Friday, October 03, 2014
Siskel And Ebert Made The First “Tropes Vs. Women”
www.thefrisky.com: So it turns out Siskel and Ebert were cool as fuck: In this 1980 episode, they address the rash of exploitation horror movies released in the very late 70s and early 80s – and continued through the 80s — that used violence against women as the foundation for the film. I love the horror genre, and I’ve seen almost every single one of the movies that they mention in the course of the 30 total minutes of their “Women In Danger” episode, and I can verify everything they’re saying.
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4 comments:
It's quite refreshing to see people slam the horror genre for the atrocities it commits. That being said, I've got to admit I do love watching horror movies. But I notice how so many people excuse the violence against women as it simply being part of the 'genre', that because it's not real it isn't as relevant or shocking to the girls who watch these films. And I think Siskel and Ebert make an extremely valid point about the influx of violence against women in horror films paralleling the rise of the women's movement. There will always be a group of very twisted and powerful people who use whatever medium in their grasp to satisfy an urge to substantiate their masculinity. This phenomenon has happened in the news, in television, in film, in conversation, around the family dinner table -- it's an ever present factor of life. I wouldn't say I hope for more articles to be published about this subject, but I hope that the people in charge will eventually be replaced, or that the horror genre will change itself.
Ah tropes. Gotta love ‘em. Except not. Horror is one of the genres that repeatedly gets away with using sexist and racist tropes, because creators and viewers alike excuse it as part of the genre, tradition, homage to previous movies, whatever. I think that this critique episode is spot on about the deeper motives behind the pretty independent girl being horribly chased and murdered trope. It absolutely is a way to bash women, to make the girls watching these movies feel like they could be victims themselves, no matter how strong or smart. This episode is from the 80’s, but honestly nothing’s changed. The horror movies coming out today still feature this trope very often, and it doesn’t feel as though it’s going to change any time soon. The target audience for horror movies featuring graphic abuse and murder of young girls might not be the most forward-thinking, women-empowering crowd there is out there.
To illustrate this further, this summer I worked as a production assistant on a low-budget horror movie for a few days. At that point in the shoot, there were 6 actors on set: the three hot white girls who were victims of the killer, and the killer’s three black male accomplices. Yeah. Super obviously sexist AND racist, written and directed by a white man in his thirties who clearly didn’t realize how messed up that was. When I brought it up to one of the crew, she said that she was surprised I noticed, because in the two weeks they had already been shooting before I got there, no one said anything about the obvious, offensive tropes that were the backbone of this movie.
The fact that movies like this are still coming out is another proof that yes, women are still constantly being discriminated against and portrayed as weak, helpless against men. Murdering independent women onstage is a way of criticizing their lifestyle, of victim-blaming, and shows that yes, we do need feminism. For this and so much more.
For those who claim sexism is over, take a look at the reactions to this review, by two males, compared to the reactions to the video series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games by Anita Sarkeesian. While there was no reaction, or at least none the article found significant enough to mention, to Siskel and Ebert’s analysis, Sarkeesian’s kickstarter, before the videos had even been created, was met with threats of violence and death, to the point where she had to leave her home due to the harassment. Just the fact that it was a woman looking at video games was enough to make her a target.
I think this article brings up some extremely valid points about horror movies. They use a number of outdated and prejudice tropes masked as tradition and they also create an unhealthy idea sof what women should and shouldn't do to be worth living. However, I don't know if the article offered any valid solution to the problem. It would be just as problematic if woman never died in horror movies, so how do we start creating stories where the deaths are fair and equal.
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