Dracula Question

DRACULA-Question
Plan- Why are females inferior & sexualised beings
cannot fend for themselves and need physically/mentally protecting
The have no power or authority over the counter partners
Traditional house wife's (1958 time period main stream amount of women didn't work/ tended the children)
The rights of women where dismissed/ time film was set
Women represented as slightly provocative- Sexualised features e.g clothing, typography
Ties in with codes and conventions of a virgin survives (purity)

Women are perceived in this film as being inferior and to a certain degree helpless in context to Dracula as the type of cinematography is used to implement power and authority. Throughout the film the women are positioned to the audience in a low and slightly canted angle shot to display the dominance over their counter partners. This displays to an extent that women are incapable and powerless to defend themselves and therefore need males (Dracula) to fend for them.

In addition there is elements of genderistic rivalry as we envelop the idea that women are weaker and have a lower class of authority within society as females are subjected to obey and carry-out tasks which they are treated to a degree as a "rag doll". This has been proven as we witness Dracula toss the Vampire women as an object across the fore-room.

However in relation to the "Male Gaze Theory" this has been heavily applied as we are subjected to the film from a male prospective and this therefore creates commonality of female nudity which helps solidify that women are sexualised beings. Although, this theory also relates to the way in which the female characters have been presented and therefore we can clearly identify traits such as the tone of language and costume to how this makes them personalized property to the dominant male genders, this can be identify with the relationship between Arthur and Mina Holmwood.The second point that I stumbled upon was how women where represented as traditional house wife's and are incapable of maintaining a job. This showed a proportion of egotistical behavior towards the females in this film as it was set in 1958 and therefore has been created shortly after world war 2. This carried the traditional features that women purely had one purpose and that was to stay and home and provide for their family and children.

Similarly, females are also depicted as being non-resistant and therefore this has been supported by Dracula being able to bite them and the female characters unable to escape the grasp of Dracula. This implements signs of weakness and debilitation as they are in some circumstances in the guidance of male dominance.

The last distinction that has clearly been shown in The Horror Of Dracula is the stereotypical roles that both genders usually abide by. This film clearly substitutes the women into playing a role of a "House Wife" and displays obvious female characteristics such as tending to the children and keeping the house hold in order. However this is the complete opposite to the males perception of characteristics as they are seen as hero's embracing danger and solving the narrative making them seem superior to the females.

On the contrary characters are represented in terms of genre characteristics, this has therefore been used within this horror film as we see the "helpless" women unable to defend themselves when danger occurs. This theme has consistent occurred throughout the duration of the film as all three women get attacked and non other them can protect themselves against count Dracula and therefore displays elements of inferior qualities and also sexualisation as males have to accompany them. This interlinks with the Male Gaze theory as the story is perceived from a male prospective and therefore these small representations are amplified to evoke an opinion on the females with in the film.

Lastly the sound used helps display a sense of authority as Dracula does not speak throughout most of the film but his on-screen presence is on a large magnitude as a type of perpetuated sound helps establish Dracula's arrival and his authority and importance he possess.

Finally, this film abides by codes and conventions as it supplements obvious traits such as the pure (virgin) survives against all odds. This also in ties with the rule of 3 which means that events happen in 3s and this has been displayed as there was 3 attacks and 3 main characters and so forth. by following these codes and conventions it has enabled the film to meet horror genre criteria's and therefore like most horror film exploit females into being sexualised and "desperate" for survival.