Gender: The aim of my horror film trailer is to scare whilst marketing for the film I am making. Main areas of
representation in media include the representation of Gender. Within my trailer I will be representing the
female gender through the use of my central characters, these being my protagonist: Poppy who is being
constantly tormented by this demon character. Similarly to Jessica my secondary character who is also
experiencing similar things as they work together to stop this and investigate into how to put an end to the
series of horrifying events. The female genders are usually under represented in the horror film genre as they
personify the Propps character of the princess in his narrative theory. They are portrayed as being weak and
frail and usually the victim who needs saving, due to the opinions of women before the 1960/70s feminist
movement which questioned the women's position within the patriarchal society. Horror films usually enforce
this old fashioned ideal that women should be associated with home, and domestic spheres. However just by
having my protagonist as a female it instantly shows a positive representation due to the central focus being
on the emotional journey of this female character, showing the significance of this character and her gender.
This opposes the theory that Laura Mulvey created in 1975 as she said that the presence of women in media
is solely for the purpose of display rather than a narrative function however the storyline of my film follows
the emotional journeys of my female characters. This however may be contradicted due to what happens to
my characters as they seem helpless in the trailer as they are loosing a battle against a spirit/demon who is
tormenting them. This demons gender is left unknown to the audiences however alternative readings could
suggest that the demon is a male due to the male gender seemingly represents the hegemonic idea that
males are the more dominant of the sexes. However due to the desire to empower women I want to have an
ambiguous ending to not only engage audiences into wanting to see the film but also leave the idea open that
the female gender is of importance and challenge the stereotypical view also suggested my Laura Mulveys
male gaze theory.