The Cabin In The Woods

What were Jeremy  Tunstall's 4 character roles for women and do they apply to The Cabin In The Woods?

• Domestic
• Sexual
• Marital
• Consumer

Tunstall looked at a wide range of existing research that had been carried out on gender representation in the media. Similar numbers of men are fathers and husbands, the media has much  less to say about these male roles. Men are presented in nude and their martial or family status is not quoted in irrelevant contexts. 1992 research shows that on screen males outnumber woman 2-1. Many groups of woman are still largely absent in all sections of the media, e.g Black woman, lesbian woman, and older woman. Later researched showed that men and woman appeared equally as primary characters on TV adverts, however;

• Males are still significantly more likely than females to be shown having an occupation
• Males are more likely than females to be shown away from home and out of doors
• Males are still more likely to be depicted as authorities and females as consumers, though less so than in the past.

There is also never any guarantee that the 'process' between the decade will stay, process is never one way every generation struggles over gender ideology and sometimes things even step backwards.

How is Dana typical of Clover's 'Final Girl' theory? Please mention: the ending; Dana's appearance and her actions during the film.

Dana is typical of Clover's theory because plain and simply Dana is seen as the virginal character and the most boyish. Compared to Jules (the whore) she is very manly and nothing like the typical teenage American girl. She reads, and unlike Jules, Dana fights back against the horror that's going on around her. Another point in Clover's theory is that the final girl is rescued much like Laurie Strode in Halloween. Marty stops the zombie from killing Dana and so they're able to get revenge on the people that had done this to them. Dana also escapes death many times in the film atleast 3/4 times this is again another point in Clover's theory. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre the final girl actually kills the psycho that is trying to kill her. Dana also kind of does this as she unleashes the monsters that are kept in the facility onto the people that have killed her friends so she infact kills her killers like Vantia (Stretch) Brock.

Jules undergoes mental and physical transformations during the film, what are they and how do they cause her to become a horror archetype?

Jules right at the start of the film is talking about her hair that she has recently dyed, of course the hair colour she has dyed it to is the typical slutty teen blonde. This automatically makes her a horror archetype as there pretty much always is a blonde girl that is classed as the 'whore' which is killed. We also find out that the hair dye she has used had a chemical in it to make her act more like a 'dumb blonde' for the ritual. We then see this has started to work when she was dared to kiss the wolf on the wall and Marty picks up on that no one has ever acted like this before. The scene where she is also dancing in front of the fire is also unusual as again Marty says hes seen everyone drunk before and no one has ever acted like this, implying the hair dye is working. When Jules and Curt are outside the 'operaters' release a pheromone that makes her want to have sex with Curt outside so they're able to let the zombies kill Jules. She is the first to die and the 'dumb blonde' character is nearly always the first to die in horror films.

Is Mulvey's Male Gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how? Think about framing, camera angles and POV shots.

There are a few examples of the Male Gaze theory used in The Cabin In The Woods. One of these is when Jules is in front of the fire place, they use a low angle shot when showing this, the reason for this is so you only really see her body and not her face. This is saying that people are only there to see her body and don't care what her personality is like the camera angle and what shes doing make her look like an object and not an actual person. There is also a POV shot from Curt's view when Jules is in the woods basically naked. We see him looking at her breasts, again you can only see her body and barely any/none of her face and its another low angle shot. The 'Operators' are also watching her when she is naked on top on Curt which backs up the fact that she is only there to look at. She is being treated as an object, a piece of eye candy for the audience that are watching the film. When she is walking towards the wolf, the camera starts off at her feet and slowly works up to the body. This is showing her as a seductive character and once again you do not see her face in the shot only her body. She is not only treated but she is also shown as an object so yes, Mulvey's Male Gaze theory is used/exemplified in the film.

In the film we, as an audience, are made to be voyeurs; when does this happen and why is it important in regards to representation of character?

Within many points throughout the film we are made to be voyeurs, and by becoming voyeurs we can then make assumptions on the representation of the characters. At one point in the film Dana is looking at herself in what she thinks is just a simple mirror however as the audience we know that Holden is on the other side watching her. These two characters are seen as the virginal characters of the film and we assume nothing will happen. When Dana starts to undress Holden immediately rushes into her room to tell her that he can in fact see her keeping the virginal status intact. POV shots are used so we can see it from the view of the characters. In the woods when Jules and Curt are about to have sex we see Jules from the point of view of Curt half naked with her breasts out. This gives us a representation of Jules as she is now seen as the 'slutty' blonde haired character. Another POV is also used when she is walking towards the wolf to complete her dare, the camera slowly moves up her body like the rest of the gang are all looking at her in this way. There are techniques used in the film to make us voyeurs and this gives us representations of the characters.


(Briefly) summarise the way women are represented in The Cabin in the Woods. Are they objectified and there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfil another role/purpose?

Woman are represented like objects in this film, which is typical for horror movies. In this film in particular you have the 'slutty' blonde girl that's always first to die and is normally the eye candy for the heterosexual males watching the film. We see Jules half naked in a forest on top of Curt, we also see her breasts which again is eye candy for the men watching the film. Out of the two woman in the film we even see the nerdy/geeky girl Dana start to get undressed however its stopped so we still see her as the virginal character. Plain and simply the woman are put in to the film (like object or props) to get more people watching the film this is what Jules is for. Dana however has another purpose in the film as she is the virginal character she must be the final character as she has to finish the film. Her purpose in the film is to foil the killers plot and kill the killer or escape from the killers plan, although Dana is also used as an object in the film as even though she's not quite as 'sexy' as Jules, the woman playing the part of Dana is still slim and good looking so both woman in the film are used as objects in the film purely for heterosexual males in the film.