Character Roles within the horror genre

The role of women in the horror genre


Throughout the 20th/21st century women have been represented in a very strict and conforming stereotype. Many women within the horror genre signify sexual or ignorant stereotypical codes. The conventional role of a woman within early horror films was to act as an intensifier of masculinity for the male audience. Roles women played in the 50’s were either very alluring or damsel like personas, which reflected the view of women in everyday life. As the horror genre evolved the role of women gradually began to diversify and a new “final girl” was formed.

Women in early horror were used to entice the male audience this was done by the woman characters being often expensively clothed or being unfaithful/exotic. Women also were represented as a shock factor during killer scenes as to make the position the audience into feelings of horror/ fear and creating suspense. This was done by showing women horrified expressions as seen on screen. The ideals behind showing long take shots of reactions of women touches upon the ideology of a woman being represented as a “damsel” role and thus helpless. The idea of re-using the damsel in distress ideology within the horror genre was meant to connote to the male audience that women were inferior to men. Therefore the male audience could feel a momentary gratifying feeling of strength/masculinity. The idea that women should play inferior/lesser roles within the horror genre connotes that they are considered to be precious but weak objects and thus sort after by the killer. Doing this creates a representative image of how women should act/re-act by. As opposed to male characters within horror, killings concerning women are in most cases more explicit and tortuous than that of their male characters, it can be argued that the killing sequences contain sexual connotations.

The Final girl became apparent after films such as “Halloween” and “ the shining” was released. Iconic examples of the final girl are: strong facial composition, projections of masculinity, differences in thought patterns to her peers, lack of physical attraction and throughout the film the role of how the final girl acts changes. The significance of the codes of an aesthetically appropriate final girl are important as codes such as masculinity be it physical or mentally opens up a new way for the male horror text consumer to relate to an unconventional female lead. Ideologies surrounding the final girl are that she should be virginal thus to represent an image of purity and reluctance towards a relationship at a perhaps premature age. Assumptions can be that the final Girl was introduced in relation to complaints in voyeuristic and condescending views of women being advertised to a relatively young audience.


Examples of the role of women diversifying in horror texts is shown through the final girl as opposed to the youthful dainty females who are often the initial victims of the killer. Early horrors such as Dracula (1932) based on the novel by Bram Stoker, this text shows women to be but helpless pawns in a slightly horrific turn of events unable to combat Dracula only able to scream and get killed, this shows the early beginnings of the conventional narrative horror female.


Later texts see the women fulfil more exotic roles, using seduction and state of mind in order to ascertain their needs and wants but still find themselves helpless victims to the killer, although women are used to fulfil a side-kick role in some sub generic horrors science fiction influences see this convention imperative to the construction of a cross breed between the two genres. These initial stages of giving women a more inclusive rather than inanimate role within texts laid the foundations for the slashers ‘final girl’ stereotype. In the 70’s Women were portrayed as questionable survivors of
The killing spree but still although obtaining final girl status the way in which the final girl escaped or survived was very much not in anyway dignified. The final girl is often described and depicted as cunning and in her attempts to escape often exorcises monstrous anxieties towards the killer in order to make her escape from harm.



The role of women within horror has changed over time but only due to radical influences from real life events, and even after that women are still depicted as ignorant and dainty in order to maintain the generic codes within horror films. The ideology behind this is so that institution can hit a designated audience so that they know that producing horror films to that convention can make them a profit.