Breaking Bloody Binaries: Redefining Gender Roles in Horror
A study by the University of Southern California in 2017 found that fewer than 30% of mainstream cinema featured women and only 50% of films fulfilled the criteria of the Bechdel Test, which asks whether a film features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Horror was the exception and had shown women appear and speak as often as men. However, can this be said for non-binary people and those that do not conform to cisgender societal roles?
In 2021, it was revealed that the world’s favorite doll would be getting his own TV series. Though Chucky has seen numerous sequels and remakes over the years, he has never been shown in a TV format until now. Syfy's Chucky TV series takes place in middle America with a new cast of characters. In a teaser trailer, Chucky is seen sitting on a bed talking to Jake Wheeler, the unfortunate soul who discovered the possessed Good Guy doll at a yard sale. "You know, I had a Queer kid," Chucky says, referencing Seed of Chucky (2004) which saw the character become a dad to Glen, with his long-time partner Tiffany, making them a well-renowned couple in horror history. Chucky confirms that Glen is gender fluid, to which Jake asks if he is “cool with it” - almost in disbelief that the serial killer would be so accepting. "I'm not a monster Jake," Chucky replies, solidifying him as an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.
Don Mancini's influence has been greatly noted as a turning point for LGBTQ+ representation in horror. Finding out that Glen’s name was inspired by Glen or Glenda (1953), a docudrama loosely inspired by the story of Christine Jorgensen, the first American woman in history to undergo SRS surgery, further cements Don Mancini's intentions and passion for queer representation in horror. In Glen or Glenda, the narrator describes Glen as “not half man, half woman, but nevertheless man and woman in the same body.” This is mirrored in Seed of Chucky (2004), as Glen expresses being similarly torn in their gender identity saying, “Sometimes I feel like a boy. Sometimes I feel like a girl. Can I be both?”
Although Hollywood has given more representation of non-binary people in recent years, early gender fluid representation in the mainstream media was usually harmful, causing the general public to view those not conforming to western and societal gender norms in a negative light. Non-binary or gender-fluid characters have historically been portrayed as people with mental illness or preying upon the protagonist to be othered and villainised. A study done by researchers at St. Louis University found that trans and gender non-conforming individuals are considered scary because they threaten people’s personal identities. i.e. the “distinctiveness threat”. Because our personal identities are defined to such a degree by what groups we belong to, anything that changes that definition is perceived as a threat to our very own identity, causing fear and panic.
For the most part, gender in cinema is usually tackled in one of four ways as described by Logan Kissner: “gender as something to be overcome”, “gender as the punchline”, “gender as tragedy” and the one most commonly used in horror “gender as our worst nightmare”. Therefore, in order to create a truly terrifying horror plot or villain, they must directly threaten the protagonists’ and audiences’ identity and the heteronormative, cisgender status quo. Although much loved by the LGBTQ+ community it’s important to note that many classics such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) are not flawless text and are often viewed with rose-tinted glasses. Rocky Horror not only features a cisgender actor in the role of the gender non-conforming Frank N. Furter, but it also represents a character that is perceived as deranged, sexually manipulative and at times violent.
Another problematic and much debated example is that of Norman Bates in Psycho (1960). By dressing and living as his mother Norma, Norman threatens gender binaries, and thus creates a veritable monster to be terrified by cisgender viewers. In the final scenes psychiatrist, Dr. Richman gives an extensive monologue to the police officers, and the audience, as to what drove Norman to commit these murders. As the psychiatrist explains, he is not a “transvestite” he simply wants to embody the persona of a woman, specifically his mother, in order to keep her in some shape or form alive. In other words, the film rejects any hint of a gender fluid identity. Other examples of this villainization and at times transphobic behavior using gender binary as a tool for fear mongering or a “shocking twist” include Sleepaway Camp (1983) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Cyndy Hendershot examines this notion further of thenon-conforming “monster” in the gender fluidity of vampires. “It fails to signify any gender in any traditional way, it literally cannot cast a shadow or reflection, it cannot be seen by the person who posses it. The vampire haunts the two sex anatomical model by gender in flux”. This is most evident in both Bram Stoker‘s Dracula 1897 novel and the 1931 film of the same name. Dracula was written and placed in a time when the foundations of gender were put to questions. In 19th century Europe, tensions between conservative and modern factions raised questions concerning women’s role in both the home and in society - particularly in matters of sexuality, gender norms and gender presentation. The Victorian role model was challenged and finally transformed into modernism. Like the hunters bursting in on Mina’s “baptism of blood” in Dracula, the characters of Miles, Becky, Jack and Teddy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) when they enter the greenhouse pod both signify discovering “bodies” which do not fit into their two sex world.
As we move into the era of 70s and 80s slashers films and fan favorite franchises, the trope of a “final girl” begins to become a staple in horror cinema, the last sole survivor confronting the killer and usually the only one left to tell the tragic tale. According to Carol Clover and her research into gender and the modern horror film, she sees the final girl as “boyish... just as the killer, not fully masculine, she is not fully feminine”. This is fully embodied in the character of Ripley throughout the Alien franchise but most predominantly in the original 1979 film. Originally written as a man, Director Ridley Scott decided to change this and cast Sigourney Weaver in the iconic role as a fresh take for both sci-fi and to break the binary of what a final should “should” be. Throughout the four films we see Ripley in of the franchise, particularly in Alien she is quick thinking, innovative and androgynous in appearance, not needing to be saved by a man or be sexualised to triumph and succeed, as we so often see in both horror and sci-fi tropes from the “damsel in distress” to the “space bimbo”. When writing these characters for the cult franchise, Dan O’Bannon wanted to focus more on developing the H.R Giger inspired Xenomorph as a character and so when it came to the writing the crew, he left them more generic which included not specifying gender. A note on the script for Alien read: “The crew is unisex, and all parts are interchangeable for men or women.”
To further expand upon Clover’s notion of the final girl, we must recognise it is limited by its focus on a binary gendered relationship between the emasculated male monster and the masculinized final girl. Jeremy Maron (2015) proposes the construction of a “Final Subject”, to re-contextualize the “Final Girl” as a concept rather than a particular character with identifiably gendered characteristics.” In the 21st century, particularly after the early 2000s, we have seen a more genuine and positive representation of gender fluidity in horror, with roles being played by non-binary performers, adding a raw, real and genuine element to the genre, particularly for audiences who have been waiting to see themselves on screen for years..
For many of us, horror is a form of escapism and especially as queer people we often see parts of ourselves in the villains and monsters, we sympathise with their struggles as they are othered by the hetero-normative world they live in. In 2021 we have had Misha Osherovich play the role of Josh in Blumhouse’s Freaky (2021), a gory body shock horror with a very queer core. Discussing their experience of the role they said:
“Horror is often a genre about an outsider, it’s often a genre about people that are othered. So I think queer people naturally, obviously, feel othered and being queer is as much celebrating being in the other as it is often fighting against the challenges of being othered by society. I’m actually very excited now that we’ve very much opened up our view of what gender is, especially in Hollywood, to see gender non-binary, genderqueer, gender non-conforming roles, that kind of permeate scripts in a really impactful way.”
As a genre horror is known to tell tales other parts of cinema cast a shadow over, shining a spotlight on the reality and terror of everyday life, even in the obscure and fantastical tales there is always a small piece of real fear that audiences can relate to whether that be abandonment, abusive power dynamics, the unknown or gender roles to name but a few, the lived reality in itself is what makes a horror film truly terrifying.
If horror is meant to be an extension of the world we exist in then, how can we not be expected to showcase the real and honest stories of those most marginalized too?
Bibliography
Logan Kissner, A Timeline of Transgender Horror, Medium, 2020
Clover, Carol J. Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, 1992
Michaela Barton, How ‘Alien’ Queered the Binaries of Traditional Gender, FlippedScreend, 2020
Cyndy Hendershot, Vampire and Replicant: The One-Sex Body in a Two-Sex World, 1995
Vincent Bec, Don Mancini's Queer Inclusion, Gayfully Dreadful, 2019
AlFares, Fawwaz A. Infestation, Transformation, and Liberation: Locating Queerness in the Monsters of 'Body Horror', George Washington University, 2016
Christina Bohme, Gender in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', 2006
Beth Younger, How Horror Films Are Bringing More Gender Equality to Hollywood, Yes Magazine, 2017