A1. Explore the key representations in your chosen texts.
It’s fair to say that since the time my first chosen text (Dracula, Terence Fisher, 1958) was released representations of women, men and vampirism as a whole have changed within the film industry. Using Dracula and two more recent case studies (Twilight, Catherine Hardwicke, 2008 and Lesbian Vampire Killers, Phil Claydon, 2009) I will explore how different the representations within the films are and how they have been affected by society.
All of the films have a vampire sub genre but each has a different main genre. Dracula is predanwantly a gothic horror film and this affects the representations within it in horror films we traditionally have good vs. evil and this is the case in Dracula. The vampires are represented as the evil characters and form the group of antagonists. The humans are represented as the good characters and form the group of antagonists. The main antagonist, Dracula, is represented as a powerful man; this is suggested by his entrance scene in which he shot at the top of a grand staircase looking over Harker.
Using vampirism as an analogy for sexual desire and the bite to the neck as a visual metaphor for erotic penetration we can see how the society at the time the film was made affects the representation of vampires. Dracula is represented as a sexual predator he plays on Lucy and seduces her and then attempts the dame with Mina. This shows how society feared expressing sexuality.
This fear is also realized in the representation of women within the film. Dracula’s bride is dressed revealingly (for that time) in her first scene. This makes her representation promiscuous. When she attempts to seduce Harker and we learn she is a vampire this attaches all of her negative traits (promiscuous, manipulative, sexual predator) to vampirism and concludes the negative representation of it within this film.
Society has affected other representations within Dracula. It is set within a male dominated society. This affects how both men and women are represented. We can explore these representations using binary opposites. The Madonna/whore complex is important within this film. Dracula’s bride and Lucy are seen as promiscuous and it shows how men feared women who explore their sexuality. Therefore, they are punished with a violent staking. Mina, on the other hand, is represented as a ‘good’ wife is tricked into being bitten and she wants to stay faithful to Arthur, as a result of this she is rewarded and is eventually saved by Van Helsing and Arthur.
The active/passive binary also helps to understand the representations within the film. Men are represented as the active decision makers, and drive the narrative forwards, such as Van Helsing deciding to go to Dracula’s castle, and women are represented as the passive females who rely on the men to save them (Mina).
The representations of gender in Twilight are very different. The film is predominantly a romance with a vampire sub genre and some element of a 'coming of age’ drama. The director (Catherine Hardwicke) and the original novelist (Stephanie Meyer) are both women. This women’s perspective majorly effects the representations of men. The Madonna/whore complex is reversed within the film and we apply it to the males instead. Edward is represented as the ‘Madonna’. Bella offers to let him bite her at the prom, but he refuses. Again, using the bite as a metaphor for penetration, this shows how society had accepted people are tempted to explore their sexuality but those that resist will be named ‘Madonna’s and ultimately be the protagonists.
James on the other hand is the ‘whore’. He smells Bella in the baseball scene and he immediately wants her. He is represented as the sexual predator. He is eventually killed and burnt, which shows how the Madonna/whore complex has still remained in the film industry.
Because this film is a romance, the main male protagonist, Edward, is represented as the ‘perfect man’ from a female perspective. He has typical feminine traits such as sensitivity and his romantic actions towards Bella (the writing of her lullaby). However he is still represented as an active male character as he saves Bella in several ‘damsel in distress’ scenes such as when she is cornered by four drunken men, in the path of a skidding van and being attacked by James.
The male gaze in this film is also reversed and we are to look at Edward when he enters the cantine, in an attractive way. The slow motion aids this. It shows how the female perspective of the film has altered the representation of vampirism in general is not represented as being as being so horrific as it is in Dracula. The Cullen’s are represented as caring and ‘good’. They are antagonists. Dr Carlisle is represented as intelligent, generous and caring- characteristics we would not normally associate with vampirism. Being a vampire is being represented as a cool, mysterious, outsider.
Because LVK is a comedy, many typical representations are exaggerated for comic effect. Scenes that involve the male gaze are done very ‘cheesily’ such as the scene when the four girls are jumping over the gate in slow motion. It is exaggerating the fact that women are, nowadays, represented as sexual objects there to be looked at by men. The Madonna/whore complex remains, but again it is exaggerated, in the form of Lottie and her three friends (Heidi, Anke and Trudy) Lottie is represented as a ‘Madonna’. She is a virgin and more respectfully dressed than the other three, who are more promiscuous and skimpily dressed are taken by Carmilla.
This film, as well as the other two, treats vampirism as an analogy for sexual desire. Lesbianism is represented as an idealized male fantasy with the use of the ‘erotic; girl on girl scenes. Fletch is represented as a typical ‘ladish’ male. He is insensitive and objectifies women. He says, ‘my kinda girl, big tits, doesn’t say much’ and this represents him as a little shallow. However, due to the films main genre being a comedy it is seen as amusing and the film gets away with its sexism. Fletch’s boss and Jimmy’s ex-girlfriend are represented as ‘bad’ people. Although his boss had a reason to fire Fletch, we still see her as a bitch, this shows how in the male dominated society of the film, women in power are disliked.
So, although all three films have representations of men, women and vampires they all approach them very differently. Several factors influence these representations society and genre being two of the main ones. The films show how society has changed along with our attitudes through their representations and Twilight is particular shows how the female perspective within a film produces very different representations, than a film produced from a male perspective such as Dracula or Lesbian Vampire Killers.
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