Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) Questions

At the start of Halloween we see common technical code conventions of the horror genre. Within the first scene we witness a death take place. A young boy dressed in a clowns costume and a mask is seen carrying a knife. All of which are elements of iconography. Whilst the boy moves through the house the camera shot changes to point of view, making it unclear for the audience to see exactly what is taking place, putting them on edge. We also notice that the lighting of the scene is incredibly dull and gloomy creating a scary effect. Finally we hear non-diegetic music, the music has been used to create tension and mystery. 

The majority of the film takes place on a suburban street, this fits in with the horror genre due to the fact that it takes place in a family home, most of the audience can relate to it. However a scene takes place outside of a mental institution, which is stereotypical of the horror genre. We relate hospitals and mental institutions to the horror genre. When we look at setting we also look at the time of day within the scenes. As well as the scene taking place at night it is also set on the night of Halloween, which refers to the title of the film.

From early on we see different elements of iconography showing innocence. Looking back at the first scene we can back a connection with young Mike Myers. Children are always seen to be innocent, so having a child commit a murder in the first scene really throws the audience. We can look at the choice of costume. Clowns are stereotypically a form of entertainment for young children, however in this scene a child in a clown costume commits a murder so it plays against the conventions in some aspects. When we get introduced to the main character, Laurie, in the second scene we can immediately refer to her as being innocent. Firstly, young females are seen to be innocent, then when we get to know her personality better we then learn that she is very intelligent and a virgin. Which again reflects the innocence.

The main industry impact of Halloween was that because it was such a cheap film to make which did not require stars or special effects it became a big success, it made a lot of money. Leading to multiple slasher films that followed on such as Friday the 13^th, Prom Night, Terror Train, Bloody Valentine, Night School, The Burning, Friday the 13^th Part 2, Graduation Day, Happy Birthday to Me, Hell Night, The slayer, The Prowler and so on. 

When it comes to slasher films, there are certain rules which are endlessly recycled. Firstly a traumatic event in the past creates a psychopathic killer. The killer then returns to the site of the event, usually on a specific date in the present that allows the markers to use a calendar motif in title. The killer then stalks and graphically kills a group of obnoxious and stupid teens of both sexes, usually with some kind of blade, often a garden or farm implement. Towards the end of the film we reach the ‘final girl’ who has survived, the girl tends to be boyish and often virginal. The killer is then never entirely vanquished

The protagonist, Laurie, is seen to be androgynous throughout the film. We are given this impression because of her personality. She is a very independent student who believes she is too smart for most people. She is very mature for her age and has a bold attitude. Although she is seen as a motherly figure in some scenes, we mainly relate her to being quite manly. If you compare the sound of her voice to the other females in the film, you’ll notice that her voice is actually very deep. Also the name Laurie is a unisex name supporting the fact that she is androgynous.

In the extract it reads “a reactionary sexual agenda”. This is just saying that in the 70’s the majority of young teens were having sexual intercourse. However the director, John Carpenter, counter suggests that Halloween had a reactionary sexual agenda. People assumed that it did as during the film, Mike Myers attacked the teens which were sexually active, and the virgin in the film survived. Yet people forgot that Laurie was actually the original victim. The only reason why she survived was because she wasn’t distracted by things, she stayed focused.

The real question is why Mike Myers killed his sister. Often people mistake him for killing his sister because she just had sexual intercourse. Some say that mike was manipulating the same motion but the knife. The real reason as to why he killed his sister was simply because he was evil. There may be some other hidden reason but from only looking at the first film we aren’t informed otherwise.