Transcript The Similarities and Dissimilarities of the Young

“THE SIMILARITIES AND
DISSIMILARITIES OF THE YOUNG
FEMALE PROTAGONIST IN BOTH
ITALIAN AND SWEDISH EUROPEAN
HORROR FILMS.”
Evelyn Beltran
THESIS AND INTRODUCTION
Thesis: In European films, the role of a young Italian
female protagonist varies greatly when compared to a
young Swedish female protagonist role because diverse
countries choose to take different cinematic approaches
rather than follow a set stereotypical approach.
Intro: Generally when the idea of a cinematic horror
film comes to mind, the concept of an Italian or
Swedish horror pick seems outlandish. When the topic
of the iconic young female protagonist role arises it is
common to think of the stereotypical Hollywood
version as opposed to the European version. However,
in terms of European horror films, Italy and Sweden
both take a different approach on their version of the
young female protagonist in several distinct ways.
Through use of the films Suspiria (1977), La Maschara
Del Demonio (Black Sunday) (1960) and Let the Right One In
(2008), a clear assessment and distinction will be
analyzed between the way the young female protagonist
is depicted between the countries and their lengthy date
difference.
HOW THE YOUNG FEMALE
PROTAGONIST IS PRESENTED
THROUGH USE OF COLOR SCHEME
It is questionable why the respected directors chose to use their
similar cinematic coloring and lighting techniques . “I decided to
intensively utilize primary colors — blue, green and red — to
identify the normal flow of life, and then apply a complementary
color, mainly yellow, to contaminate them,” continues Tovoli. “A
[horror] film brings to the surface some of the ancestral fears that
we hide deep inside us, and Suspiria would not have had the same
cathartic function if I had utilized the fullness and consolatory
sweetness of the full color spectrum. (Trovoli. L, "Terror In
Technicolor: Recalls His Visual Strategies For The 1977 Horror
Classic Suspiria.") In this case, Cinematographer Luciano Travoli
explains that he chose to use particular colors for Suspiria (1977)
in order to grasp the essence of everything that takes place in the
film. This makes logical sense because if he had not made Suzy
wear light colors and be surrounded by darker colors throughout
the film, then Suzy may have been seen from a different viewpoint.
Instead, because Suzy carries this light colored aura she is
depicted as a noble protagonist whereas Eli from Let the Right
One In (2008) carries a dark colored aura which makes her seem
ruthless when she is actually a noble protagonist. On the other
hand, La Maschera Del Demonio (Black Sunday) (1960) is filmed
in black and white so one may find it hard in decoding the female
protagonists (Asa) moral standpoint due to lack of color. In fact,
it isn’t hard at all because director Bava uses the darker black and
greys to his advantage by surrounding Asa leaving her as a stand
out lighter colored character. In this instant, it is apparent that the
directors take great use of the cinematic approach of coloring
when presenting their young female protagonist in order to give
her a physical moral appearance that is graspable to audiences.
HOW FEMININITY IS VITAL TO THE
ITALIAN YOUNG FEMALE PROTAGONIST:
“LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO (BLACK
SUNDAY) (1960)”
A significant difference in both the Italian and
Swedish horror films is the grand use of femininity.
It is, however, probable that the use of femininity
varies in all three films due to the lengthy time
differences in film release. In Bava’s horror film he
chose to make his young female protagonist (Asa)
stand out throughout the course of the film by using
close-ups, having her epitomize the essence of
beauty even when deformed and having her use her
beauty to her advantage in order to use her powers
to draw in frail victims. “To this Bava now added a
direct approach to historical misogyny and warped religious
concepts of femininity and virtue, subjects rarely tackled
before except by Carl Dreyer, one of intelligent horror’s
strongest influences…” ("Famous Firsts: La Maschera del
Demonio (Black Sunday, 1960)")
HOW FEMININITY IS VITAL TO THE
ITALIAN YOUNG FEMALE
PROTAGONIST: “SUSPIRIA (1977)”
On the other hand, in Suspiria (1977) again, Suzy is
not a monster but as the young female protagonist
she also exemplifies femininity but not as much as
her surrounding witch infested faculty does.
Surprisingly, Argento takes a more internal
masculine approach with his young female
protagonist (Suzy) by giving her femininity but
making her brave and relentless actions in
attempting to find out the secret of the faculty and
later killing the head witch stand out more. In this
seventeen year gap difference between the Italian
horror films, it is evident that the aspect of
femininity in the role of the young female
protagonist slightly varies.
HOW FEMININITY IS NOT VITAL TO THE
SWEDISH YOUNG FEMALE PROTAGONIST:
“LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008)”
Furthermore, the role of Swedish femininity in Let
the Right One In (2008) also varies greatly in terms of
time gap (thirty one years) from its Italian
predecessor Suspiria (1977). Alfredson choose to
stray away completely from the Italian version of
the young female protagonist in his Swedish film by
lacking in femininity and using more masculinity
with Eli. Rochelle Wright states “She seems to care little
about her appearance or apparel. Her voice is intense and
low pitched…Eli behaves in a conventionally ‘masculine’
manner by taking the initiative, setting the parameters…”
(Wright 7) While it is cinematically odd for a young
female protagonist in a horror film to be depicted as
such, it is possible that Alfredson took this approach
in order to stray away from the conventional young
female protagonist motif.
CONCLUSION REGARDING THE SIMILARITIES AND
DISSIMILARITIES OF THE YOUNG FEMALE
PROTAGONIST IN ITALIAN AND SWEDISH HORROR
MOVIES.
In conclusion, it is apparent that both Italy and
Sweden have some similarities when depicting the
role of a young female protagonist in a horror film.
They also have dissimilarities such as a great
difference in the use of femininity and color scheme
that physically help characterize the morality of the
young female protagonist. It is apparent that both
the Italian directors (Argento and Bava) and
Swedish director Alfredson did not choose to use a
stereotypical monster figure depiction when
presenting their vampires and witches in order to
possibly characterize them in a new and unique
manner that sets them apart. Furthermore the idea
of a young female protagonist in such horror films
does not follow our preconceived idea of what we
expect (due to Hollywood) instead, she is
represented differently but in a way that makes her
unique and vital to the European horror film
culture.
WORD COUNT
1,001
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