Research Journal #2

Terrones, Z. (2012). The Repressed Tension in Haute tension. Film Matters, 3(1), 25-29.

Claim:

She is the attacker and the attacked, simultaneously, to represent the same self (Clover 191 ) that exists in the viewer also; she is the symbol of the viewers themselves and thus of how our society functions. Marie symbolizes the repressed woman in the male-dominated society who wants to free herself from those clutches to become whole and receive the satisfaction that is yearned for.

Paraphrased:

The female protagonist in the film is a symbol for the female struggle to break social restraints and achieve freedom.

Summary:

The article is using the film “High Tension”, or “Haute Tension”, a French film directed by Alexandre Aja in 2003. The film follows two women, the protagonist of the film being a sexual repressed female with a alter persona that just happens to be a male. The film portrays the events following a sudden snap in this women’s mind, a sudden gender and psychological flip triggered by sexual fantasies surrounding her female friend Alex. The literal moment that switches the personas is the protagnist’s climax while masturbating to Alex. The article dissects the reasoning behind this character, and how she both further instates the ‘unstable and monstrous female’ trope that plagues horror and also the repression our patriarchal society puts on women, especially sexually. The author also elaborates on the physical aspects of the film. Marie, the protagonist of the film, is an all around androgynous looking character, with short hair and nondescript features. It explains that  “Her alternate physical form creates an exception, giving her the liberty to be in control and dominate, things she could never do in a female form”(2) also going on to quote  published film professor Carol Clover, saying that  ‘what de France's (Marie) character emphasizes to the spectator is that "masculinity and femininity are more states of mind than body" (Clover 188).’ The article concludes by putting an emphasis on the symbols created by Marie’s character, and how “she is the symbol of the viewers themselves and thus of how our society functions.”(4)

Quotations:

"The horror genre is one that follows preset rules in a vast majority of its films, thereby establishing a well-known relationship that the audience has come to expect between the female victim and the male killer - along with the sexual and social repressions it connotes.(1)"

"This reladonship is based on the genre's male superiority and women's passivity, which parallels the female status of the real- world patriarchal society that views it."

"that the horror genre can convey the idea of "the overthrow of patriarchal capitalist ideology" that can come about as a response to the repressions that the institution creates - even if only through symbolism in the medium. One of the repressions it creates is the woman as an Other: she is given neither the same status nor importance as a man in the male-dominated society in which we live."

"the denial to women of drives culturally associated with masculinity: activeness, aggression, self- assertion, organizational power, creativity itself" (Wood 167)"

"Classically, the horror film used a male or monstrotis killer as a mirror to the Otherness of the woman, or to reinforce the idea that there is pleasure in "masculine subject positions punishing or dominating feminine objects" (Williams, "Film Bodies" 6)."

"to demonstrate that she is not separate from the male: she too has sexual feelings that must have an outiet; she too is strong- vkdlled and assertive. Yet, this release comes too late. It is no longer a healthy outcome but a gruesome aftereffect as a result of being hidden for so long; she can no longer withhold and withstand the repressed. Why must her liberation be so violent? Well, the woman, like the monster, is feared because it represents the feared "potency of a different kind of sexuality" (Williams, "Alien the Woman" 20) than the one of the dominant group."

"Could it be that not only do horror films represent the tumultuous dichotomous reladonship that exists between the subconscious and conscious selves? Or is there more to it — like an innate urge and pleasure in female desecration because of the conditioning received from society to view the female form as inferior?"