Analysed horror slasher clip - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Analysed horror slasher clip - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

In this scene of The Texas chainsaw massacre (1974), the costume for the antagonist is a beige dirty apron, also wearing a leather mask made of skin and leather which makes his appearance unsettling and frightening to look at which is to evoke fear out of the audience, also the antagonist may feel insecure of the way he looks and decides to wear the mask to hide away his face, which may also wear the mask as he may see the mask as a trophy as it is made out of skin which is possibly from another victim he has killed. The costume of the young women is  promiscuous clothing as she is wearing red shorts and a blue strap top to emphasize her frame and figure for the male gaze (Mulvey) which when she is killed by the antagonist the male audience feels displeased which is to create an unsettling feeling to the male audience as the male audience will feel tensed when she is faced by the antagonist by there being a high chance she is going to be killed by the antagonist who has an unsettling appearance which this is a binary opposite of attractive/ugly (Strauss). The colour of the antagonist's costume and mask is a dirty white which the colour white in horror connotes death which tells the audience that he is the antagonist causing a disruption to the equilibrium, thus killing victims, which creates anticipation for the audience as they can expect that he is going to harm victims. The colour of the young promiscuous women's shorts is red which suggests that she could face danger as the colour red connotes danger, death, and blood which could subliminally tell the audience her fate which will lead to death. The colour of the interior of the house is dull colours which makes the home look lifeless which makes the audience feel negative emotions as there is no warm or bright colour seen except from the red decoration located near the door in the hallway which symbolizes blood, slaughter, evil, and death which he dragged the young women through which emphasizes to the audience that she is going to get killed which makes the audience feel dread and fear due to the build up and tension of her being carried through the door way and being hung in the room. The colour of the house is white which the size of the house is large which as mentioned earlier that white connotes death which the audience can assume that is the place where victims could potentially die.

Props used was the signature weapon (iconography) which is the chainsaw used by the antagonist which at first sight, the audience will feel dread and possibly prepare for a brutal attack from the antagonist onto the victim which  the chainsaw emphasizes a slow painful death towards victims which the audience may feel dread and fear due to the anticipation of the antagonist using it on his victims.

The performance of the victim who was the young women was that she was scared and horrified and also felt sick due to seeing the room full of bones which reinforce the fear of death to the audience as the audience can sympathise with the victim as it makes the audience see it through her perspective due to the close up shots at a high angle of the bones as it is seen from her perspective and she tries to run out but is chased by the antagonist which emphasizes her vulnerability and her inferiority where the antagonist makes a screeching groaning sound which sounds like a boar which he imitates because it emphasizes his cannibalistic ways which reinforces the fear of gore to the audience which the noise by itself provokes fear due to the unsettling noise which conditions the audience to the stimulus created as every time he creates that sound, the end result could result in death which creates the feeling of dread for the audience as the audience anticipates that the antagonist is going to attack someone.

The setting is at a house on a large isolated farm which reinforces the vulnerability of the victims as they are trapped and no one can help them if they face trouble which makes the audience feel tense due to them possibly predicting future problems the victims may face. inside the house is lots of skulls and bones of animals and humans which connotes death which increases the vulnerability of the victim and the bones and skulls also suggests that the antagonist keeps them as trophies as he feels gratitude from killing and hunting his victims down for sport as it is seen in his performance by him chasing his prey (the victim) and making a boar groan as he is chasing her which is symbolized as a boar hunting its prey. This creates an unsettling feel and dread for the audience as they are prepared for a tensed chase between the antagonist (predator) and the victim (prey) which is most likely to result in death. The hooks seen in the room with all the skulls and bones is used by the antagonist when he hangs his victim on it which the audience will experience cringe feelings (flinch in fear) due to them embracing the impact of what the victim may feel when the hook penetrates the victim's back and hangs her. The hook is a type of blade which connotes a slow painful death which creates an unsettling feeling for the audience.

There was some low angle shots of the victim which is used to make the victim look more vulnerable and inferior to create more dread and tension for the audience as the victim is seen as weaker than the antagonist where there was medium shots and close up shots to emphasize the size and the superiority of the antagonist to make him look bigger and stronger than the victim and also so the audience can see the detail of the antagonist to create an unsettling feeling for the audience as they may fear the sight of the antagonist.

The sound use was the sound of chickens clucking to emphasize that the victim is scared as chickens are perceived as weak and fearful of most things which the director is trying to make a connection between the chicken and the victim and also the chicken is perceived as the prey which the victim being like the chicken is also perceived as the prey due to the correlation between both beings. The lighting was bright outside which when the victim tries to run outside which the light is perceived as hope and freedom but she is captured by the antagonist and lures her back into the dim lit house which the lighting can be perceived as darkness and it being evil as if she is being consumed by the darkness, hope being taken away from her which adds to her vulnerability making the audience more tense due to their being an uneven match between her and the antagonist which the audience can sympathise with her as if it was them being put in her perspective and through this they experience fear and torment.

The narrative structure being used is Claude-Levi-Strauss's narrative theory of binary opposites which can be seen most often, for instance, weak against strong (the victim vs the antagonist who possesses the weapon (prop) chainsaw is bigger built), good against evil (victim against antagonist), attractive against ugly, and male against female. Another narrative theory that could be used is Tzvetan Todorov's narrative theory which describes the five stages of a narrative which this clip shows the disruption to the equilibrium which is when the antagonist is hunting and killing victims which by following these narrative structure you would expect to have the recognition of the disruption to the equilibrium, then the attempt to repair the the damage done to the equilibrium, and then a new equilibrium made.

There was many codes and conventions found within this clip such as: the characters including the antagonist who is almost invincible and is relentless which kills numerous amounts of people and carries their signature weapon, in this case a chainsaw, which is used to emphasize a slow painful death, the antagonist wears a mask to create an unsettling feeling when the audience see them as they may be frightened due to the sight of the antagonist.The female victim showed recessive traits which emphasized how weak she was which creates a big contrast (of strength) between the antagonist and the victim.The female girl is the promiscuous girl due to her make - up which enhances her looks and her clothing (costume) which also emphasizes her frame and figure, when she is killed, it creates an unpleasant feel to the male audience. Another convention is the location being isolated and it being on a farm and a house which creates isolation for the victims as there is no one else to help them as they are away from civilization and also makes the victims more vulnerable as they are trapped. Another convention is the camera shots used such as low angle shots which is used to make the victim look more recessive,weaker and inferior, which is used to create a contrast between the victim and the antagonist to make the audience on edge due to anticipation building up to antagonist hunting the victim.

The codes and conventions i might use from this clip for my main task is the iconography of the mask which is used to cover the identity of the antagonist and to provoke fear to the audience due to unsettling appearance of the mask. Another convention i might use is some camera shots such as the high and low angle shots which is used to emphasize the superiority and inferiority of the characters to create a contrast between the protagonist and the antagonist to create fear for the audience when the two characters face each other. Another convention i might use is the location being isolated which is used to make the victims look more vulnerable to the audience to create more tension through out the film to keep the audience engaged within the film.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY1EvwGLbess