Women in Horror Recognition Month

[miss_s_b]

Did you know? February is Women in Horror Recognition Month. Horror is a fandom I have neglected of late, so I thought I jump on the bandwagon would use this opportunity to talk about it.

The thing is, horror is generally seen as a very het male genre. Women are there to be eye candy, not to be the protagonist. To be rescued, not to be the rescuer. To be passive, not active. Of course, this is the case across the entertainment industry, but it is even more the case in horror. But sometimes the horror industry does produce a female lead who is exceptional. Today, I'd like to talk about just one of them.

Ellen Ripley

It says a lot about how even our language is subject to the kyriarchy, that I want to refer to Ripley as The Daddy. Ripley is not a male lead played by a woman, nor is she an eye-candy screamer who survives by luck, she is an all-out all-woman heroine. She uses her brains and her muscles to outwit the men, the aliens, and the evil computers of her future world, and she saves the cat while she's at it.

She's intelligent without being irritating, assertive without being arrogant, capable without being cocky, strong without being strident, and sexy without being sexual. She takes everything that the dystopia she lives in throws at her, and throws it right back with a hearty fuck you.

But the best thing about Ripley is she's not perfect. Sometimes she screws up. The way she deals with her errors are what make her, as a character, for me. She's not a Schwarzenegger-like God character, she's a flawed human being, and she's the most real female horror lead I can think of.

The tragedy is that she really is one of a kind. Every generation should have a Ripley, and we've been waiting 31 years for the next one to come along.

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Comments

[moviegrrl]

Heh. This ties in with thoughts I've been having about female characters in games, especially sci-fi themed ones. We need more playable Ripleys, Zoes and Aeryns. And you're so right, Ripley IS the Daddy...

[miss_s_b]

Do a post! Do a post!

[moviegrrl]

I will I will!!! Just my head was all full of cold last week, blog posts were taking DAYS to complete.
I've got a HUGE post in my head about grrls and gaming that covers all sorts of stuff,but it's been stressful pulling all the ideas out.
If Matt takes over the Xbox this evening (and there are running battles over it at the moment), then I shall finally get it all down, with luck.

[miss_s_b]

YAY!

[(Anonymous)]

one of my friends has a short film in the Birmingham 'Ghouls on Film' as part of Women in Horror month, so I'm going to try and go along.

[andrewhickey.info]

Totally different subject, but I like your new tagline. From a song that proves that not only do many men not know *where* the clitoris is, but some don't even know *what* one is...

[miss_s_b]

Indeed ;)

Great Post

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to say great post. Very well written. Ripley is amazing.

Peace.
-Patrick

[pmoodie]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Is it OK if I post a link to your blog over on the BHF forum? There's been some aggro over there recently, with some of the usual eedjits claiming that horror should be a "men only" club, so it would be nice to remind them of which century they're living in.

[miss_s_b]

You can post a link whereever you like, sweetie. It's a public post. I have to say you're not enticing me to in back there when you tell me stuff like this, though.

[pmoodie]

Oh, I don't expect to lure you back. But it might be nice for the few female members over there to know they're not alone. :)

Take heart though. Vocal as they are, the misogynists over there get a run for their money from those of us who are a little more enlightened.

[von_geisterhand]

Hm, curious. *ponder*
While I would definitely agree with you on Ripley being one of the best characters in Sci-Fi, full stop, I do occasionally wonder about whether she really is this beacon of feminism in Sci-Fi that she is always made out to be. (But I freely admit that my relationship with the "Alien"-Saga is an intense and difficult one.)(I will actually stand up and defend every single one of the proper films in front of a live audience.)
I mean, it b cool that they decided to turn Ripley into a woman in "Alien" and that the studio had the guts to run with it. You only need to compare Ripley to Lambert to see how it might have turned out in different hands. And the gender-issue certainly adds a nice extra level to Ash's insubordination. But on the whole, I never found anything particularly female setting her apart from the male characters in that film's Ripley. But maybe I am being overtly critical.
"Aliens", well... first "The Man" doesn't listen to her, then she gets taken along to Acheron with all the big burly men and those wishing to be one (Vasquez is tres cool, but by Cthullhu, this is a Cameron, isn't it?) And how does Ripley end up? Copying the men, sporting big guns and then doing her womanly duty, looking after/saving the child. In a major battle with another woman. It is cool, it probably hasn't been done that much before but I don't find the subtext particularly feminist.
"Alien 3" (aka "British Skinheads in space")... actually, yes, you are right. She is a feminist icon in that one. And in "Alien: Resurrection" (aka "I want some of what the director is smoking"), too.
Sorry, I forgot what I was going to say.

[von_geisterhand]

You might appreciate this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcLTaMpRl2o&feature=player_embedded

The story of "Aliens", told in rap. Somebody had to do it.