Why is it the only way to survive a horror movie is to throw away femininity?

I’ve been thinking a lot about “strong female characters” and moving forward from the problematic language. Obviously, this isn’t referring biology as much as gender representation, but then again we don’t exactly see very many trans characters that aren’t villains (Silence of the Lambs and Sleep Away Camp). We have Buffy, who is all the things. But then we have others Ripley, Katniss, Hermione, Storm, and Zoey (because this list is looking hella white, but I’m having trouble thinking outside of Whedon—say something I dare you—but then again, media is overwhelmingly white, the tools we have people, the tools we have). We’re questioning and changing things particularly in comics with Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertas. This is great by the way, and I recommend checking it out. But now we’re seeing the dawn of a new age: final girls.

I didn’t know what this was at first either, but apparently they are a new take on the survivor of horror movies. You know the Jamie Lee, but contemporary dealing with our stereotypes instead of those from the 80s. Same rules apply to slutty because slutty girls get killed. It is rule number one in the handbook you get with your period. However, instead of being seen as universally weak, the contemporary final girls have to be all the things…so it is like the feminist dilemma: you can have it all, but does that mean you should.

Brief definitions:

Strong female protagonist: key defining characteristic is strength usually physical—typically masculine trait; they conform to other gendered norms thus not being problematic and threatening to male characters.

Problem: women are defined by masculine traits and are often just female counterparts of male characters (I’m looking at you Supergirl), as a result they are reflects and nonthreatening to the patriarchy.

Final girl (traditional): she survives the freak show, often virginal, feminine until she takes up arms against her assailant, usually the “investigative conscious” of the media meaning she is figuring things out with/for the audience.

Problem: women aren’t fully developed, rigid gender norms, and in a way very representative of conservative ideals. For example, virginal and traditionally feminine until they are forced to act like men then right back to their traditionally feminine state (I’m thinking of Laurie being saved by Dr. Loomis at the end of Halloween).

See the commonalities here? Oh yeah, the homage to masculinity as strength. The new final girl is slightly different, and commonly being played by Abigail Breslin and Chloe Grace Moretz. Don’t get me wrong; they are both good actresses and adorable. However, the final girls they play have a few things in common too: violence as strength and damage because duh, all strong women are damaged in some way. See they are more masculine from the beginning than their predecessors. Looks like we’re not getting that far from the tropes after all. Breslin looks pretty great in the trailer for Final Girl additionally, it seems like the film could make some interesting statements on male privilege and entitlement if done right. The new final girl is powerful from the beginning and is pulling one over on our bad guys by appearing weak and feminine (yeah, blonde hair, blue eyes, red lipstick, red and white dresses feminine). I’m kind of over the feminine being weak just because. I like a good vintage style red dress as much as the next girl, but I think I’d like to see a movie where some gender stereotypes are broken and bent while not fulfilling tropes.

But I’m worried we’re going to see the tropes I hate that make “strong female characters” and “final girls”. These tropes include “destiny/responsibility,” damage, defense of loved ones and self, etc. These tropes that are used in the same way as motivation for male heroes such as rape of a woman, death of a woman, exploitation of a woman, kidnapping of a woman—see where I’m going with this? Of course, male heroes can also be acting for their ideals…I wonder why women never have ideas in media? I mean Wonder Woman does, but for every Wonder Woman we have Buffy, River, and Katniss who have their destinies determined by other people. Can we have a final girl who isn’t damaged or defending herself right out of the gate and isn’t taking up the cloak of masculinity, meaning can strength mean something other than physical strength? I know this would be hard in a horror movie. But you know maybe compassion and empathy can be strength?

I get that tropes are what make media. We have come to expect certain things from certain movies. Horror movies involve a psychotic killer targeting women because ‘Merica. I’m also not demanding all women characters cast off or embrace femininity just for the sake of it. I’m just frustrated that the only way to survive a horror movie is to being like a dude. This of course isn’t always the case; meta-horror movies sometimes can subvert the tropes while developing complex characters. For example, Teeth is amazing because it turns some of those tropes over like the male hero, well he isn’t that heroic after all.

I like strong female characters like Buffy, and I like that Ashley Judd got away from Wesley in Kiss the Girls (that’s funny for those of you who are familiar with the movie). But I also like seeing women characters that act and sound like women and don’t have to forego femininity to survive. It seems like a lot of these media presentations are telling women they can’t be themselves if they want to survive or win. I wonder what that says about our culture?

Rape culture is a pretty big problem

We knew this for a while, but Jesus. The allegation is a young woman (14 years old) was raped by a 17 year old senior and left on her porch in freezing temperatures to be found half conscious. The rape was filmed on an iPhone, because young people are incapable of learning. There was a 13 year old victim and a 15 year old perpetrator as well, but that case was sent to juvenile court. Then the town turned on the victim because the alleged perpetrators were football players much like we keep seeing time after time. It is also worth nothing, never read the comments on these stories. Never. Finally, the girl’s family was forced to move, and then their former home burned down. Of course, no one knows why. Also, the case was dropped. Notably The Kansas City Star has been detailing the victim blaming and harassment the victim and her family have endured while trying to stay impartial, which is way more than the police are doing. Read the article for detailed accounts of the alleged rapes if you can stomach it. So what the fuck is going on here?

I’m pretty sure everyone with Internet access has heard this story by now out of Maryville, Missouri. Daisy Coleman (her name was released by her family) has been speaking out against the way her case was being handled (or not handled) and asserts more women are coming forward. When asked, Daisy said she would testify if the case was reopened. However, this is contrary to what Sheriff Darren White claims, which is the case was dropped because the Colemans chose not to press charges. White is quoted by Jezebel’s Kate Dries as saying, “The only people’s stories that have been inconsistent throughout this whole thing are the Colemans, the victims in this thing.”

However, Melinda Coleman (the victim’s mother) says the problem is larger than what happened to her daughter:

“My concern was that some other girls came forward and told me that the same thing happened with this same group of boys. When I had talked to the Sherriff initially he told me that there had been girls who had come forward and that there had been maybe even 10 other girls that were also assaulted. So later on he said that they were all liars, I digitally recorded him saying that they were all liars and that they just wanted to crucify those poor innocent boys. So my concern is: what is [it] going to take for them to do something here? Is one of these girls gonna to have to die? Are they going to end up freezing in their front year before they do something?”

 Now, I’m not objective here. I almost always fall on the side of the victims, while trying not to make targets out of the alleged perpetrators. I even try to use the appropriate language. But maybe, maybe the Sherriff could do the bare minimum too, and not refer to the alleged rapists as “poor innocent boys?”

It is important to note that one of the boys, Matthew Barnett, has political ties through his grandfather, Rex Barnet, Missouri state Representative. Daisy says she wants nothing to do with Matthew Barnett, but Melinda wants the other girls to come forward without fear.

So remember when I said never read the comments…I did, and know what I found? Victim blaming. Because you know women who drink (especially underage women who drink) are agreeing to whatever anyone wants to do with them. I find the policing of women’s behavior in these situations fascinating and horrifying all at the same time. No one comments on the behavior of the men involved as if they have done nothing wrong, but shouldn’t they have their every move analyzed, too? Or has masculinity just become synonymous with immediate gratification and violence?

I don’t want to believe that, but once again women are held to an impossible standard and blamed for the actions of other people who would abuse them. The logical conclusion there would be that men are incapable of being held accountable for their actions because they lack some kind of reasoning and morality to do so. I can’t be the only person scandalized by this reasoning?  Many advocates of men being involved in rape prevention note the awful perceptions of men if they are considered to have no control over their sexual desires; it means they are all rapists, which obviously they are not because we know that most rapes are committed by a small proportion of the population. Rapists are however, repeat offenders and their behavior escalates often not starting at rape, but some lesser form of sexual abuse and harassment. So that friend you knew, but didn’t like in college because he was shitty with women probably harassed more women than you’re aware of.

I am a firm believer that to end rape, we have to take on rape culture, and to take one rape culture we have to deal with masculinity as defined by the patriarchy, and to do that we have to deal with the patriarchy and the sexism, racism, and classism, etc. wrapped up in it. And with that run-on sentence, I’m tired. We do have to address a culture that enables and encourages rapists and victim-blaming.

How were women represented by the media in 2012?

Yeah, this blows. The video is great though and done by MissRepresentation.org. 




But if you don't want to do this after watching then you're watching wrong.

Why Won't This Woman Leave?

You know that girl who is the last to leave the party? Sarah Palin is that girl. She is at it again reminding us all how the media was basis again little old her. Of course, she is waiting to see how he media is going to treat Caroline Kennedy in her quest for the New York Senate seat. Palin believes Kennedy will get a free pass because of "class" basis. It wouldn't be because the Kennedy family members are in front of the media from birth. The media can only deal with what they are given, and Kennedy was conditioned for it. After Kennedy announced she was interested in the seat the media was all over it. Talking about how she shouldn't get it, but face it Kennedy isn't going to give the media what Palin did.

Pop, Pop, Pop Culture, Pop, Pop, Pop Goes Culture?

I love trash TV; I do. I watch it while I read or chat with my roommates. I discuss it at what become weekly occurrences in the office such as “Project Runway Lunch.” No one, and I mean no one is as excited as me that Brenda is back in the zip code I grew up with. But maybe we should slow down and take a minute to look at how this reflects society.

The Hills and its fictional counterparts, Gossip Girl and 90210. Anyone else horrified how well the later reflect the first? I watched my first episode of Gossip Girl last night with the roomie who called it what it is, a distraction from law school and the harsh realities and double standard of the corporate world. At first I thought this is ridiculous; no one would allow their children to do the things these kids do. Wait, they don’t have parents. These characters can sleep with anyone or things that moves and it is ok. 90210 echoed this in its premiere last week. And frankly, I don’t really care both shows are young soap operas, and thus supposed to be over the top and (this is key, hope you’re paying attention) are fiction. I didn’t become a fan of either shows recognizing the glitter of 90210 will dissipate like the original, and the characters on Gossip Girl made me want to hurt myself or someone else. But where oh where could these writers be getting this stuff? Is there really such a thing as “bro-mance?” Then my roommates did something else; they flipped on over to E’s the Soup. And there, it was in its entire mind numbing glory were clips of the Hills. A point was raised, and I couldn’t believe it. People watch a show about rich people with far to much money looking at one another or when mirrors are around themselves. I know life imitates art, but the similarity between the characters on all three of these shows is scary. And what does this say about what the youth of the nation is gleaning from it?

As a side note, Gossip Girl is based on a best selling “Young Adult” book. My feelings on this are as follows: great kids are reading, not so great kids are reading trash. Rest assured romance genre industry, you will see the sun rise and set for another generation. These series, Gossip Girl, Twilight, Clique, all employ the pornesque techniques you do. Imagine a generation of girls reading what I consider pre-pre-erotica. These books are fluffy quickies, which conveniently is what they are about. This is the same generation who is too busy to read Catcher in the Rye or the Outsiders, but at least they will pick up the cliffnotes off the web.

Date My Ex. Yes, that is a show, and it is about a woman who wants to find love so she goes on a reality TV show with her ex. How could this possibly end badly? So once again you have people who are insanely in love with themselves putting people into strange situations, which would never normally occur. Anyone know why this is called reality? I watched the Season Finale last night, and by that I mean slept through half. [Note I said season because these relationship shows go on for like three seasons each.]

We are staring in the face of a backslide in culture, which began several years ago. Now it is in full swing. Television shows about the upper elite show nothing by teen sex and mass consumerism. You would think people with limitless funds would think to see or do something worthy of their upper echelon status. But no we the general public are bombarded with images of backstabbing and told it reflects the life of Americans.

Coming soon…film, books, music, and every other artistic outlet being battered and butchered by mass consumption.