Media Essay

How does a comparison of these two 'slasher' texts demonstrate how genre changes over time? Why is this so and what other media issues and debates do they raise?

Both Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Dir: Tobe Hopper, 1974, USA) and Psycho ( Dir: Alfred Hitchcock, 1960, USA) are Slasher films, which aim to entertain, create fear and shock their target audiences according to the time period they were created in. Through a comparison of both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho there is a clear generic development portrayed, within Horror, moreover Slasher films.

Within Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock makes use of a Black and White film, as opposed to colour, despite having the option to do so. A clear reason for this is to create greater authenticity and originality, however to tone down on the scenes of violence and gore within the film.. However within Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the violence is made much more explicit and less toned down, particularly made obvious through various close ups of violent scenes, such as the cutting of the chainsaw on the psychotic killers leg, and an extreme close up was used in this instance to further shock and create fear amongst the targeted audience. However despite generic conventions and developments occurring from between 1960 and 1974, both Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre still clearly enforce a patriarchal ideology. Women within both texts have to adhere to this idea of Male dominance, and appease the male gaze as theorised by Laura Mulvey. However Texas Chainsaw shows greater development to that of Psycho. Both texts show women in an inferior position to men, and include female victims. However within Psycho the female victim does not escape her death and hence does not adhere to the typical “ Final girl” Slasher convention. This is of key relevance, as this is representative of the zeitgeist within society in the 1970’s. This reflects how due to many key uprisings such as the feminists movement, women were able to adopt a somewhat more dominant role within Horror/Slasher films, despite patriarchy still clearly being existent. Further there is social reflection made clear as this gives the impression that woman began to become a lot more independent within society in the 1970’s as oppose to the 1960’s, and were out seeking greater employment and indicates society was witnessing a developing equal rights ideology. Due to this uprising equal rights ideology within the 1970’s, it is made clear through Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that women began to adopt some forms of dominance within Slasher films as the Final Girl does not die as within psycho, and escapes the brutality suffered at the hands of the male killers within the film.

Moreover despite both texts making use of a typical generic convention, phallic weapons as theorised by Siegmund Freud, there is a much greater broader use of these within Texas Chainsaw Massacre as oppose to psycho. This is of key relevance as this is representative of how in the 1960’s, Slasher films were not required to be so terrifying or gory as they were within the 1970’s, reflecting how due to social development as time progressed, the target audiences for Slasher Films wished to see more explicit forms of Violence. There is clear generic change for Slasher films particularly emphasised through this greater use of weapons, emphasising as technology advanced, the audience was being much more exposed to all forms of violence, which they were unable to witness within the 1960’s, when psycho was produced. The target audience for Slasher films is likely to be of a much more mature age for Psycho as opposed to Texas Chainsaw massacre, as despite being much less violence and goriness Alfred Hitchcock films were often directed at a much more mature audience, whereas Texas Chainsaw Massacre would also be found appealing to a more teenage audience, as during the 1970’s, there was much greater media exposure to violence and goriness, to all ages, particularly attracting attention from young people, who were shocked to witness such things for the very first time. This further pays reflection to the zeitgeist, as within the 1970’s, the Vietnam War was occurring, and the news often portrayed actual horrific scenes of brutality, death and violence to an audience through the news. Despite people in Vietnam actually killing to stay alive, rather then out of a psychotic fantasy as within Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this created greater fear and shock to the audience, as opposed to psycho, as the target audience were being exposed to such forms of violence, making them believe that such forms of explicit violence were occurring within actuality. Further there is also social and generic change reflected from the 60’s to the 70’s as Texas Chainsaw Massacre is based upon a true story, further shocking the audience and creating much greater fear then psycho could have.

Furthermore the use of masks and disguise is a typical generic convention used in Slasher films over the years. However it is much more clear that the disguise of the old “granny” within psycho in the 60’s, is of a much less terrifying nature, then that of the mask of the psychotic chainsaw killer in Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the 70’s. This reflects yet again that as time has progressed, almost all forms of Slasher Generic conventions have become increasingly more explicit as the audience is being exposed to much greater forms of violence and goriness, hence it takes “more” to an extent to shock and create fear. Both Texas chainsaw Massacre and Psycho make use of typical generic conventions within their narratives, for example Binary oppositions Evil Man VS the Victim Girl, as theorised by Levi Strauss. The narratives within both texts are throughout Linear, however there is a clear greater use of enigma and suspense created within Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as opposed to Psycho, reflecting how there is again a lot more explicitness required within generic conventions, to shock the audiences as time progresses. This is made evident as within the final scene, the audience is very eager to discover and is unsure, if the victim will survive or not, as she is at various points very close to being recaptured and killed, but then escapes and this repetitive pattern is followed within the final clip.

Therefore in conclusion it is evident by comparing both Psycho (1960) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) that as time progresses there is a greater need for generic conventions to be made more explicit in order to keep the targeted audience enticed. Reason being as time progresses the audience will be exposed to greater forms of violence and gore requiring more and more to be exposed to them in order to shock and create fear.