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Anon-fickleflake t1_itw3egg wrote

Many years ago I took an undergrad feminist film theory course focused on horror that mostly went over my head at the time. It covered a lot of issues with horror films like female protagonists having to transform to take on typically masculine characteristics in order to succeed, the femme fatale, vaginina dentata, and so on.

Anyway, my question is this: horror films have obviously improved since the 80s, but are there still many issues in the depiction of non-male or 'other' characters?

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Toil_AndTrouble OP t1_itw4hhy wrote

You are right that things are improving. But there still are a lot of issues. For one, women and people of color are often the victims, and sometimes the violence against them can feel like a disturbing fantasy, which I do not like to see on screen. Also, there are some real issues (for me anyway) with "strong female characters." I like to see women and nonbinary and queer characters as the hero, but I don't love that we still define "strong" as "like a straight white man." But things are changing. It helps to seek out movies by women and creators who aren't white. The Babadook showed a great example of female strength. And Nia DaCosta's Candyman is breaking that stigma too. -LK

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Anon-fickleflake t1_itw6jg0 wrote

That's a really interesting point. I often hear my students enjoying novels or shows because of the strong female characters, but I will have to dig a little deeper and ask them about what traits they are using to define "strong". I am actually surprised that is still very prevalent in all genres and not just horror, I'll have to pay more attention.

Thanks for the recommendations!

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Toil_AndTrouble OP t1_itw6u6m wrote

I'd love to see how they define strong! Nothing wrong with a strong woman--I just want to see strength shown in many different ways (not just physically). -LK

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