Gender Representation in Horror and Thriller

In horror and thriller films both genders are stereotyped.

Male

The male in a horror or thriller film usually plays the strongest character. They play tough characters and show very less emotion. The hero of the film will usually be played by a man. They tend to take on very active roles in these types of movie and we focus more on the males actions. Males are portrayed as much more dominant in the media and around 20 years ago the men outnumbered women 2:1. You usually have males of all ages in films whereas you normally only get young women in films. The male will sometimes have a sexual attraction about him, including a good physique. They play an independent character who does everything by themselves, this is known as the 'lone hero'. Men usually take the role as a team leader, so this makes them very brave. In films such as 'Taken', Liam Neeson plays the main character trying to find his daughter. He leads everything and shows himself as a brave character by doing everything he can to get his daughter back. He is also shown as very intelligent being able to find her, and his wife is shown as clueless and doesn't do much to help.  We focus on the males actions more and study what they are doing in more detail. 

Female

Females are portrayed in a very different way to men, in horror and thriller films. They can sometimes be seen as an 'object' in films, mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. They are always presented as beautiful and much more emotional compared to men. They take the role as a helper, they are never usually the leader of a group. We often see women in the nude, or wearing very revealing clothes whereas we never usually see men like that. The main female protagonist can turn into the final girl and are therefore present until the end of the film. Women are usually seen alone in horror films. You usually see young female actresses, unlike men where you have a range of ages. The 'final girl' is always the 'virginal girl' and sometimes slightly masculine. Usually there names are unisex  and they dress quite masculine compared to the other glamorous actresses who are usually injured or killed. Such as in the film 'Halloween' the 'final girl' is called Laurie which is a unisex name. She is conveyed as virginal and innocent, she also dresses quite masculine.