How Does The Opening Of “Scream” Follow The Structuralist Theory Of The Horror Film Genre?
For a film to be able to be classed as a horror film, it needs to include certain paradigms and have part of the structuralist theory throughout the film. The opening 10 minutes of “Scream”, you hear the non-diegetic sound; of a phone ringing, heart beating and girl screaming. This automatically shows the audience and sets the mood that this is a horror film with a twist as the opening of a horror film doesn’t normally start with this type of opening.
The audience first interaction with the characters of the horror film is when they see a young blonde teenager (Drew Barrymore) answer the phone after it rings. This shows the audience that as this is the first character that they see, she is of some importance and she may be the main character. This also shows a feminist point of view of a girl always being a victim. The female character answers the phone and it is a male caller, she asks who is it - as it is an unknown caller, which conforms to the paradigms of the fear of the unknown, but he doesn’t tell her who he is. Again this shows the feminist point of view of the girl being the victim and a male character being the killer which also conforms to Carol Clover’s view and the last girl theory, even though we do not know if she is a virgin. This carries on the fear the unknown as the call still goes on. As she walks through her house into the kitchen, on the phone, she starts to play with the knives on the counter, this shows the audience that there are weapons in the house and also that she could use it in her defence. Furthermore this follows the paradigms of a horror film as a knife is a weapon in a horror film.
We see a shot of the outside, of a tree, with the non-diegetic sound of the phone call; from this shot we can see that it is night, misty and dark. These are all the settings for a perfect horror film as it conforms to the fear of the unknown, and also the structuralist theory of a horror film. She then walks around the house locking all the doors, which reinforces that she is alone, isolated and in the middle of nowhere. This goes along with the paradigms of a horror film with a female character being alone, stuck and defenceless. As the phone call goes on, the female character starts to get flirty with the unknown caller, which is a feminist point of view of girls being flirty. The female character and the caller start to talk about horror films such as “Nightmare on Elm Street”, and talk about how the first film was good but the other ones after were not as good. As they are talking about horror films, such as what is her favourite horror film and her favourite character, this blurs reality and is postmodern, also as the director of the first “Nightmare on Elm Street” is Wes Craven, the same director as the film they are in, this gives a hint to the audience that this is not a normal horror film and it’s as if the director is talking to audience through the dialogue in the film. The two characters carry on talking about horror films and the rules of certain horror films, this add’s postmodernism and again blurs reality.
As the female character talks on the phone longer, she realises the unknown caller is watching her and this increases the paradigms of a horror film and of the fear of the unknown and someone stalking her, but didn’t know that they were being watched. She starts running around the house as if someone is chasing her…but no one was chasing her, while the fast pace screeching non-diegetic sound plays in the background, makes the audience feel as if something is going to happen unexpectedly. Next the audience see the masked killer dressed in black, chasing Drew Barrymore, as the killer is dressed in black; wearing a mask, chasing a female character, all these conform to the paradigms and the structuralist theory of a horror film.
The killer chases the women outside where it is dark, misty and at night, he runs after her with a knife, which conforms to the paradigms of a horror film as a knife is a typical weapon used in a horror film as well as a male killer. Having the killer masked makes it absolutely obvious that this is a horror film as it conforms to all the codes and conventions of a horror film and goes along with the structuralist theory of a horror film.
All the shots used during the chase scene are all point of view shots to add realism to the film and makes the audience feel as if they are part of the scene. The high pitched, jumpy, screeching non-diegetic sound whilst the chase scene plays out, adds to the iconography of a horror film and also adds to the paradigms of a horror film. As the killer chases down the helpless female character, the point of view shot shows Drew Barrymore go to pull off the mask of the killer, which makes the audience sit on the edge of their sets wanting to see the killer, but from that point the unknown masked killer stabs the girl.
To conclude on how the opening of “Scream” follows the structuralist theory of a horror genre, in order for a horror film to be classed as a horror film, it has to follow the paradigms and structuralist theory of the horror film genre. “Scream” has several codes and conventions that would be obvious to the audience that this is a horror film. Having the first female character being stabbed with a knife, by a masked male killer, with an outside, dark, misty and at night setting, in the middle of nowhere, isolated and helpless shows that this horror film defiantly obey the rules of a horror film genre and makes it the perfect horror film with the structuralist theory appearing throughout the whole film.
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