Men, Women and Chainsaws Reading Questions

What does Clover mean by 'female victim-hero'?

Clover connects the female victim-hero with an extract taken from the novel ‘Carrie’. In this book a girl called Carrie is made fun of by the entire school that she is attending; she eventually ends up killing the entire school during a prom where a prank is put upon her causing the events. Clover states that Carrie is made a female victim-hero, this is because Carrie is made a victim from the people that constantly made fun of her to which she eventually ends up saving herself becoming a ‘hero’.

Why does Clover say that males relate to the females in horror films, in particular, the 'final girl'?

Clover goes over about how Steven King stated that Carrie is like a boy who was humiliated at school by having is trousers pulled down or by having his glasses thumbed-rubbed. Clover talks about how most of these cases take place in the locker room where people have to take off their clothes and take showers. A male could relate to how Carrie has her first period during a locker room shower creating villains that humiliates her making the male audience relate to how locker room incidents also happened to them while they were at school.

Why does Clover suggest that horror research is problematic?

Clover suggests that horror research is very understudied due to most research being sponsored by the major movie making studios whereas most horror movies are created by smaller less renown companies. She also suggests that most horror movies do not have a cinema release or only have a short duration while on the big screens also limiting the amount of research that can be carried out.

Who does Clover suggest makes-up the typical horror audience?

Clover states that the horror audience can range very differently from each other depending on the sub-genre of the film, for example a science fiction horror like Alien could bring in a more male dominate audience, but overall the typical majority of people that watch horror movies are of the gender male; she concludes this in research that she carried out at local movie rental stores where she tracked what gender was buying a movie called Ms. 45 which was in the sub-genre ‘rape-revenge films’. Four out of five times the buyer where male with both genders being mostly under the age of twenty-five, (she also states that this research could also be biased as most likely some of the people renting the films will be renting it out for someone else to watch).

Was there parity between horror audiences in regards to those who watched horror films at the cinema and those who watched them at home through rentals?

Clover writes about how different the audience watching horror movies at home can be from people watching horror movies at the cinema. The research that she done on DVD rentals showed that the audience mostly watching at home was typically male under the age of 25. This research however does not match up with cinema viewer as I stated above it is a lot harder to find research about cinema audiences watching horror movies.

What are the two ways identified by Clover in which audiences identify with characters?

Clover identifies two identifications one of these being primary identification, this is when the camera is used to portray a character. The camera will be placed in different positions such as POV for the killer; here is an example in a film called The Cabin in the Woods, the female character is given a camera position that shows of her body creating the male-gaze theory with the male audience; This would explain the large male audience watching horror movies. Secondary identification is about the character empathic choice; Clover theorizes that the character’s identification is linked with the viewers psyche an example that she states is the masochistic victim and sadistic monster.