Halloween
During Feminist Thought and Theory class today, we watched the film, "Halloween." On thursday, we will be doing a feminist analysis of the film, but I thought I would drop some of my feelings and issues about the film. The lighting for the film was pretty good, however the acting needed some work. During one scene, a couple walked into the house where a woman was just murdered and she says, "its cold and dark in here," which sounds funny to those of us watching nowadays, but its interesting to see what was scary in the 70's. The two women who were murdered in the film had similar characteristics. Neither were wearing much for clothing, both were cynical and weren't nervous or scared like Laurie. Both women had boyfriends, and had had sex. The virgin, Laurie, who did not have a boyfriend lived. What I find the most interesting, is the fact that teenage girls are the targeted victims. Those cheerleaders and high school seniors who babysit for money, smoke in their parents' cars, and walk home together. Laurie seems to be the odd one or the "other" of her friends and it is evident from the beginning of the film. Although Bob is murdered in the Film, he only killed because he is there, not because he was a planned victim.
Annie, Linda, and Bob, the three who were murdered, were not sober. Annie was high (if I am not mistaken from their drive) and Linda and Bob had been drinking beer. Laurie coughed when she smoked in the car and was not acting the same as Annie. I do not quite understand what substances have to do with those who were murdered, but I did find it interesting.
Throughout the film, you could not see Michael's face, the murderer. In fact, the only time he is unmasked is at the end before he is shot by the doctor. When he is attacking women, he is masked, but when the doctor tries to kill him, he becomes unmasked if only for a moment.
In one of the scenes, Michael is watching Annie take off her clothes in the kitchen after she has spilled butter all down her front. She then goes to do laundry in a separate building. Somehow, even though this is a horror film, a woman still manages to do some laundry and bend over backwards to go get her boyfriend who is grounded. While Laurie is babysitting, she wears an apron, even though she doesn't appear to be doing any cooking.
What I did not understand, was the significance of Judith Meyers, Michael's sister. His sister had sex with her boyfriend, but thats the only correlation I can find. Why would a young boy murder his sister? The fact that she had sex doesn't make sense to me. A boy who was in an asylum for 15 years and then decides to escape and murder two girls and a guy and then create a tomb on a bed with Annie's body just doesn't make sense. Anyone out there have any suggestions?