Vera Dika narrows down the slasher sub genre into 3 categories
-
Catharsis: "A release of fears about
bodily injury or from political or social tensions of the day"
-
Recreation: "An intense, thrill seeking,
physical experience similar to a roller coaster"
- Displacement: "Audiences sexual desires are displaced onto the characters in the film"
- Displacement: "Audiences sexual desires are displaced onto the characters in the film"
These are some breakdowns of different aspects of the sub-genre...
Hero/Heroine
- Usually female
- Final girl concept (See representation of gender post)
- Quiet and nervous
- First to notice missing friends
- Doesn’t indulge in illegal material
- Refuses alcohol, drugs and sex
- No rebellious behaviour
- Aware of killer while friends are having fun
- Ends up fighting the killer
Killer
- Usually male
- Hidden identity
- Concealed by mask or lighting/camera
- Doesn't speak much
- Able to withstand injury
- Childhood or previous trauma
- Handheld weapon; knife, axe, chainsaw etc.
Victims
- Young, usually teen
- Stereotypically attractive
- Indulge in illegal material
- Alcohol, drugs and sex
- Easy prey for the killer
- Violence usually occurs during sexual activity
First Victim
- Minority character
- Usually expects to die
Adults
- Unaware of killers attacks
- Sometimes killed themselves
- Usually away (holiday/work)
Police
- Slow-witted, don't trust emergency calls
- Sometimes laugh off the threat
- Sometimes turn up too late
- Generally shown as useless
Stock Situations
- Killer experiences trauma
- Young group guilty of something
- Killer's aggressive nature revived
- Killer identifies guilty group
- Group take no warning
- Killer stalks group
- Members of group killer
- Hero/heroine sees murders
- Hero/heroine sees killer
- Hero/heroine battles killer
- Killer wounded in battle
- Hero/heroine survives
- However is not free
Violence
- High level of violence
- Iconic to slasher
- Less emphasis on plot/character
- More emphasis on violence
- Plot constructed around violent scenes
Well done - well researched. I know that I said bullet points were okay, but a little more analysis than this would be good! summarise at bottom what is key in the genre if you were to choose it for your production,
ReplyDeleteReally good research Dan, I liked the link back to your previous post about gender. However, as Miss Fernandez said, try to write some more in paragraphs and maybe include some images or YouTube clips.
ReplyDeleteGood points made and mood board looks very professional. I really liked the link back to your other post on representation of gender. Possibly try not to be so brief and elaborate on your blogs. Moreover, you could add a few images or embed a YouTube clip.
ReplyDelete