Psycho vs. Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

During our Monday lesson (10^th October 2011), we looked at the similarities and differences between Psycho (1960) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). It was interesting to discover how many similarities and differences there were between the two films and how they were conveyed throughout each film. As a class, we discovered:

Similarities	Differences
both inspired by Ed Gein	Norman is a normal human being whereas Leatherface is more like a monster
dressed up as women	Leatherface wears the skin of his victims
male human killers	Psycho is black and white
dominated by parents	more of a build-up in Psycho
a domestic setting	Texas Chainsaw Massacre is more gruesome
female protagonists	Psycho’s more conclusive
rural part of town	Leatherface is ready to go again
canons to new horrors	family of murderers in Texas Chainsaw Massacre
date & time (specified)	Leatherface is the animal
left in psychotic state	more realistic sound vs. psycho strings
	cannibalism vs. taxidermy
	Texas Chainsaw Massacre is more like a documentary

Audience Theory Presentation.

Hypodermic Syringe Model

 

View more presentations from danielleisbritish

The 'Final Girl' Theory: Carol J. Clover Extract.

By reading the Carl J Clover extract about the ‘Final Girl’, I’ve learned that many male directors are very judgemental and somewhat, misogynistic. For example, ‘as horror director Dario Argento puts it, ‘I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, O would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or man’ (Schoell: 1985, 54).’


The world-renowned director Alfred Hitchcok also stated: 'I always believe in following the advice of the playwright Sardou. He said, "Torture the women!" The trouble today is that we don't torture women enough' (Spoto: 1983, 483).'


A good point I found in this extract was from director of Halloween, John Carpenter. He responded to what a critic had believed (that the film punished female sexuality). His response was: 'The [the critics] completely missed the boat there, I think. Because if you turn it around, the one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that killed him. Not because she's a virgin, but because all that repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy. ... She and the killer have a certain link: sexual repression.'


'The Final Girl is, on reflection, a congenial double for the adolescent male. She is feminine enough to act out in a gratifying way, a way unapproved for adult males, the terrors and masochistic pleasures of the underlying fantasy, but not so feminine as to disturb the structures of male competence and sexuality.' 


'The Final Girl is (apparently) female not despite the maleness of the audience, but precisely because of it.' 


'The Final Girl (1) undergoes agonizing trials, and (2) virtually or actually destroys the antagonist and saves herself.'


One quote I found really interesting was the link to the folk tradition (going back into context of horror). 'She is not a heroine, for whom phase 1 consists in being saved by someone else, but a hero, who rises to the occasion and defeats the adversary with his own wit and hands.' An example of this could be Sally in Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Sidney in Scream. Although both characters defeat the killers, they're still helped by male characters (Sally is helped by the trucker and Sidney is helped by Randy). This could imply that the Final Girl needs a male hero to help her 'escape'. 

The 'Final Girl' Theory.

The ‘final girl’ is a thriller and horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, supposedly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been identified in many horror films, including Halloween, Scream, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Alien. The term was invented by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film. 

According to Clover, the final girl is typically a virgin, avoiding the ‘sins’ of victims - an example of this would be having sex. The final girl would usually have a unisex name (e.g. Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). 

Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. For example, in Halloween II, Michael Myers is revealed to be the brother of Laurie Strode. In Scream 3 the killer is revealed to be Roman Bridger, half-brother of sole survivor Sidney Prescott. In the very first Scream, ‘Ghostface’ is actually Sidney’s boyfriend whose father was having sex with her mother before her death. The final girl is the ‘investigating consciousness’ of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.

One of the basic premises of Clover’s theory is that audience identification is unstable and fluid across gender lines, particularly in the case of the slasher film. During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinized through 'phallic appropriation' by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. 

Clover also points out that the villain of slasher films is often a character whose masculinity, and sexuality are in crisis. For example, Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture.

An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability. The idea of Sex = Death. 

The director Wes Craven (who directed Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street), played on the role of a 'final girl'. In Scream 3, Sidney, Dewey and Gale are presented watching Randy's 'Surviving A Horror Movie' video in the police station. Randy states that if you're in a trilogy or the concluding chapter, there are some changes:

- Anyone including the main character can die.

- The killer will be 'superhuman'.

- The past will come back to bite you.

- You can die if you're a virgin. 

Some information taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_girl 

Carrie. (1976) Religious and Sexual Connotations.

In our most recent Media lesson, we watched the opening scene, prom scene and the ending of the 1976 film ‘Carrie’; based on the Stephen King novel. Carrie is a 1976 American supernatural horror directed by Brian De Palma. The film and the novel tell the story of a socially outcast teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers she possesses latent psionic power which seems to flare up when she becomes angry or otherwise distressed. Carrie's powers become apparent after her humiliation by her peers, teachers, and abusive mother, eventually resulting in tragedy.


There are many religious and sexual connotations present in the film. For example, during the opening scene, we're placed in a high school locker room. where the audience act as voyeurs, watching the girls change after P.E. We are instantly put into the male gaze as the majority of the girls are nude. The close up of Carrie's face and body could represent intimacy and pleasure as we're invading her personal space - as are we to the other girls in the locker room. A sense of purity and innocence occurs during the opening scene as well - as Carrie gets her period for the first time. Although this could represent Carrie's transition into adulthood, the theme of death is also present as Carrie's transfixed with the idea that she's dying. 


During the prom scene, there are also many religious connotations. Carrie is seen wearing a white dress to prom so this could symbolise purity and innocence. However, this changes when Chris drops the bucket of pigs blood on her. This relates to the opening scene when Carrie gets her period. When Carrie's telekinesis takes over, flames engulf the school gym. The flames could be symbolic of hell and demonic possession within the movie - Carrie reflects 'the devil'. 


Religious connotations are also evident in the final scene between Carrie and her mother. As soon as she steps inside her house (which also reflects purity), church organs begin playing. This instrument also calms the recent situation down and connotes a peaceful atmosphere. The use of candles in this scene also represent religion as they represent purification. In a way, I believe the candles represent hell. As well as this, the melting wax could possibly represent the recent events - the flesh of the students that died in the gym. When Carrie kills her mother, she somewhat 'crucifies' her before her house comes crashing down - sending her to hell. This religious connotation could represent her mother's personality as she was a religious women as well as representing Jesus on the cross. 


'The Monstrous Feminine'.
'In Carrie, the film's most monstrous act occurs when the couple are drenched in pig's blood, which symbolises the menstrual blood in the terms set up by the film. Women are referred to as 'pigs', women 'bleed like pigs', and the pig's blood runs down Carrie's body at a moment of intense pleasure, just as her own menstrual blood ran down her legs during a similar pleasurable moment in the shower. Here, women's blood and pig's blood flow together signifying horror, shame and humiliation.' The Horror Reader, Chapter: Kristeva, Femininity, Abjection, Barbara Creed. Routledge, London & New York, 2000. (page 67)


Plot summary:
http://en.wikipedia.org 

Audience Theory.

Recently in Media Studies, we were asked to do some independent research on an audience theory. We had to research into only one taken from the Effects Model:

- Hypodermic Syringe Model

- Desensitisation

- Cultivation Theory

- Uses and Gratifications Theory

- Copycat Theory

- Reception Theory

‘The Hypodermic Syringe Model’:

- Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media.

- It’s a crude model and suggests that audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data.

- This theory was developed in an age when the mass media were still fairly new - radio and cinema were less than two decades old.

- Governments had just discovered the power of advertising to communicate a message, and produced propaganda to try and sway populaces to their way of thinking. This was particularly rampant in Europe during the First World War and its aftermath.

- Basically, the Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated, ie the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reception of the text.

- This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behaviour and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and heterogeneous (different in kind).

- This theory is still quoted during moral panics by parents, politicians and pressure groups, and is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts (comics in the 1950s, rap music in the 2000s); for fear that they will watch or read sexual or violent behaviour and will then act them out themselves.

Criticism of ‘The Hypodermic Syringe Model’:

- A prominent critic of ‘The Hypodermic Syringe’ model is Paul Lazarsfeld, an Austrian born scholar who arrived in the United States in 1933, and had a decisive role in the development of communication and social studies (Katz, 1987).

- Lazarsfeld and his colleagues at the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University develop the “limited effects theory” based on studies about opinion formation in the presidential elections in the United States and about the influence of opinion leaders in the communication process. 

- Their theory posits that media messages have only indirect and limited effects on the public; to be more effective these messages need to be mediated by opinion leaders.

- Therefore, the idea of the powerful media is debunked, and it is concluded that there are several intervening variables that mediated the media-audience connection.

As a result?

- Lazarsfeld and his group then created the ‘two-step flow of communication’ model, which states that ideas flow from the media to opinion leaders and from them to less active sections of the population. In this relationship, the tendency of the media is to reinforce predispositions, rather than change them.

- Therefore, individuals only search for information that goes with their beliefs, avoiding media content that challenge their position, determining a process of “selective exposure” (Czitrom, 1982).

What I've learned:

By looking up the Hypodermic Syringe Model, I've learned that this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audience might react to mass media. In colloquial terms, once the audience watch say for instance a film, this idea and plot of the film will be 'drummed' into their minds. They'll be able to retell the plot if asked to.

Clips from Horror Films

Here is a list (and clips) of a few horror films that could very well be my inspiration for my horror teaser trailer.

• Insidious (2010) – directed by James Wan.

Insidious Clip "Off Limits" Official (HD)

• Saw (2004) – directed by James Wan.

• Scream (1996) – directed by Wes Craven.

Clip from Scream: The Rules for Surviving Horror Films*

What I like about this clip from Scream is, it's as though Randy knows that the cast are currently in a scary movie. By stating the rules, this shows that Randy is a character who is pure and takes precautions. In a way, even though Sidney does become the hero of the horror, Randy may also be depicted as the hero as he guides Sidney and Gale to safety. For example, at the end of Scream, Gale has just shot Billy. However, Randy does state 'Careful. This is the moment when the supposedly dead killer comes back to life, for one last scare.' 

• Evil Dead (1981) – directed by Sam Raimi.

Paul Wells’ Research into Horror Audiences. (2000)

Recently in Media, we’ve been looking at audience theory. A theorist we focused on was Paul Wells. With his theory, Wells conducted a small focus group study looking at the relationship between audience and the horror genre. This study involved 12 members of each of the following age groups: 16-25, 26-40, 41-55, and 56-80. He asked them what the earliest horror film they had seen was and what was the most recent.

Conclusions drawn from this study and what I've learned:

- From Wells’ study, we’ve come to conclusion that the relationship to being frightened changes with age and relates to broader factors affecting emotional responses.
- Audiences between 1970s and 1990s are more anaesthetised to explicit special effects, whereas ‘monster’ films of 20s and 30s reported very strong personal response to images and iconography of horror (when cinema was new and unknown).
- Young audiences are aware of artificiality and are becoming harder to shock.

The Theory of the 'Male Gaze'.

'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representation of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view.' - Jonathan Schroeder (1998)

Recently in class, we looked at the Male Gaze theory written by Laura Mulvy. She wrote a very influential essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in 1975 using the theories of Freud. Mulvy suggested that the way women are viewed in cinema is ‘unequal’. The camera necessarily presents women as ‘sexualised’, for the pleasure of men.

'The presence of women is an indispensable element of spectacles in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a storyline, to freeze the flow of action in moment of erotic conteomplation.' 

What have I learned?

When looking at the Male Gaze, I've learned that as a society, we're more fixated on the female character as they're usually stereotyped as being vulnerable characters. The male audience are stereotyped as being an audience that only go to the cinema to watch action/horror films featuring young, vulnerable female characters who tend to show some nudity.

Vladimir Propp's Character Theory.

Recently, we were asked to research into the life of Vladimir Propp and his theory on characters. We found the theory useful as it enables audience to avoid treating characters as if they’re individuals and reminds us that they’re merely constructs. As well as this, some characters are indeed just there to progress the narrative.

Propp’s theory relies on the idea that characters are either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but are all narratives about struggles between good and bad, between heroes and villains?

Propp's Character Theory

Character Type	Definition	Example
The hero	generally leads the narrative story of the hero usually looking for something and succeeds	Shrek - Shrek Maverick – Top Gun
The villain	struggles against the hero turns audience against him/her lack of morals seeks to prevent success	Lord Farquaad – Shrek Ice Man – Top Gun
The donor	gives the hero something special – enables him to complete the quest combined with a helper	Dragon – Shrek Viper – Top Gun
The helper	hero is supported on a quest – provides support and guidance ‘side kick’ limitations to power	Donkey – Shrek Goose – Top Gun
The princess	may take two forms – object/reward maybe seen very little – usually at the end pursues many	Princess Fiona – Shrek
The princess’ Father	gives the task to the hero not clearly protective distinguished competition with hero for daughter’s affections	The King – Shrek
The dispatcher	sends hero on the mission may be combined with another role	Lord Farquaad - Shrek
The false hero	acts heroically steals real hero’s thunder	Prince Charming – Shrek Stinger – Top Gun`
The rogue hero?	following Pirates of the Caribbean, Will Turner is the hero but the story is about Jack Sparrow	Will Turner – Jack Sparrow – Pirates of the Caribbean

Horrors Films I've Recently Watched.

First of all I'd like to say welcome to my horror blog. As I said on my 'About Me' section, this blog will consist all of the work I'll be producing that will count towards my fainl A Level grade. The projects consist of creating a 1 minute horror teaser trailer, a film magazine cover and a movie poster.

To begin the journey, for the past month in Media, we've been studying the horror genre and how it affects mass audiences today.

Films we've previously watched in Media Studies are:

Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu is a classic 1922 German Expressionist horror film, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel (for instance, ‘vampire’" became ‘Nosferatu’ and ‘Count Dracula’ became ‘Count Orlok’). The story of Nosferatu is similar to that of Dracula however, in contrast to Dracula, Orlok does not create other vampires, but kills his victims, causing the townfolk to blame the plague, which ravages the city. There are many sexual connotations in Nosferatu, especially when he sets his eyes on Ellen. He’s left bewildered by her beauty and sets on to find her. When he eventually does, he bites her resembling the intimacy and closeness however, he ends up killing her.

Dracula (1998)

Dracula is a 1992 American Gothic horror-romance film directed and co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Dracula was greeted by a generally positive critical reception and was a box office hit. In 1462, Vlad Dracula, a member of the Order of the Dragon, returns from a victory against the Turks to find his wife, Elisabeta, has committed suicide after receiving a false report of his death. Enraged at the notion of his wife being damned for committing suicide, Dracula rebels against his chapel and renounces God, declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all the powers of darkness. However, unlike other Dracula's, his primary motive is not destruction. The use of shadow is very significant in Coppola's Dracula as it's as if his past follows behind him - as if he can't let go. The audience feel some sort of sympathy for Vlad Dracula as we're given a back story.



Psycho (1960)

Psycho is a 1960 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein. Psycho was a low-budget, black and white oddity that shocked audiences across the world. Some would say the film was cinematic brilliance; others would say 'the film should've been box office suicide'. Hitchock misleads his audience in Psycho. The term 'psycho strings' evolved from the box office hit and establishes that shometing is truly insane. At the beginning of the film, we meet Marion Crane. The audience are led to believe that she's an innocent character however, as the audience watch on, we discover that she's actually a 'criminal' attempting to escape her past. When she arrives at the Bates Motel, we're introduced to Norman Bates. At first, we're led to believe that he's just a 'mama's boy' who's fixated by taxidermy - he loves to suff animals (particularly birds). As we were led onto the infamous shower scene, this is the first big shock in Psycho. The knife that the killer uses to kill Marion doesn't actually penetrate the skin. It's the Bernard Herrmann's music that pierces the skin and carries out the murder.

                                  The Infamous Shower Scene from Psycho.


Let The Right One In (2008)

Let The Right One is a Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson. Based on the novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay, the film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. The film is based on one boy's struggle with bullies in a Swedish school. As well as this, the roles of Oskar and Eli played on the stereotypes of vampires. The director also plays on the fact that 'monsters' are often invited guests however, 'normal' characters are unable to notice who they're talking to or inviting in.

Case 39 (2009)



Case 39 is a 2009 American horror film directed by Christian Alvart and starring Renée Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, and Ian McShane. Social worker Emily Jenkins is assigned to investigate the family of ten year-old Lilith Sullivan, as her grades have declined and an emotional rift with her parents has emerged. Emily suspects that the parents have been mistreating Lilith, and proposes to her department to take the child away from her parents' custody. Emily's fears are confirmed when Lilith's parents try to kill her by roasting her in the oven at their home. As the audience watch on, we discover that Lily has actually been possessed by a demon and so, her parents believe their only way of surviving is by the killing the body the demon is using. In Case 39, the director has placed the audience in a domestic setting which makes us feel slight unease as our homes are supposed to make us feel safe. Alvart also plays on the innocence of a young child threatened by those around her. Lily is depicted as an innocent young child who just wants to be loved however, there's another side to her.



Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the hitchhiker, the proprietor, and Leatherface, the main antagonist. The film follows a group of friends who fall victim to a family of cannibals while on their way to visit an old homestead. Although it was marketed as a true story to attract a wider audience and as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate, its plot is entirely fictional; however the character of Leatherface and minor plot details were inspired by the crimes of real-life murderer Ed Gein. Hooper produced the film for less than $300,000 and used a cast of relatively unknown actors drawn mainly from central Texas, where the film was shot. Due to the film's violent content, Hooper struggled to find a distributor. Hooper limited the quantity of onscreen gore in hopes of securing a "PG" (Parental Guidance) rating, but the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rated it "R" (Restricted; children under 17 require a parent or guardian). The film faced similar difficulties internationally. Within Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the audience are presented with the documentary element. This made it seem like real-life and makes the audience feel uneasy. The audience also acts as voyeurs as it's as if we were following the characters around - as if we were actually present in the scene.

                                   Texas Chainsaw Massacre opening scene.


The one film that struck me the most was Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Although we only watched two clips from the movie, the directors decision to record the film as if it were a documentary created a tense and what seemes like a real life atmosphere. The documentary element contributes to the scariness of the movie and it makes the audience feel more related to the movie as it could happen (this was evident when we researched into the life of Ed Gein).


Plot summaries taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/