Hand in your feminism card, please. Don't make us hurt you.

[trinityvixen]

Entertainment Weekly had an article titled "Horror Movies...and the women who love them!" last week. The notion that women like horror is not really a surprise to me, but then again, I self-select for friends who enjoy things that I enjoy, thus do a lot of my girl friends like horror. Just as many don't. However, the proportions of like to dislike as regards to horror are not gendered--guys are about evenly split on it, too.

On the whole, this news seemed to be, well, news to the author of the article. She struggles valiantly to find a reason women like horror. One very good explanation is the idea of the plucky final female protagonist, the one who, despite screaming like a champion and flailing wildly for 9/10s of the movie, butches up and takes on the killer in the end. I can see the attraction in that. Yes, the heroine is still required to be helpless for most of the movie, but she escapes being fridged, so that's something, right?

The author can't let that stand, however, since it's far to feminist-wank-y to possibly be true! Here is her more realistic explanation:
And frankly, it should be noted that just as young male moviegoers seem addicted to seeing stuff blow up, young females in the audience have a predilection of their own: They like to cuddle. Horror movies give teen girls in particular an excuse to inch a little closer to their beloved, as Hollywood learned years ago when The Ring and The Grudge grossed $129 million and $110 million respectively.

Ah ha. Yes. God forbid we appear feminist--or worse, assume that women are basically human at all, really--but trot out horrid stereotypes from a 1950s-era dating guide? You stay classy, EW.

Is it worth pointing out that women are no more innately scared of horror movies than men? How can one be more or less scared of a movie that premises itself on either Boo!-type scares or gross-outs unless one is just more practiced at seeing them? As ever, it comes down to social conditioning. Women aren't supposed to like horror (or to want to get physically intimate with men for that matter), ergo they have some inborn dislike for it unless dragged by men to see it.

Blow me.

Comments

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I don't like horror movies much at all. But I do quite like explosions, thank you. Also, not a fan of cuddling in the movie theater - I always end up with a backache.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I was gonna say, cuddling in a theater without those arm rests that go up is hard. Plus, for $14 a movie, that shit has to wait.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

I can't remember ever seeing any couple outright cuddling in a movie theater.

Ironic that you don't like Entertainment Weekly. I've felt like they've gone from a solid entertainment magazine to a shadow of US Weekly, and that the majority of their content is now directed at women. Not to sound whiny, but there was a time when there wasn't a Fashion and Style section in News and Notes, and I liked that Entertainment Weekly better, because it was about entertainment and entertainers, and not celebrities or pop culture.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It does seem like it's collapsed into being, like, People but with movie stuff. I don't take offense at the "for female stereotype" assumption either. Anyone who isn't a gossip-rag reader is still annoyed, male or female.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

At least we know what magazine to read if we want 18 articles about the latest "American Idol" development.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Or if you want to rehash gossip that's several years old already: The cover story last Friday was about that gay guy who left Grey's Anatomy. ::rolls eyes::

[saturn-shumba.livejournal.com]

There is a lot to talk about regarding women and horror, and she fucking chooses to talk about cuddling? What does cuddling have to do with horror films? What's next? A critique on Pixar movies that focuses solely on how much the kids in the audience fidget during the film?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Why not just trot out an article from forty years ago about how kids sure like going to the pictures these days? Would have taken less time.

[sols-light.livejournal.com]

Idiots. I'm thoroughly tired of people who think gender > person in a society firmly based on individual expression.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. Individuals like things! Women are not a homogenous group, nor or men. It's an utterly amazing fact, apparently.