Representations in Kiss of the Vampire

Women being sexualised and objected was common in the 1960s. Representation of women being weak and vulnerable and like the lady on the left is conventional for the period, ran up to 1960s women were often represented as being the damsel and distress in the films. They were often seen as being somebody that needed rescuing by a here character often a male character. The female character on the left is being supported by a male character she seems as though she’s unconscious potentially even dead which makes her feel weak and vulnerable like a typical damsel in distress. Her head is back which means her neck is exposed as is some of her other skin as well, that also adds to her sense of vulnerability, but it also means that she does feel quite sexualised. We do see a lot of flesh and her dress is tight as well, it looks as it’s made of silk, so it does create a ​sexualised representation of this women. The other lady is quite sexualised as well, her dress is form-fitting, particularly around the bust area and again looks like it’s made of silk, so she looks quite sexy and she’s wearing high heels too, so it does create an objectified view of the woman. The poster can be linked to Liesbet Van Zoonen’s feminist theory, the idea that the display of women’s bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture. This poster was made in the 1960s which was a time when women were starting to become objectified increasingly in the media. The people living in the 1960s were going through a sexual revolution where they had the introduction of things like divorce laws and abortion laws, contraception. Which meant women were less restricted to simply being wives and mothers, and were increasingly sexualised, they were seen more as partners and girlfriends and objectified by men and society around them. 

But in the 1960s there were a second wave of feminism where women were starting to become more powerful and starting to demand more equal rights in terms of the home and workplace and education. In society in the historical context a lot of women were fighting for more rights. They didn’t want to be the victim all the time they didn’t want to be sexualised. 

Horror films traditionally have a mostly male audience, and they might be more interested women represented in this traditional way, the film was made by a mainstream horror company in the 1960s and so their viewpoint and representations are likely to be mainstream. Feminism was still a new thing and certainly the second wave of feminism was just staring and becoming more popular. It was still seen as alternative and taboo, so perhaps the film is representing more mainstream ideologies in terms of representations . This might also be why we have the male character holding the female. He's got vampire fangs which suggests that he might be villain or certainly makes him aggressive , the fact that he is wearing dark clothes and a cape adds to this symbolic code that he might be vampire . The colour red adds to add well, it makes him seem quite dangerous. His patriarchal and typical representation of men being powerful, and dominant was quite common. All the way up to 1960s and it would have been at the time a mainstream idea even though the society views of gender were changing at the time. 

However, he is seen slightly in an alternative fashion, his arm is back as though he is trying to protect himself from the bats, so it does make him feel a little bit victimised as well and we’re not sure whether he is a hero or a villain from the picture alone. On the bottom right side of the poster, there is a man who’s clearly in a semi-conscious or unconscious state, he’s on the floor with his head back, which is seen as a submissive pose and he as though he is going to get eaten or bitten at some point. These representations of these men being victimised as well might reflect those just changing social norms about gender where men were starting to be seen in a slightly less patriarchal dominant way. 

This shift in gender roles in society can also be seen in the other female character in the centre of the poster. She looks much more aggressive, she got her fist raised, her teeth are bare, she also got vampire fangs which puts her in position as a kind of villain or aggressive violent killer in the film. She looks as though she is going to be the one that is going to bite the man on the floor, he is her victim, it puts her in a dominant position, which would have been unconventional in the decades leading up to this poster. Having a female villain would have been unconventional at the time reflects the way gender roles were starting to just change in the 1960s.