The Female Stereotype as Represented in Female Ghost Characters in Selected Horror Films

ABSTRACT Khusnawati, Isna Zulfa. 2016. The Female Stereotypes as Represented in Female Ghost Characters in Selected Horror Films. Sarjana Thesis, Department of English Literature, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: M. Nasrul Chotib, S.S., M.Hum. Keywords: female ghost, female stereotype, feminism. Ghost appearances are mostly showing in literary products and films rather than their real forms in societies. The spreading of ghost stories becomes the genre of literature that is called horror. One of the characteristics of this genre is the appearance of ghost stories. Ghost stories are not only in the written literature, but also in visual advent, especially film. The portrayal of ghosts in films is called horror films. Horror films mostly show stories about female ghosts rather than male ghosts. This phenomenon also shows in the three selected films as the objects of this study, which are; Mamá, The Grudge 3 and Kuntilanak. Those films show females as ghosts and make them the main characters in the stories. The focus of this study is to analyze the appearance of females as ghosts in selected horror films. The writer is assuming that the portrayal of female ghosts is also followed female stereotypes. The aim of this study is to describe the female stereotypes which follow the appearance of female ghosts in selected horror films. Those films presumably become the representative of most horror films that show female ghosts as the main characters. This study uses qualitative research design. The sources of this study are the selected films (Mamá, The Grudge 3 and Kuntilanak), especially the portrayal of female ghost characters. The analysis begins with collecting articles and researches which relate to the appearance of ghosts, female, and also feminism theories. The results of the analysis are mentioned in the next paragraph. First, the films show how to be a ‘good’ female which follow female stereotypes in societies. The female ghosts portray ‘bad’ females; the kind of female who should be avoided, dismembered, or should be changed into the good one. Second, the ‘good’ females are the females as portray the rivals of female ghosts in selected horror films (Mamá, The Grudge 3 and Kuntilanak). The ‘good’ females show how females should be dressed and behaved; the kind of females who will be accepted by society – where male domination is holding the power in social life. At the end, any of these portrayals of female has purpose as the object of male pleasure