Representation of women in cabin in the woods

By Natalka Warner

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

• Jeremy Tunstall’s four main character roles for women were domestic, consumer, sexual and marital.

• Only one of these roles is present in cabin in the woods as Julies is represented as almost solely as a sexual object. This also helps to support the male gaze theory as it suggests that blonde women in horror films are most likely to die first.

2. How is Dana typical of Clover's 'Final Girl' theory?

• There are two final girl theories that exist, the first theory if that the final girl gets saved and that’s how she stays safe and doesn’t die the other if that the final girl survives because she fights back against the evil.

• Dana is a mixture of the two as although she fights back Marty does save her at the end from the werewolf and from the zombie.

• Dana is overall typical of a final girl as though out the film she pays attention to what's going on and restrains from sex in the film.

• Dana also makes herself seem androgenise as she always where’s three quarter length jeans and wears a lose top and cardigan which again is blue which normally represents males, furthermore blue connotes seriousness, knowledge and integrity.

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

horror archetype?

• Jules undergoes a physical change as she changes the colour of her hair to blonde this courses the mental transformation to happen as the facility have put chemical into the hair die that in order to make Jules act more like a “blonde bimbo” so to say; as she acts more sexual and stupid.

4. Is Mulvey's Male Gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how?

• Mulvey’s male gaze theory is slightly exemplified as the guys at the facility all gather round to watch Jules getting undressed and Holden watches Dana start to get undressed before stopping her however you could also say that this is true of Dana as she starts to watch Holden.

5. when In the film is the audience made to be voyeurs and why is it important in regards to representation of character?

• The audience of cabin in the woods are made to be voyeurs which is someone who gets sexual pleasure out of watching others get undressed without the person knowing that they are being watched.

• The twice when the audience are forced to be voyeurs are when Dana is getting undressed and when curt and Julies are in the woods as the audience are made to watch them and join in with the people at the facility weather they want to or not.

6. Are the women in the cabin wood objectified and are they there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfil another role/purpose?

• Most of the women in cabin in the woods are there for a purpose for example Dana is there for the final girl and the facility women are shown as strong independent women however Julies is shown to be a dumb blonde.