The Violent Sexism of Horror Movies and Pornography
Debbie Does Dallas Meets Freddie: Splatter Flicks and Porno Are Movies that Hate Women
The new movie, Silent Hill , has just been released.
I won't be seeing it.
I never subjected myself to Cabin Fever, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, Saw, High Tension or The Devil's Rejects either. I won't go to a movie theater to see any type of splatter flick, or rent one from Netflix. Sometimes I'll accidentally watch part of a horror movie when I'm at a friend's house and I can't get a ride home. If he doesn't change it, I won't be happy.
I'll confess: I'm an obsessive, unrepentant, doomed-beyond-any-twelve-step-program Film Junkie. How bad is it? I know the difference between "letterboxed" and "pan-and-scan" and why it's important. I'm addicted to TCM, IFC, and Sundance. And when the movie is over, I'm usually the only person still in my seat after the lights go on and the audience is walking out because I want to read the credits.
When it comes to cinema, I try to be open-minded. I've thoroughly enjoyed Dances With Wolves,2001: A Space Odyssey, Singing In The Rain, Yojimbo, and Bananas. And I don't usually care how the Blockbuster Videos down the street chooses to file these films on their shelves. Genres are meaningless to me. Either I like it or I don't.
However, except for films by the brilliant and subversive David Cronenberg (The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch), I despise the horror movie genre. Yes, intellectually, I know I'm prejudiced. As with Cronenberg, there are exceptions. Se7en, for one, comes to mind. I'll admit it's unique, luminous and powerful. Still, after I saw David Fincher's brooding, gore-splattered thriller, I knew I never wanted to see it again.
Why? Well, because the majority of them remind me of bad pornography. And whether it's a big-budget motion picture from a major studio or an amateurish pile of shit finished in a weekend by a hack who's destined not to be the next Eli Roth, there's a nasty but familiar subtext underneath that I recognize and I just don't like it. What horror movies and pornography have in common is in how much it hates us.
Pornography is misogynistic, clumsy, vulgar, simplistic, and mean-spirited, and doesn't pretend to be about anything else but sex. As long as you're willing to lower your expectations, leave nuance and genuine human feelings behind and enter an ugly world of anonymous genitalia and meaningless orgasms, you'll never be disappointed.
In horror movies, these same principles apply, except you replace sex with violence. Blood 'n' Gore 'n' Guts is the fuel which runs this infernal machine. In Cronenberg's oeuvre, there's nuance and a rigorous intellectual philosophy behind the violence. But for everybody else, violence is all there is. The only artistic utensil to be found in their toolbox is an old hammer encrusted with dried blood and a few blonde hairs from a dead cheerleader.
And most of the time, other than the occasional token male becoming a screaming, bone-splintered lump of hamburger, it's always violence against women, isn't it? Just substitute scenes of women being gangbanged for scenes of women being stabbed and tortured to death. Women are objectified and turned into meat puppets that exist solely to be used as toys for naughty little boys with chainsaws.
Remember that repulsive scene in the beginning of High Tension when the homicidal psycho fellates himself with a women's disembodied head? And how much do you want to bet there were idiots - male, of course - who probably laughed their asses off? Did they smoke a cigarette afterwards?
At least the guys who sell pornography pretend to try and keep children away. Or don't make it easy anyway. So, if they're smart, the more reputable porno movie houses won't let anyone in without checking their I.D. For those X-rated sites online there's parental control software you can use like Net Nanny. Blockbuster Video doesn't have "adult" DVDs available at their stores, and the ones that do keep them in a separate section.
On the other hand, since horror movies are usually rated "PG" and playing at your local cineplex, they're wholesome mainstream entertainment the entire family can enjoy. And yes, I swear to God, while I stood in line I've seen families wheeling in their baby carriages to see Wolf Creek. The kids don't know any better, of course. The parents I want to punch in the head.
These movies scare the hell out of me. They're nightmares that don't go away when you wake up but instead follow you the rest of the day. And what frightens me the most is knowing that there are people who will watch Silent Hill and react as though it's a sitcom. Worse, there are others in the audience who'll be turned on by it.
So, was it good, huh baby?
Did you come?
I won't be seeing it.
I never subjected myself to Cabin Fever, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, Saw, High Tension or The Devil's Rejects either. I won't go to a movie theater to see any type of splatter flick, or rent one from Netflix. Sometimes I'll accidentally watch part of a horror movie when I'm at a friend's house and I can't get a ride home. If he doesn't change it, I won't be happy.
I'll confess: I'm an obsessive, unrepentant, doomed-beyond-any-twelve-step-program Film Junkie. How bad is it? I know the difference between "letterboxed" and "pan-and-scan" and why it's important. I'm addicted to TCM, IFC, and Sundance. And when the movie is over, I'm usually the only person still in my seat after the lights go on and the audience is walking out because I want to read the credits.
When it comes to cinema, I try to be open-minded. I've thoroughly enjoyed Dances With Wolves,2001: A Space Odyssey, Singing In The Rain, Yojimbo, and Bananas. And I don't usually care how the Blockbuster Videos down the street chooses to file these films on their shelves. Genres are meaningless to me. Either I like it or I don't.
However, except for films by the brilliant and subversive David Cronenberg (The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch), I despise the horror movie genre. Yes, intellectually, I know I'm prejudiced. As with Cronenberg, there are exceptions. Se7en, for one, comes to mind. I'll admit it's unique, luminous and powerful. Still, after I saw David Fincher's brooding, gore-splattered thriller, I knew I never wanted to see it again.
Why? Well, because the majority of them remind me of bad pornography. And whether it's a big-budget motion picture from a major studio or an amateurish pile of shit finished in a weekend by a hack who's destined not to be the next Eli Roth, there's a nasty but familiar subtext underneath that I recognize and I just don't like it. What horror movies and pornography have in common is in how much it hates us.
Pornography is misogynistic, clumsy, vulgar, simplistic, and mean-spirited, and doesn't pretend to be about anything else but sex. As long as you're willing to lower your expectations, leave nuance and genuine human feelings behind and enter an ugly world of anonymous genitalia and meaningless orgasms, you'll never be disappointed.
In horror movies, these same principles apply, except you replace sex with violence. Blood 'n' Gore 'n' Guts is the fuel which runs this infernal machine. In Cronenberg's oeuvre, there's nuance and a rigorous intellectual philosophy behind the violence. But for everybody else, violence is all there is. The only artistic utensil to be found in their toolbox is an old hammer encrusted with dried blood and a few blonde hairs from a dead cheerleader.
And most of the time, other than the occasional token male becoming a screaming, bone-splintered lump of hamburger, it's always violence against women, isn't it? Just substitute scenes of women being gangbanged for scenes of women being stabbed and tortured to death. Women are objectified and turned into meat puppets that exist solely to be used as toys for naughty little boys with chainsaws.
Remember that repulsive scene in the beginning of High Tension when the homicidal psycho fellates himself with a women's disembodied head? And how much do you want to bet there were idiots - male, of course - who probably laughed their asses off? Did they smoke a cigarette afterwards?
At least the guys who sell pornography pretend to try and keep children away. Or don't make it easy anyway. So, if they're smart, the more reputable porno movie houses won't let anyone in without checking their I.D. For those X-rated sites online there's parental control software you can use like Net Nanny. Blockbuster Video doesn't have "adult" DVDs available at their stores, and the ones that do keep them in a separate section.
On the other hand, since horror movies are usually rated "PG" and playing at your local cineplex, they're wholesome mainstream entertainment the entire family can enjoy. And yes, I swear to God, while I stood in line I've seen families wheeling in their baby carriages to see Wolf Creek. The kids don't know any better, of course. The parents I want to punch in the head.
These movies scare the hell out of me. They're nightmares that don't go away when you wake up but instead follow you the rest of the day. And what frightens me the most is knowing that there are people who will watch Silent Hill and react as though it's a sitcom. Worse, there are others in the audience who'll be turned on by it.
So, was it good, huh baby?
Did you come?
Published by D.R.Scott
I'm a freelance movie critic. Whether it's a noisy, testosterone-fueled, shoot-'em-up adventure flick or a moody, character-driven B&W foreign film, I'm open-minded. I just want to see a good movie that has... View profile
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34 Comments
Post a CommentListen here bitch! I am a female amateur porn star who feels great about her work! I chose to do this JOB!!! So u can suck my co-star's 12 in. dick...OR IS THAT TOO DEGRADING!!!
You spelled CUM wrong.
The Person who typically survives these movies is called the 'Final Girl.' The 'Final Girl' is an intelligent, resourceful, usually bookish female who is the investigating consciousness of the film. She's the one that actually bothers to figure out who the killer is. She's also the one that always defeats the killer. She is not a feminist icon, but she is a strong female character who males in the audience wind up cheering for and even identifying with. Think Nancy Thompson in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.' What other genre encourages men to actually identify with a woman character? 'Alien' does it, 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' does it, and so does 'Scream.' A lot of horror films do it. Maybe if you're interested in reading a feminist perspective on horror you can pick up 'Men, Women, and Chainsaws,' by Carol. J. Clover. After that, maybe read some Pauline Kael. Hopefully, you can write a follow up when you apolo
women are objects
People probably laugh at the "Silent Hill" movie because it was so ridiculously over-the-top. At any rate, if you were trying to prove that all horror movies are, ipso facto, misogynistic, Silent Hill was a bad example to pick, as nearly all of its characters are women and sorry to say, most of them don't die.
A lot of movies in general are extremely sexist. I've seen far too many critics lead lynch mobs against horror and porn, but give a free pass to misogynist crap like "Bride Wars" and "Twilight." Although, I guess stuff like that is OK because there's less icky blood and sex. It's also OK to laugh and jeer at Paris Hilton when she went to jail and started crying for her mother, but God forbid anyone pretend to kill an actress in a film. That's SEXIST.
I understand where you are coming from, about pornography and horror putting aside human emotion. But, I don't think that these movies are destroying anything or harming anyone, children or woman or etc. Is it really so bad that people enjoy these vices through cinema rather than in the real world? Fear is also a natural human emotion, why deny any to deal with it? We allow people to feel extreme happiness through movies, why not extreme sadness, why not extreme fear? As much as people might try to disagree, we are passionate creatures. But, passion involves a lot more than just love. Sex is not something to take lightly, but there is a physical passion to it, something gratifying about a physical release more than an emotional or spiritual one. Would your argument be any less valid if men were degraded in the same fashion? No, not at all, because at the end of the day, violence is violence and sex is sex. Even before movies, violence and sex were used for pure physical gratification.
I am so glad that someone out there recognizes that horror movies are chock-full of horrific women's deaths. Horror flicks are one of the only genres that consistently have women characters, but all of those characters are two-dimensional and they get brutally massacred, as you discussed.
Also, horror flicks are one of the few movies that show women having sex for pleasure. Other movies tend to show women using sex for intimacy or revenge. It's unfortunate that horror movies also tie women's sexual acts to violence. Thank you for discussing this!
I also want to warmly thank you for your comments on pornography--they were spot on. I'm so glad that someone on the web posts the truth.
to be honest i learned more from reading the comments about your analysis than the actual thing. even though you wrote this years ago, maybe your mind has changed about horror films but that is just what parents and people who don't watch horror films would say. i think you wrote this analysis because it was easy to write and you think a lot of people would have agreed with you.
Your analysis is flawed. How can you describe the violence as against women and a few tolen men? Can you name a movie that doesnt have a body count that is about the same male/female? Often the woman is the main Heroine. Alien and Haloween are 2 horror movies where the women get to rock the movie. I think you are more concerned with presenting a political point of view than actual film analysis!
I don't understand how you can write a review about a genre you admittedly refuse to see a movie of...