The Representation of Women in Relation to The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012)

What were Jeremy Tunstall’s 4 character roles for women and do they apply to The Cabin in the Woods?

Jeremy Tunstall categorised females into 4 character types in the media; Domestic, Sexual, Consumer and Marital.

In ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ there are two lead female roles named Dana Polk and Jules Louden and two supporting female roles as Wendy Lin and Patience Buckner.

Dana represents the marital role as she is reserved and portrayed as innocent; throughout the film you see her shy away from Holden Mcrea and refuses to have sexual relations with him too quickly and he agrees.  The character of Jules Louden represents the sexual role as throughout the film you see her having sex, topless and acting generally open with her boyfriend, Curt Vaughan in contrast to Dana and Holden.  It is revealed in the film that Jules plays the part of the ‘whore’ and to play this part the government manipulated her by contaminating her blonde hair dye with toxins and chemicals to change her personality to that of the ‘whore’.  Later in the film they use more toxins to change her mind and have sex out in the open where she is beheaded as the first sacrifice.  It is also revealed that Dana is the ‘virgin’ sacrifice which backs her up as being the marital character type.  Although they do explain they work with what they got so its possible her character was altered by the government as Jules was.  Wendy Lin and Patience Buckner did not adhere to the 4 character types.

How is Dana typical of Clover’s ‘Final Girl’ theory?

Dana is typical to Clover’s theory as she was the ‘damsel in distress’ and gets saved by Marty.  Dana is typically androgynous; she wears trousers for the entire movie and is almost always covered up in comparison to Jules.  Her hair is ginger and not typically blonde like Jules, this may add to why she is timid as she isn’t a ‘dumb blonde’ and not influenced by hair dye toxins to be sexual.  Dana did show traits of the ‘empowered woman’ as she did fight back when attacked by the ‘Redneck Zombie Torture Family’ but was mostly a damsel in distress as she still died anyway.

Jules undergoes mental and physical transformations during the film, what are they and how do they cause her to become a horror archetype?

Jules undergoes mental transformations firstly because of her hair dye; her dye has chemicals that have seeped into her head causing her to act differently.  This intentionally happened to make her fit her role of the ‘whore’, as did the use of chemical fog to make her change her mind about having sex in the forest. Another factor added could also be the consumption of alcohol as it could’ve made it easier for the zombies to kill her because of delayed reaction time and less aware of her surroundings, possibly even making the fog and chemicals more active. Physically, she becomes more sexualised throughout the film using camera angles and suggestive movements.  The biggest impact physically though was definitely the fact she got her head chopped off.  She became a horror archetype as she became to typical dumb blonde and the first to die, the film was aware of character roles and she was moulded to fit hers.

Is Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how?

Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory is present throughout the film and mainly focused on Jules. Towards the beginning of the film in the cabin before the zombie family are summoned POV shots are directed at Jules from low angles, these shots at in the point of view of Marty and Kurt, this is assured through reaction shots.  This exemplifies the theory as it not only sexualises Jules and encourages the audience to view her as an object of male pleasure it also portrays the male characters as they have different reactions to her.  Jules is also intoxicated in this scene which explains her sexual behaviour and is later dared to make out with a wolf head – which she does – this is portrayed from a high angle, which implies the wolf’s POV and shows the reaction shots of the entire group.   Overall the theory is exemplified in the film a lot as the Male Gaze happens throughout the film but this was the most prominent scene.

In the film we, as an audience, are made to be voyeurs; when does this happen and why is it important in regards to representation of characters?

In the film, we are made to be voyeurs when Holden removes a disturbing painting from his room’s wall, only to reveal one sided mirror where he can see Dana getting changed.  He stares for maybe 10 seconds, indicating that he wants to look but he then bangs on the window to let her know he’s there, this shows how innocent and considerate his character is.  After this Dana is shown with Holden in his room looking through the window into her room and he offers to swap rooms with her if it’d made her more comfortable, to which she agrees. This shows that she’s very innocent and quite timid only around guys as earlier in the film she was seen in her underwear when around Jules, further reinforcing the virginal characteristic.  When Holden then moves his stuff into Dana’s old room he gets changed obviously thinking the window had been covered up, when Dana sees him.  She has the same reaction to stare for very little time but then quickly covers it up, showing how timid and guilty she felt.  Overall, the representation of characters in this scene sets the plot as it defines the character types of the virgin and the nerd, it also said that when the virgin is sexually tempted then the nerd becomes expendable and this reinforces that.

Summarise the way woman are represented in The Cabin in the Woods.  Are they objectified and there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfil another role/purpose?

In The Cabin in the Woods the woman characters are provided to be sacrifices for the ancient ones in the plot, although due to the narrative in the film Jules is objectified by the males in the group as she is the ‘whore’ in the sacrifice.  Dana is never objectified by a man throughout the film as she is the virgin and androgynous.  I believe that Jules is only objectified in the film because of the narrative of the film and as a result dies early on in the film because of her role within the sacrifices.  Dana’s purpose was to stay alive throughout the film and to choose the way in which the group would die, although she only lives as long as she does because of the narrative.