many theorists dispute their ideas about genre conventions and recurring elements in films; Phillips argues that “the audience demand for predictability”[5] this suggests that the recurring elements are needed and are essential in films, this would mean that for a film to be effective it would have to follow the conventions of its genre as it is what the audience want to see. On the other hand some theorists argue that “genre is not fixed”,[6] Neale suggests that “difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre”[7], he added “if each text within a genre were, literally, the same, there would simply not be enough difference to generate either meaning or pleasure[8]”. This quote suggests that difference is needed to attract audiences because if films were the same as previous films it would be too similar to generate the pleasures which the audience consume from films. The key to a effective film is to take both sides of the argument into consideration, audiences do need the elements of a genre to be in the film as it does make the genre of film clear to the audience, but there also has to be a sense of something new to keep the audience engaged and not feeling as if they have seen this before. To fuse the typical genre elements with some difference would create a effective film, this would mean that the film still shows the typical conventions of a film of that genre but with the difference, this would allow the film to still come under a certain genre as it follows the conventions of the genre but it will have some variance which make it less repetitive and more effective.
A genre of film is recognisable to its audience by the use of recurring elements also known as the “repertoire of elements[9]”, these elements are clear in every genre of film. These elements of film can be the scene or setting, it can also be identified by the props used, often the films would have a character whose role is similar to a character in another film of the genre, also the genre of film may contain a similar narrative or storyline. In horror films the key settings would be dark places with a gothic feel to it, the types of props used would be knives, masks also the horror film would contain large amounts of blood. In terms of similar characters a key character which has come up in horror films is known as “the final girl[10]”. The final girl is the name given to the last surviving female character in horror films, this character has been seen in films such as “Scream”(1996), “Halloween”(1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and many more. The final girl is typically a virgin[11] or sexually unavailable[12] the character itself normally shares some history with the killer of the film, for example in “Halloween H20” (1998) the final girl’s relationship to the killer is that she is the killer’s sister. The typical narrative that is key to horror films is the good vs. Evil storyline also known as binary opposition[13]. The storyline will be about a set of good characters fighting against the bad character, the evil character would normally be at a disadvantage because of the number of good characters, but this disadvantage is used to amplify the power of the evil character.
The horror genre could be said to be arguably one of the most popular genres of film in Hollywood, Wood states “the horror film has consistently been on of the most popular and, at the same time the most disreputable of Hollywood genres[14]”, this quote shows that horror from its beginning has been notorious amongst the film genres. The reason for the genres popularity is due to many things, one of the main reasons is because a horror movie offers its audience something that films from other genres cannot, the horror genre allows the audience to enjoy the thoughts which the mind oppresses, it allows the audience to be something which they normally wouldn’t, Wood suggests “one might say that the true subject of the horror genre is the struggle for recognition of all that our civilisation represses and oppresses[15]” this quote suggests that the main subject for horror is about the struggle for recognition that the audience feel when watching a horror. The horror genre plays on the on its audiences life and is allowing them to relate to the characters in the film, the genre confronts its audiences with ideas which they are not used to and often object, the horror movie aims to target the publics fears and nightmares and show them that in the film.
One of the other aspects which is important to the horror genre is the way in which it uses realism and reality. Many theorists and authors have stated that the reason why the horror genre is so effective is because of how it uses realism in movies such as “Scream” (1996). Scream is based on a serial killer who is tormenting a group of teenagers, the settings in the film show this aspect of realism, the settings show classrooms, schools, college parties, all things which would be associated with the life of teenagers, this makes the film more realistic because the audience who would watch this film would be able to relate with the film therefore putting themselves in the places of the characters in the film which in turn leads to them being scared which fulfils the purpose of the horror genre. In the book “Monster Movies” (1995) Murphy states “horrors never never land is bearable because it is so entirely rational[16]” this supports the idea that horrors key point is to be realistic as the quote says that horror has to be rational. Realism plays an important part in the horror genre, and because of this “The Hills Have Eyes” (2006) can be accused of not being a true horror film, the film is based in a desert which is not realistic also the villains of the films are mutants that have been effected by nuclear bombs which have been tested in the area. The film does not show the realism which is seen in other films of the horror genre.
The genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” has been classed as horror, but after viewing the film the viewer will notice that the main villains are mutants, and the plot involves a disaster struck by nuclear bombs both of these aspects give the film a sci-fi feel to it. “The Hills Have Eyes” could be said to be a hybrid genre of horror and sci-fi, this combination of genre has been made before, films such as “Frankenstein” (1910) was also a hybrid genre of sci-fi and horror, the film meets the science aspect because it is about a scientist who creates a living person, the horror aspect is made because the scientist makes a monster who terrorises people. The fact that this film was a hybrid genre supports the idea that the genre is based on the zeitgeist; this is because at the time of “Frankenstein” the world was obsessed with science and technology and therefore this was shown even in the horror genre, this supports the idea that the main influence of genre is what is happening in the social world.
Another factor of the genre which is based on the spirit of the age is within the representation of women. Women in horror films have been portrayed in different ways through the ages, the common representation of women is that they are shown to be weak and inferior to the male characters, they are shown to be incapable of looking after themselves. Smith argued that “The role of women in a film almost always revolves around her physical attraction and the mating games she plays with the male character[17]” this quote suggests that the role of women in films is not of a real character, they are only there to engage with the male character and look good which links to the “Male Gaze[18]”. When looking at the representation of women a comparison has to be made about the representation through the ages, after looking at the original of “The Hills Have Eyes” (1977) there was some noticeable differences between the original text and the more contemporary text. One of the most interesting changes that was noticed was how women were shown as being stronger in the original film and weaker in the modern film, this was interesting because at the time of the original film women’s rights had not fully been acknowledged by society, women were still seen as being housewives and mothers and the idea of them being shown as strong wouldn’t have been accepted by the audience. In the 1977 version of the film the female characters put up a fight against the mutants but in the more contemporary film they are seen as being passive and just let the violence happen.
One of the possible reasons for this representation could be down to the rise of feminist movement, because of the controversy that was going on at the time the writers and directors may have thought it was a good idea to show women being shown as strong otherwise the film would have been accused of following the patriarchal society and not allowing women to be shown as strong. Another reason why the representation for the 70s version to show women as strong is because of who the film was aimed at, theorists argue that the main reason why genre itself changes is due to either the change in society or the change in the target audience, this is what may have caused the change in the representation of women. Horror movies were likely to be seen by university students of both genders equally this may be the reason why in the original film the women are seen to be stronger because the films were being watched by men and women and women would like to see the character that they associate with being able to defend themselves. This idea would explain why in the modern version of the film the female character is seen to be weaker; the film is aimed more at men then both genders and because of this reason they represent women in the way that the male audience would like to see them therefore the female characters are easily manipulated and less powerful then males. Another reason for the representation in the original film could be because of the actual scene itself, the female characters are trying to save the child which shows their nurturing mother side which would have been a common view of women at the time and the reason for not including it in the new version of the film is because maybe that view of women isn’t as common as it was before due the rise of the new man and women working.
Often horror films show current issues which are affecting society, in “The Hills Have Eyes” the story line features issues about war and nuclear weapons this is because of the war which is going on in society, the violence and brutality which is shown in the film can often be meant to show the brutality of war. This idea can be supported because of the introduction of the film, the film starts with a explosion going off and witting explaining the effects of nuclear weapons this was done because at the time that the film was being made there wars going on and the film is supposed to provide a moral panic to its audiences. Another text in which a similar technique was used was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) this film like “The Hills Have Eyes” was a remake to an original film, the film was originally made when America was at war and was remade because of the war, the film was remade when America was at war with Iraq. The chaos and the brutality shown in the film represents the consequences of war. This point supports the idea that films are based on the zeitgeist more then generic conventions as both “The Hills Have Eyes” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have adopted current issues in their films which shows the more important factor in a film is to reflect the state of society.
From the beginning of the film the directors make it clear that the film has a story line to do with government wars and nuclear weapons. The film expresses the problem by having the main story line to with the mutants who survived the atomic bombs but have been deformed due to the weapons this is similar to what happened in reality with the war in Vietnam as the people who lived around the area were born deformed because of the effects of the nuclear power. The film sets off to inform its audience about the effect of the war, by using the mutants as the villains it shows how wars can damage peoples lives and how the effects will be worse as the mutants in the film are set on killing the group of humans. The audience is shown the extent of the effects of war due to deformation of the villains, in the beginning of the film in the introduction pictures of the mutants are shown to emphasise the effects of war and the extreme conditions of the survivors, images show babies being born with oversized heads, also two babies joined by the head these images are shown to show the severe consequences of war.
There are many factors which make the genre of “The Hills Have Eyes” arguable; the first was mentioned previously, horror films have always been about realism “horror genre exists alongside the conventions of realism[19]”, since the early films such as “Halloween” (1978) and “Psycho” (1960) the horror genre has always based its scenes and story line around being realistic. “The Hills Have Eyes” can be said to be unrealistic, the setting of the desert makes it hard for audiences to relate to the characters as the majority of the audience would have never been to a desert. The fact that the main villains are mutants who survived atomic bombs is also unrealistic for this reason it makes it arguable if the film follows basic horror conventions. However one side of the argument could be that this realism of the genre has become to repetitive and giving the film something new allows its audience to have new uses and gratifications of the text. However there is evidence to support the idea that the film is a typical horror, the first piece of evidence is the use of the final girl. The final girl is present in the “The Hills Have Eyes” and she does follow the regular conventions of the final girl with being sexually unavailable, but she doesn’t fully follow the role. The final girl normally has a history with the killer as seen in movies such as “Scream” and “Halloween H20” but in “The Hills Have Eyes” final girl doesn’t have any history with the mutants she is a random victim which challenges the idea of the final girl. Also another aspect of the final girl role which is not met in this film is that normally the final girl is the last surviving character but in “The Hills Have Eyes” she is not the only character which survives, along with her 2 other character survive.
“The Hills Have Eyes” meets some of the “repertoire of elements[20]” which is mentioned and is key to the horror genre but like the final girl it follows the role differently, the film offers thrills and fright as every other horror film does, the villains also conform in a way that the typical killer would in the slasher genre, the film also features use of blood and violence which is also recognisable as being apart of the horror genre. Genre was seen to be made up of key elements which would allow its audiences to recognise the genre but as seen with films such as “Frankenstein” often genre can adapt to show social changes in a film. To sum up “The Hills Have Eyes” is a typical horror film which included the key elements of the genre in the film, however the film is not just made up of the typical elements the film has been effected by the zeitgeist. The film has found a way to include the conventions of horror but adds a difference which has been impacted by the spirit of the age, by breaking away from the typical elements the film has been able to avoid repetition and become more effective which has lead to audiences being more satisfied.
Word count: 3,044
[1] “ The Hills Have Eyes” (2006)
[2] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
[3] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[4] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema
[5] Patrick Phillips (1996) Understanding Film Texts
[6] Richard Maltby(2003), Hollywood Cinema
[7] Steve Neale (1980) Introduction
[8] Steve Neale (1980) Introduction
[9] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
[10] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[11] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[12] http://www.screams-of-terror.com/finalgirl.asp
[13] Claude Levi-Strauss
[14] Wood (1979): introduction
[15] Wood (1979): introduction
[16] Brian Murphy (1995) : Monster Movies
[17] Sharon Smith (1972): Women and Film
[18] Laura Mulvey (1975): Visual pleasure and narrative cinema
[19] Carol Clover(1992), Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
[20] Steve Neale (2002), Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
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