Scary Movies: A Feminist Perspective

Growing up, my siblings and I were not allowed to watch scary movies. Our parents were very concerned about what we fed our minds and saw absolutely nothing edifying about watching blood, guts, and violence. When I was about 11 years old, I disobeyed and watched "Nightmare on Elm Street". I was scared out of my wits! I had nightmares, had to sleep with the lights on for a long time, and it changed the way I sang nursery rhyme songs on the playground while jumping rope ("One, Twp, Freddy's coming for you..."

About three years ago, I, against my better judgement and after over twenty years of abstaining from scary movies, I saw the movie "The Hills Have Eyes," which depicts violent rape and sexual assault against a woman rather vividly. It made me very uncomfortable. I felt devalued by the rape and violent acts towards women that I witnessed on the screen. It also bothered me that so many men (and women) can watch violence toward women onscreen and see it as nothing but entertainment. The movie was horrifying, but I was too angry at it, to be scared by it. My anger raised a number of questions that this assignment allows me to explore further. Is sexual violence toward women a valid subject matter for any movie, and is there a right and wrong way to portray it? Does violence toward women in the media contribute to the devaluing of women in our society? Is it right for the entertainment industry to capitalize on a violent crime (rape) that is both very real and very devastating to those who experience it? Is there anything that can be done about it, and if so, what?

I am a very visual learner; as such, images resonate within my mind long after whatever was viewed is over. I am not comfortable watching the gory, bloody, violent depictions expressed in slasher films or any other genre of films that does so "in the name of entertainment". As a feminist, I tend not to want to see movies that are characterized as your run of the mill horror flicks because they portray excessive gore and unnecessary violence of the human body and predominantly, the female body. Clover supports this feminist perspective of horror movies when she states that, "Horror and pornography are the only two genres [of film] specifically devoted to the arousal of bodily sensation. They exist solely to horrify and stimulate, not always respectively, and their ability to do so is the sole measure of their success" (169). I feel that violence towards women in that context is very unnecessary and it only promotes degradation. Some rape scenes are only there for titilation, appealing to the lowest, prurient interests of the moviegoing audience. Im offended when the woman being raped begins to respond, because "He's so good, she just cant help herself". This sends a dangerous message that lurking beneath a women's modest female exterior is a subconscious desire to be ravished. In my opinion, it is for the pleasure of the armchair rapist that detailed accounts of violent rapes exist in the media. This furthers the seemingly inseparable marriage of male sexuality and violence in our culture. Furthermore, the movie trailer clip of "The Hills Have Eyes" included in this blog provides a visual aide for precisely what Clover denotes in "The Body" portion of her essay: "...The killer is with few exceptions recognizably human and distinctly male: his fury is unmistakably sexual in both roots and expression; his victims are mostly women, often sexually free and always young and beautiful ones..." (176).

In comparison, movies like The Accused and Eye for An Eye, where the violation is a central part of the story, is a different matter. While still very disturbing, they promote the story in a way that is necessary for understanding the character. Often times, these are true stories that are made into films for societal awareness and educational purposes. In a perfect world, there would be no violence at all, but until then, we should see things that make us more sympathetic and understanding of woman who were victims of acts like that. I think movies can be scary without all the blood and gore and violence. Watching this violence, to a large extent, desensitizes the viewer and helps promote behavior that is not in accordance with the betterment of society. Whether we, as media consumers, choose to hold the media accountable for the inherent responsibility they have to us, that responsibility is present. By refusing to support movies that are not in agreement with my values, I can, on a personal level and small scale, relegate the media's potential effect on my mind and in my life.