Representation Of Gender (Femininity And Masculinity) In Kiss Of The Vampire

Question 1

What was the Hammer Horror Style of film and how does this link to how gender is represented?

Answer 1

• Hammer reinvented classic horror movie characters (such as; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf, The Mummy) but adding in new twists.
• As time went on the studio found themselves in greater competition with American studios who had bigger budgets and better special effects.
• Hammer retaliated by increasing the sexual content of their films, they had more nudity than most horror films.

Question 2

How is gender represented through processes of selection and combination?

Answer 2

There is a very intentional selection of which characters to include on the main image and how to represent them.

For example, Dr Ravna, the Male predator/ monster is fighting the bats and clutching his lifeless and helpless female victim.
Gerald Hancourt, on the other hand, is helpless and appears to be under the control of the femme fatale vampire Tania.

• The male villain and innocent, weak female victim = reinforces active stereotypes of gender.
• However, the female villain and innocent and helpless man = challenges active gender stereotypes.

The viciousness shown and helplessness shown with these characters and binary opposites are shown by quite exaggerated gestures (eg. The man with his head thrown right back, the women with her fist in the air and teeth gnarled).

Question 3

What are the potential social and cultural reasons for the choices made in the representation of gender?

Answer 3

• The 1960s saw a social movement regarding sexual and gender politics, of which was the liberation of women.
• This decade gave rise to the Women’s Liberation Movement (women were becoming increasingly dissatisfied, post-war, with being restrained/ restricted to domestic roles), the legalisation of abortion, the contraceptive pill etc.
• More women than ever were entering the paid workforce and sixties feminists were campaigning for equal pay.
• It was also the time of the ‘Swinging Sixties’ which was characterised by the ‘sexual revolution’ an end to the 1950s repression and a time of more sexualised clothing, music and dancing, especially for women.

Question 4

How do the representations of gender reflect social and cultural changes/ fears?

Answer 4

• The femme fatale character was a reflection of the male fears of the time, that giving women more sexual freedom and power might mean that men were becoming emasculated.
• The ‘good wife’ Marianne is turned into a sexual deviant when she is changed into a vampire, this also projecting anxieties surrounding female liberation.

Question 5

How do the representations of gender reflect women and their fight from oppression?

Answer 5

• There are female vampires, females don’t just hold the role of the ‘damsel in distress’ anymore. This is linking to Feminism and liberation/equality for women.
• The female vampire could act as a role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as equals of men, whatever the narrative or environment.

Question 6

How is femininity represented on the poster?

Answer 6

• The costuming is quite exposed and sexualised, thus representing femininity as quite objectified and sexualised. Which links to the social context of the female sexual revolution and the ‘Swinging Sixties’.