Answering the Question - Section B: British Film and Genre

For Section B: British Film Topics - British Film and Genre, I want your essay to focus on the ways that the representation of women in British Horror films has changed over time.

The first half of your essay should focus on the ways that women were represented in Dracula (1958) directed by Terence Fisher, whilst the second half of your essay should suggest that the representation of women has significantly changed within the British horror genre - you should use Neil Marshall's The Descent (2005) as an example of a film that shows just how far the representation of women has changed in horror films. In the second half of your essay, you may also want to make reference to films such as Mum and Dad (Steven Sheil, 2008), Triangle (Christopher Smith, 2009), Eden Lake (James Watkins, 2008) and Donkey Punch (Oliver Blackburn, 2008) when discussing the emergence of the final girl character type (i'll put up a post showing how to incorporate these films into a brief paragraph about the final girl, that can be added towards the end of the second half of your essay).

Look out for future posts that discuss the representation of women in both Dracula and The Descent in detail - you already have notes on this BUT I have included video clips and detailed descriptions to help you when constructing your points (remember, that for every point you make you must have DETAILED examples from the films to support your point).

The notes I have given you on British Horror include many ideas and issues outside of the representation of women within the genre - whilst you may want to mention some of these points, your focus should always be on the ways that the representation of gender has changed. Many of these other points about genre may well be condensed into an introduction - this is particularly important if there is not a question that explicitly references gender.

There is usually a question in the exam that explicitly references gender - the question may actually use the words "representation" and "gender" - if this is the case, then simply write the essay you have prepared, outlining in your introduction that the representation of women has changed in the 50 years between the release of Dracula and the release of The Descent. Once you are happy with a brief introduction, write about the differing ways that women are presented in Dracula (with detailed examples/descriptions from the film).

In the second half of your essay, write about the ways women are presented in The Descent - mention clothing and props that rather than sexualise or objectify the women, presents them in a stronger, more independent (more stereotypically masculine) way. Here, you must have a detailed discussion of the final girl character type - with detailed examples from the film (and maybe references to the other British horror films mentioned above). You have good notes on the final girl - but you may want to click on the links below for more information.

Wiki Definition for the Final Girl

The Final Girl - Gender in Horror

Examples of this kind of question, taken from previous exam papers, include:

"How are either female or male characters represented in the horror or comedy films you have studied for this topic?"

"Using particular sequences from the films you have studied for this topic, explore the representation of key characters."

"How is gender represented in the horror or comedy films you have studied for this topic?"

This kind of question comes up frequently, so it is likely that you will get a question that directly references gender representation. Even the ones above that do not say the word "gender" will ask you to discuss certain characters - here, you just outline that the characters you want to discuss are the women - then just write the essay as planned.

It is also possible, however, that you may get other types of questions - I still want you to write an essay about the ways that the representation of women has changed BUT you may need to tweak parts of your essay (particularly the introduction) OR turn the question around so that you can write the essay you have planned. Here's how you do it.

The other common question that appears will ask you to discuss the ways that the films you have studied follow OR break from the typical conventions of the genre. 

Here, you need to outline in your introduction that there are a number of similarities between Dracula and The Descent in terms of genre (for example the isolated settings of Dracula's castle and the log cabin/cave in The Descent, the use of eerie non-diegetic music in both films to create suspense and to unsettle the audience, the monster character type of Dracula and the Crawlers, the fact that the intended effect of both films is to scare the audience) BEFORE stating that there is one major difference between the two films in terms of genre conventions - the ways that women are represented in the films. Now you can go on and write an essay that focuses on the differing representations of gender!

Examples of this type of question, taken from previous exam papers, include:

"What are some of the ways that the films you have studied for this topic are typical of their genre?"

"Explore how the films you have studied for this topic use genre conventions?"

Try to write some practice essays for each type of question - ones that explicitly reference "gender" and ones that reference "genre" (which will, therefore, need tweaking).

Finally - avoid any of the questions that ask you to discuss what is typically British about the films you have studied. If a question asks you to discuss the "messages and values" of the films however, this can easily be adapted so that you write an essay about the ways that gender representation has changed.

Email me any practice essays to alexmorphey@btinternet.com, and i'll mark them as soon as possible!