Film Studies proposal
For this unit I will be exploring genre and audience where I will be focusing on the horror genre and how the audience reacts to certain situations or decisions if placed in a horror movie character's feet.
My question is: "How stupid are people in horror films?" from an audiences reaction I will be looking at certain films and certain character that displays fitting characteristics to my question, in every film you get the stereotypical character's which gives hints to the audience on what kind of character they are which gives them character development which is important if you want a successful film.
For this question I have a variety of film selection but the main ones that I will look at will be: Cabin in the woods, The Last house on the left and potentially add known slasher horrors such as films including Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger I will also be looking at The hills have eyes (remake).
I have chosen these as my focus films because these are films that I have seen and I know have certain situations/characters that fit my research question.
I chose Cabin in the Woods because this film is basically all about your stereotypical characters; a group of college kids who's personalities link to rituals.
I have chosen Last house on the left because apart from looking at horror films containing various character's and basing them on stereotypes The last house on the left only certain recurring characters. For this film I will be focusing on certain scenes within the film that define "stupidity" and from an audience reaction you will not be impressed with what they intend to do or actually do, for example one of the characters called Paige I thought made a few stupid decisions such as: accepting offers from a stranger and how she handles a pressured situation which ultimately leads to her fate.
The typical slasher movies contain Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger always has scenes where characters just plainly fit the subject matter, from an audience perspectives these type of films display certain audience expectations such as seeing characters witness the antagonists but just doesn't believe the horror happening until it's too late...
The hills have eyes is another film I will look at because I think instead of seeing our main "human" protagonists making stupid mistakes we can witness and discuss the mistakes the antagonists of the film make in the hills have eyes, in this film the antagonist are cannibalistic mutants who aren't brightest bulbs but have ferocious strength and stamina.
I chose this subject matter because horror is my favourite genre in film and I have seen quite a lot of horrors over the past years and a common conception that occurs in horrors is the decisions the character/s in the film are put to do in a certain way. Why?
I reckon directors have a set visuality on how their film wants to look but it's exactly the reason, there must be a purpose in why the subject matter occurs. Because of this being a recurring subject films typically have them stereotypical characters who suits to survive in a horror and those that just rely on others and lead to their demise, recently though horror films have the element of surprise by having characters that have enough stupidity to survive the horror or typically there's a surprise to the charcter (secret antagonist?)
By exploring this subject matter of "How stupid are people in horror films?" I can understand the importance of character development and why the audience and directors like/ produce these characters. I want to explore the purposes of without the subject matter and the effects it has on the film in general.
I think this subject matter sprung because I know that films require good character development in order for a film to be followed or liked and horror series such as The Final Destination and Saw films have the repetitive gruesome twisted traps and inhuman force accidents but the characters in each film there is not much known.
Basically would a horror film be enjoyable without the use of "stupid" character's?
