Analysis of Scream

Wes Craven's Scream is over fifteen years old, but it is very much still a relevant and fascinating film. Hall's "The Work of Representation" Can be applied to this film. For those who do not know, the film revolves around a small town being terrorized by a killer who targets high school students, this guy:

From the opening scene, power is very clearly demonstrated. Ghostface uses telephone calls to instill fear into his victim. The power in this situation comes from the lack of knowing. There are many examples of this. Ghostface has all the power because his victims cannot tell where he is, or what he looks like. Another source of power for him is his knife, which is large and almost always visible. They become more and more scared, which only gives Ghostface more power. Ghostface is very much a faceless danger, both in the literall sense and metaphorically. After the initial murders, the town goes into a panic, closing the school and making everyone on edge. This is all done through fear. This demonstrates in a very real sense, that even though this is a movie, fear is very powerful.

There are a number of myths, both directly mentioned and represented, in the film. One of the most dominant myths, is that if you have sex you are going to die. This is stressed throughout the film. The main protagonist, Sydney is a virgin. The rule, or myth, is that virgins never die in horror movies. This is where the film becomes very reflexive, constantly making jokes like, "if this were a movie"and referencing other classic horror films and motifs. In fact, in the film itself one character says, "sex equals death." This is a myth that has a pretty clear message to the audience, sex will kill you. The myth tries to deter teens from having sex. However, Scream turns this myth on its head. Sydney does have sex with her boyfriend, who turns out to be one of the killers. She is no longer a virgin and survives the film, however it was her boyfriend trying to kill her the whole time. Therefore, the myth evolves into, you can have sex, but if you wait too long your boyfriend will try to kill you.

Scream illustrates Hall's concepts of myth and power/knowledge. The film itself is almost a parody of the horror genre and pokes fun at itself throughout. I enjoyed the film very much and it was particularly relavant to the assignment. I typically like to end these blog posts on a lighter note. This was just too perfect.