Research Journal #3

 Lazard, L. (2009). 'You'll like this-it's feminist!'Representations of strong women in horror fiction. Feminism & Psychology, 19(1), 132-136.

Claim:

these representations of ‘other(ed)’ women undermine this film’s potential to construct feminine subjectivities capable of destabilizing gendered positioning’s and challenging heterosexism(s). From a feminist psychological perspective, I would argue that such depictions of femininity in fiction are important because fictional representations are sites within which audiences negotiate understandings of gendered subjectivities.

Paraphrased:

Analyzes women and female characters in the horror genre by using the horror film the Descent as a case study, using specifically the image of the athletic ‘fighter women in film and how the use of  the ‘other’ woman damage the films ability to challenge traditional gender roles.

Summary:

Tells the synopsis of the film The Descent, saying that the group of women in the movie are sportswomen, and almost sarcastically remarks that the movie would be considered feminist by most because these women are “sportswomen”. It also brings up the lack of ‘sportmen’ or even men in general, commenting on the fact that the brief time you do see a man is actually to show that he is taking care of the child (swapping traditional roles) while his significant other is white water rafting. The two main characters, Juno and Sarah, spend the rest of the film revealing more about themselves and the article dissects these actions. Juno, a “fighter’ and referred to as the ‘other woman’ because of an affair with the other female characters late husband. This is revealed to Sarah during the excursion and the film ends with Sarah rendering Juno vulnerable to the creatures in the cave as a final retribution and the article relates this back to it’s feminist theme by saying that here the ‘other women’ is taking the fall, instead of the unfaithful man; and saying that Sarah, an obviously unstable and brash female character is once again acting  (typically) unstable. It concludes by rationalizing that the “construction of women in horror is complex”, and while the genre presently opens a lot of avenues for female characters, horror also offers a great “space in which to challenge problematic femininities.”(5)

Quotations:

The film was recommended to me on the basis that ‘it’s feminist’ not only because the lead characters were women, but also sportswomen.

“Their participation in extreme sports depicts these women as strong and capable of masculinized pursuits that they do in the absence of sportsmen.”

“Dominant representations of sportswomen who participate in masculinized sports are framed by heterosexist understandings of what it means to be a ‘real’ woman.”

However, despite their non-traditional sporting activities, these women are not positioned as ‘lesbian’ and/or ‘butch’. These women nego- tiate a sporty feminine image and explicit reference is made to the lead charac- ters’ heterosexual relationships. This latter construction could be read as offering a challenge to heterosexist representations of the sportswoman as ‘other’ dis- cussed above.

According to Whitehead (2002), physical aggression is pre- dominantly constructed as a masculine preserve through which ‘real’ men can dominate ‘other’ men and women. Thus, these women’s acts of violence could be read as destabilizing gendered constructions of aggression and resistance. However, the subversive potential of this construction of women’s aggression is undermined by the portrayal of Sarah and Juno as ‘other’.

Through these characterizations, women fighters are represented as ‘mad’, ‘bad’ and ‘other’. Whilst infighting is common in horror films and works as a device to add tension, the explicit link made in this film between infidelity and women’s aggression reproduces gendered notions of power struggles between women. Here, the ‘other’ woman – rather than the unfaithful man – is blamed and punished by the woman partner (e.g. Burns, 1999).