Representation of Women in Slashers

A lens to view the representation of females in slashers through is the Four Role Theory, developed by Jeremy Tunstall in the meta-analysis The Media in Britain (1983). Tunstall argued that women represented in the media (fictional or real) fit into four non-exclusive roles; that of the Domestic, the Consumer, the Marital and the Sexual. The Domestic woman is defined in relation to the household, to motherly activities or to caring in some way, and represents the role of women in society as mothers and primary care-givers. The Consumer, however, is defined in terms of their consumerist behaviour, their object wealth or their social status; this represents the role of women in society as non-workers with spare time and money to spend whilst they are supported by a male (usually their husband). The Marital woman is defined by their relation to a man or men (usually through marriage or romantic relationship), and this represents the support role of woman in society. Finally, the Sexual female is defined by their supplying of sexual gratification to men, and this represents the view of society that heterosexual males are the ‘normal state’ and that they should be gratified first and foremost. Slashers are just as much representative of their society and the creator’s own views as any other piece of media, and using Tunstall’s theory to analyse how slasher’s present females is essential to understanding the genre. The ‘Other Girls’ – the women within the text that aren’t the Final Girl – are usually a combination of the Consumer, the Sexual and the Marital, and they are punished for this (usually through death). The first two categories relate directly to Christian morality; non-marital sex is deemed as sinful under Christian values, as is the worship of money and the love of wealth. An example of an Other Girl being of the Sexual and the Consumer is Paige Edwards in House of Wax. She is shown to do sexual acts, which is talked about by her boyfriend (“Are you two gonna have sex with each other? 'Cause me and Paige are.”) and is displayed to the audience in the scene where the protagonists see her giving a mid-journey blowjob to her boyfriend. This is taken further with a scene where she strips for Blake, and the camera tilts whilst having her body in shot to allow the straight, male audience members to receive sexual gratification from her body (this use of camera techniques to allow for sexual gratification to straight men is often referred to as the 'male gaze'). In addition, she is very concerned with looks and cosmetics (“Lip balm. I dropped my stupid lip balm.”), even giving another character a make-over in one scene, which communicates to the audience that she is obsessed with object-wealth and social status through aesthetic. Both of these points are enforced by the choice of actor, Paris Hilton, who is represented in the media as a “vapid slut” that is only interested in style (“Jet-setter Paris Hilton dons black and white ensembles after flying home from Zürich” - Mail Online, 7th January 2016) and sex (“Paris Hilton: Nude for Paper Magazine!” - thehollywoodgossip.com, 2nd December 2015), and as such makes the audience quickly associate these traits with the character. By having this character punished with a death scene, the announcement is made that these actions are morally wrong; death as moral punishment is a theme dating back to the era of the Old Testament (e.g. the flooding of the world). This doesn't necessarily just apply to the fictional world of the film, but could potentially affect how people view morality in the real world (in the same way that people consuming crime fiction that endorses criminal profiling are more likely to endorse criminal profiling themselves - MEDIA EFFECTS AND THE CRIMINAL PROFILING ILLUSION: HOW FICTIONAL REPRESENTATIONS INFLUENCE THE PERCEPTION OF POLICE EFFICACY, by Michael-Anthony Lutfy). The third aspect, the Marital, seems to be in response to the second-wave feminism of the 1960s onwards, where the socio-political stance was that women are equal to men and should be treated as such both in law and in the media. This led to reactionary organisations that preached independence from men (e.g. National Organisation for Women); because this was then associated with the destructuralist movements of the time ('hippie' movement, black equality movements), independence entered the Zeitgeist as 'good' (and, by association, that reliance on a male is 'bad'). As a consequence of this, those females that are of the Marital in slashers are more likely to be 'Other Girls' and thus receive moral punishment through their deaths. An example of this would be Lynda Van der Klok in Halloween (1978), who is of the Marital (as well as the Sexual and the Consumer). Lynda appears in three scenes throughout the film, those being the scene where the three teenage females walk and talk about hooking up with their boyfriends, the scene where she is with her boyfriend and ignores the Final Girl's concerns, and the scene where she has sex and is subsequently murdered. In the first scene, Lynda is not shown with her boyfriend but instead talks about him (“Oh come on Annie! Bob and I have been planning it for weeks.”). The only time she seems happy about something is when she refers to him, with her complaining about all her hobbies (“It's totally insane. We have three new cheers to learn in the morning, the game is in the afternoon, I have to get my hair done at five, and the dance is at eight! I'll be totally wiped out!”) and books (“So who cares? I always forget my chemistry book and my math book, and my English book, and my, let's see, my French book, and... well who needs books anyway, I don't need books, I always forget all my books,”). She is then shown in the second scene to be with her boyfriend, where she makes sexual innuendo (“We sure will.”, in response to Laurie telling her to 'have a good time') whilst her hair and clothes are messed up, suggesting sexual activities with her boyfriend. By rejecting Laurie's concerns, this Other Girl puts a man first and is defined by him, thus making her of the Marital and, by extension, morally inferior (and the sexual aspect compounds this). Finally, the last scene shows her having sex with her boyfriend – thus completing her inclusion in the Sexual – and then being murdered, giving her a consequence for her immoral actions.