Reaction to Source Citations

1.) "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)" by Laura Mulvey

"The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation. This alien presence then has to be integrated into cohesion with the narrative. As Budd Boetticher has put it:
     "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the
one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels
for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the
slightest importance."

-This citation covers information that I feel is critical in understanding for my research paper. Mulvey talks about how the role of a woman in films is necessary while being unnecessary at the same time. Without these women, the storyline really wouldn't lose any importance but it would take away the sexual appeal that the audience so desires.


2.) "Men, Women, and Chain Saws" by Carol J. Clover

"Films are designed to align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the female tormented--with the suffering, pain, and anguish that the "final girl," as Clover calls the victim-hero, endures before rising, finally, to vanquish the oppressor."

-The angle that Clover took while writing this article on women in horror films is interesting compared to some of the older views that are documented. She coined the term "final girl" that is often used in horror films up until this day. Although a woman survives every now and again, that doesn't change the stereotypes that are portrayed by women in these films. By having a more modern view on horror films, I will be able to go more in depth for the research paper.