Representation essay

How does the concept of representation apply to your trailer?

The first representation theorist I looked at was Laura Mulvey. Her theory was ‘The Male Gaze’. She researched the representation of women in film, where she found that women were controlled by a ‘masculine’ audience through ‘The Male Gaze’. The theory is concerned with a woman’s body being on screen, and the male viewer experiencing erotic pleasure from seeing her. This makes the woman an ‘object’ of gaze. We as the audience watch the film through the gaze of a heterosexual male. In my trailer, I did not include shots that show ‘The Male Gaze’. Furthermore, my trailer didn’t have many shots of females at all.

Another theorist I looked at was Carol J. Clover. This representation theory concerned ‘The Final Girl’. ‘The Final Girl’ is seen in a slasher horror film. They are the last protagonist left to confront the killer. They are typically virgins, and they avoid drugs as well. They usually have a unisex name, and sometimes have a shared history with the killer. Throughout the film, ‘The Final Girl’ becomes more and more masculinised, and by the end of the film, when she confronts the killer, she has become a ‘man’. This is also why she has a unisex name, to make the transition into a ‘man’ more believable for the audience. I didn’t have a ‘Final Girl’ in my trailer. Although there were some females in it, they were not the last surviving protagonists. Instead, all of the protagonists died at the same time.

Finally, I looked at Charles Derry, whose theory was to do with ‘The Human Monster’. He believed that in every human, they had an inner evil, and that there was some monster in them. Also, in some horror films, the antagonist portrays society and the problems that lie within it. In my trailer, I did include aspects of ‘The Human Monster’. This is shown by the antagonist, who is a killer and is murdering teens. The antagonist is not visibly a monster, and from what we can see, he is a human. However, he has an inner evil, and he has a monster in him, which is what is causing him to become a killer.

Overall, I believe that in my trailer, I did not really follow the representation theories. The only one that I did include is ‘The Human Monster’, which is one that is typically seen in slasher horror films. However, I feel that I should have included more of these theories, and in particular either ‘The Male Gaze’ theory or ‘The Final Girl’ theory. Including one of these in my horror teaser trailer means that it would have been more conventional and it would have followed these representation theorists more.