Men, Women, & Chain Saws – Gender in the Modern Horror Film: Gender in Modern Horror Film

Product Information

I don’t think I’ll be able to watch another horror film the same, and it has definitely ignited a passion in me about the subject. I think this must be at least partly the case because of the shock that Wes Craven’s Scream (which makes great use of Clover’s scholarship on the final girl) was able to generate by killing off Drew Barrymore’s character within the first ten minutes of the movie. The lesson was not lost on the mainstream industry, which was soon turning out the formula in well-made thrillers. Jones builds the story through Jenna’s narration, often having you witness events without much context for the motivations.

Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror…

They also could’ve already begun identifying with Drew Barrymore’s character as the final girl which could’ve been part of the reasons why this film’s first scene managed to create such a big shock. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. She states that horror films are informed by two models of viewing sex and gender: the “two-sex” or “two-flesh” model (that male and female bodies are inherently different and thereby inform the gender of the person inhabiting the body) and the “one-sex” model in which “the ‘one sex’ in question was essentially male, women being ‘inverted, and less perfect’ men” (13-14). Unlike Stephen King's Christine, which any horror story featuring a car will ultimately be compared to, there is actually a sweet (though still twisted) side to the story too.My issues with her approach to Carrie started in chapter two, but she grossly misunderstood and skewed the knowledge of Firestarter to the point I felt like she was really reaching for an excuse to include it and force it like a square peg into a round hole for the "Eye of Horror" chapter.

Carol J. Clover - Wikipedia Carol J. Clover - Wikipedia

But those same critics would often fail to acknowledge the even-louder uproar of support for the Final Girl during the climactic confrontation. While discussing the role of the killer in the slasher film, she mentions that, just like the final girl, the killer also slides between genders.This isn't to say the book is entirely wretched, the 3rd and 1st chapters have some really strong components but they are often thatched together with long digressions into psychoanalytic theory that simply lose me (not in the sense that i do not comprehend what the theory is saying but, rather, i do not comprehend *why* i would in any way be convinced of the theory). but i would only recommend this book to people that have serious interest in psychoanalytic film theory and horror, because otherwise it's pretty dense and a little dated.

Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Carol J. Clover, Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the

Horror films manage to have a largely male audience identify with a female survivor; the viewer goes with her into the bad place, cheers on her escape and empathises with her suffering. This book offered so many interesting insights into gender in horror films, the final girl phenomena and the tale-revenge sub genre of horror.But the conclusion reached above is absolutely bonkers and is completely at odds with the climax (and honestly, most) of the movie. It wasn't my top favorite story of all time from SGJ, but I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who likes this fantastic author as much as I do! Her real parents had raised her right and given her every chance, but now, in this violent fairy tale she'd stumbled into, her first parents were coming back to protect her. The decline of slasher films, which the author laments here, would see a dramatic increase in the years following: Scream and its iconic self-awareness would be nearly as influential as Halloween was all those years ago, horror remakes would become a veritable class of their own (even Scream 4 is in on this), and documentary-styled shockers would bring a frightening clarity of realism to an otherwise mythic form. I think this is no longer the case… just considering Scream, for example, Jamie Kennedy’s character dies in the sequel yet never is represented as sexually transgressive (although maybe his lust for Sidney counts?