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From Marion to Sydney: The Evolution of the Heroine in Horror Film
Antoinette Winstead
The evolution of the female in horror film from victim to heroine reflects a cultural shift in attitude towards women and the role they play in American society. Whether merely tolerated or wholeheartedly embraced, the shift in attitude towards what a woman can do has evolved with the changes in American culture, especially in the areas of sexual liberation (both private and political), equal rights, and family structure. The shift is most profoundly seen in film, most especially in the horror genre, wherein female and male stereotypes have typified its market success. However, it is also a genre, despite its stereotypes, that has changed with the times to reflect American culture in regards to the role that woman can and do play.
Cultural changes that have had a direct impact on the representation of women in the horror genre have been in the political, social and religious arenas. Political changes occurred through the Equal Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which helped to open up the marketplace for women, allowing them the freedom to choose between working in the home or joining the workforce. Social changes occurred with the counter-culture revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, which introduced the concept of free love’, although, it was not until the 1970s that women’s sexuality outside marriage became widely accepted’ (‘Sexuality and Modernity’, para. 1). During the 1960s and 1970s there also occurred a shift in religious attitudes that the Second Vatican Council addressed, recognising the profound shift in morality that was leading to ‘excessive self-love’ to the detriment of the family, thus creating a ‘plague of divorce’ (Fostering the Nobility’, para. 4). Marriage, as a result, became more secularised, viewed as a social contract rather than a religious sacrament, which, in turn, affected how divorce was viewed. Divorce became more acceptable in society and the stigma of the single parent household, headed by a woman, was lifted. The liberation and empowerment of women through these political, social and religious changes have created an ‘increased presence’ of women ‘in the public realm’, which the horror genre has recognised and embraced, albeit, not as quickly as society at large (‘Sexuality and Modernity’, para. 4).
The liberation and empowerment of women came with the introduction of ‘the Pill’ in 1960, which ushered in an era of sexual equality between men and women, and an era ‘of morality defined in terms of emotional freedom and sexual expression’ (Axelrod, p. 217). Marion Crane in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) represents this burgeoning idea of self-determination through sexual freedom, although, at the time of Psycho’s production, 1959, this idea was not whole-heartedly embraced, at least not for women. Premarital and extramarital sex was still taboo, and, as reflected in Psycho, a sin punishable by death. Despite the introduction of ‘this easy, effective method of contraception’, which ‘gave women more control over their own bodies’, the 1960s were still dominated by the patriarchal figure and women were still portrayed as ‘children’ needing to be rescued by a male, whether be it from their own bad behaviour or a monster (p. 216).
This type of male/female rescue is best exemplified in The Birds (1962), wherein the sexy, independent Melanie Daniels must be rescued by the handsome, virile Mitch Brenner. For the contemporary audience, this rescue seems unrealistic and somewhat comical; however, at the time, this was viewed as a societal norm. After all, women were just biding their time in the workforce until a good man came along to ‘rescue’ them.
Likewise, women, at the time, were still viewed as possessions and thus slave to the wants and needs of a man, again reflecting the idealised society norm established in 1940s, post-War World II. Therefore, when Rosemary Woodhouse’s husband in Rosemary’s Baby (1968) ‘sells’ her to the devil to further his success, it is conducted as a business transaction, no different than the bestowing of a dowry. And, despite Rosemary’s initial horror, she quickly, almost too quickly, falls into the roll of dutiful mother to her hell spawn. So, in a decade that saw the sexual revolution take a foothold, women in horror films were still victims to the norms constructed by a patriarchal society.
The beginning of the end of the idealised patriarchal American society came in the 1970s with the re-introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to Congress in 1972, the resignation of President Nixon in 1974, and the fall of Saigon in 1975. Although never ratified, the ideas expressed in the Equal Rights Amendment had a profound impact on the way women were treated in the workplace, allowing women to move up the ladder and earn a livable wage, thanks to mobilisation of organisations like the National Organisation for Women (NOW). Women could now more effectively provide for themselves without needing to rely so heavily upon a man to ‘save’ them. What furthered the idea of self-reliance was the Watergate scandal and subsequent resignation of President Nixon in 1974, which showed in no uncertain terms the unreliability of the ultimate father figure and savior – the President of the United States of America – thus bringing to an end the sanctity of the White House, leaving it exposed to ridicule and condemnation. Likewise, the fall of Saigon in 1975, which brought ‘the United States’ involvement in Vietnam…to an end,’ delivered another crushing blow to the American male ego, from which he is still reeling, because, for the first time, America had to concede defeat in battle (Axelrod, p. 274). These combined events emasculated and made impotent the ‘John Wayne’ persona of the American male established through social and political domination.
In 1973, with the release of The Exorcist, one can see the beginning of the emasculation of the American male in horror film. Chris MacNeil and her daughter Regan are still victims and are still saved by a male, but the male rescuer is substantially different from the one presented in earlier horror films. The rescuer is a priest – the ultimate emasculated male – who is unsure of his beliefs and his power to save those in need. Chris, on the other hand, is a liberated, confident woman raising a child, maintaining a household, and earning a substantial living without the help of a man. It is only out of desperation, having tried all her ‘rational’ options that she turns to the priest for help, thus marking a change in how women handle a problem. Rather than running straight to ‘Daddy’ for help, the 1970s heroine seeks a resolution for herself, and if she gets stuck then she seeks help, but only as a last resort. She is resolutely independent.
The idea of female independence is furthered in Halloween (1978), wherein Laurie Strode marks the beginning of the ‘kick-butt’ horror heroine. Although she still exhibits the stereotypical horror heroine traits – virginal, intellectual, and socially inept – she bravely strikes out on her own to find out what is happening to her friends and puts her life at risk to save the children under her protection. She resourcefully fights Michael, finding innovative ways to combat him, like using a coat hanger to stab him in the eye. She is a fierce combatant and it is only when all her means to fight him are exhausted that Mr. Loomis, representing the white male establishment, enters the picture and uses a gun to ‘kill’ Michael. But as Laurie and he soon discover, the gun, like Mr. Loomis, is ineffectual – impotent – and Michael is still on the loose.
The concept of the impotent white male is expounded upon in Alien (1979), with the introduction of Ripley, the iconic horror heroine – tough and smart – bordering on a sexlessness that harkens back to the idea of purity and strength found in Halloween (1978). She is also rational when all about her are irrational in their assessment of what needs to be done, serving as a voice of reason in the midst of chaos. Because of her rationality, she is able to single-handedly defeat the alien terrorising her and her fellow crewmembers, who one by one are picked off and killed. Ripley serves as bridge between the old victim/heroine of the 1960s and 1970s and the new heroine of the 1980s.
The 1980s saw an America obsessed with material gain at the expense of morals and values. The ‘me’ generation was in full swing, resulting in an escalation of divorce, which directly impacted women, because, in many households, working outside the home was no longer an option, it was a necessity. As a consequence, women became even more visible in the public arena of decision-making, establishing themselves as a social, political and economic force to be reckoned with, not easily placated with a pat on the head, as demonstrated by the actions taken by the heroines in the 1980s horror films.
While not completely free of the stereotypes established earlier in the horror films, the heroines of the 1980s represented a new breed of woman. Whether they fell into the category of the traditional housewife, like Wendy Torrance in The Shining (1980) or Diane Freeling in Poltergeist (1982), or into the category of the spirited, independent teenager like Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), or into the category of the widowed, breadwinner like Karen Barclay in Child’s Play (1988), these were women who were ‘doing it’ for themselves. As each of their stories unfolded, they learned quite quickly that they could only rely on themselves, reflecting a societal truth, occurring with the deterioration of the American family and faith in a political system that appeared to be failing. By the 1990s, this new breed of heroine becomes the norm in horror films, albeit with some very significant changes in character.
The 1990s were ushered in with significant political events directly influenced by American political muscle: (1) the ending of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1989; (2) the ending of apartheid in South Africa and the freeing of Nelson Mandela in 1991; and (3) Desert Storm in 1991, wherein ‘the United States led a coalition of 28 nations against the army and air force of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq’, ultimately driving the Iraqi forces out of Kuwait (Axelrod, p. 315). Thanks to Desert Storm, America had found an ‘antidote’ for its ‘so called “Vietnam syndrome”’ that had emasculated it 20 years earlier (p. 317). The Reagan/Bush era had defeated Communism once and for all, and started an international call for democracy around the world. Internationally, the United States looked on the verge of leading a ‘new world order’. Domestically, things were not looking so bright.
Domestically, in the early 1990s, America was still wrestling with issues of racial and sexual discrimination and nothing illuminated this more than the Confirmation Hearings of Judge Clarence Thomas in the fall of 1991, during which Anita Hill accused Judge Thomas of sexual harassment. At the same time as the Thomas Hill hearings, attorneys in Los Angeles ‘were preparing their defense of several [white] police officers accused’ of ‘beating Rodney King, a twenty-five year-old black man’ (Jennings, p. 537). The Thomas Hill hearings marked a change in how America viewed sexual behaviour and focused its attention ‘on the long suppressed issue of sexual harassment’, while the Rodney King hearing opened the eyes of mainstream America to the realities of racial discrimination still in operation (Jennings, p. 537).
The effect of these two events was two-fold. First, it demonstrated to women that they did not have to stand for sexual harassment in the workplace, leading to more stringent sexual harassment regulations. Second, it further eroded the masculinity of the white male, showing him instead as a racist, sexist thug with a gang mentality. The homogeneous Democratic image that the Reagan/Bush White Houses had so carefully orchestrated over 11 years was effectively obliterated in a few short months thanks to the 24-hour news networks and the voyeuristic nature of a hungry audience.
Horror films reflected this shift in American consciousness through the creation of Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Clarice Starling represented the Anita Hills of the early 1990s: ambitious, intelligent, tough, yet distinctly feminine and desirable. Unlike her predecessor, Ripley, Clarice was not asexual. She could do a man’s job and still be a woman. Clarice also represented the new voice of outrage in the workplace when she called her boss on the lack of respect he showed by refusing to speak about the particulars of a murder victim in front of her – a woman – thus lessening her authority in the sight of the other males working on the case. She demonstrated that the male gaze was to be expected in the workplace, but not accepted or tolerated. Clarice, like Ripley, served as a bridge between the heroine of the 1980s and the new improved heroine of the 1990s, exemplified in Scream’s (1996) Sydney Prescott.
Smart, savvy and sexually active, Sydney Prescott broke the stereotypical mould established by Marion Crane and the other hapless horror victims of the 1960s. The Madonna/Whore syndrome preached to women and reinforced through filmic images was effectively eliminated with Sydney, thus acknowledging the realities of American society, wherein pre-marital sex serves as the norm. Sydney also took a major leap forward in the role of the horror heroine by saving not only herself and another female, but by saving the other adult male victims, which included her father, rendering the white male completely impotent, leaving him with violence as his only recourse for his emasculation, as illustrated in the escalation of slasher films over the past 15 years. As a result of her more realistic moulding, Sydney’s character has given birth to a string of notable heroines like Julie James in I Know What You Did last Summer (1996) and Natalie Simon in Urban Legend (1997), as well as, Rachel Keller in The Ring (2002), Karen Davis in The Grudge (2004) and Alexa Wood in AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004).
Serving as the standard bearer for the contemporary horror heroine, Sydney represents the culmination of nearly 40 years of filmic and societal evolution. However, it should be acknowledged that there are still many Marion Cranes and Ripleys floating around in the horror film world. After all, it is still very much a man’s world, even if it is only in his imagination.
Works Cited
Axelrod, Alan and Phillips, Charles (1998) What Everyone Should
Know about the 20th
Century (Holbrook: Adams Media).
‘Fostering the Nobility of Marriage and the Family’,
Pastoral Constitution ‘Gaudium Et
Spes’, www.vatican.va, accessed 3/10/07.
Jennings, Peter and Todd Brewster (1998) The Century (New York: Double Day).
‘Sexuality & Modernity: The Sexual Revolution
of the 60’s’ www.isis.aust.com/stephan/writings/sxuality/revo.htm,
accessed 3/10/07.
