I am researching into how women are represented in horror films. Often women are represented as vulnerable, naïve and powerless (with a few exceptions) or as hypersexual damsels in distress.
Often gender is crucial in horror films, not long ago the only role women had in horror films was tottering around our screens half naked before screaming and being brutally murdered by the killer, showing that a lot of Hollywood films differentially use women to serve men. By the 1970’s women were becoming slightly more powerful in horror films.
In the earlier days of the production of zombie films, the female character would stereotypically be the person who would need saving from trouble. Also, they would be seen as being considerably weaker than the male characters and they wouldn't tend to act in a heroic manor. An example of a film where this typical female role is played is in the film Night of the living dead.
However, in many recent zombie films and especially the most recent television zombie series, The walking dead, the role of a female has changed considerably as they have stepped up and taken up roles of being the hero in some situations.
Within this clip we see a female character saving another characters life. This is a subversive act as a typical female character would be seen to run away from the source of trouble instead of standing up to it.
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