본 논문은 미국의 공포 영화 (1951)와 (1982)를 통해서 1950년대와 1980년대의 미국사회를 비교하고 분석한다. 특히 두 영화에서 여성캐릭터의 등장여부는 1950년대와 1980년대의 여성의 사회적 지위가 어떻게 변화하고 있는지 살펴보고자 한다. 본 논문의 1장은 에서 여성캐릭터와 외계인 괴물(alien monster)을 비교하는 것을 통해서 부계사회에서 양자간 비슷한 점이 있음을 시사하고자 한다. 본 논문의 2장은 에서 여성캐릭터가 전혀 없지만 여성성이라는 개념이 여성괴물 (monstrous-feminine)으로 표현하고 있다.
John W. Campbell, Jr’s “Who Goes There?” (1938) has been cinematized almost every thirty years since 1950s: The Thing from Another World (1951), The Thing (1982) and The Thing (2011). The basic idea of these films is to discuss how to define the boundary of the human and the alien monster. However, the presence and the absence of the female characters in those films are more intriguing. There is a female secretary in the 1950s’ film, while in the 1980s’ film they have no female character at all. The alternative absence and different portrayals of the female characters in the films can reflect the women’s social position within the patriarchal system in different periods in America, especially in the 1950s and 1980s. So in order to balance the power relationship between the gender and maintain the leading position, the man includes/excludes the woman in terms of work, marriage and family by comparing the monster with/to the woman.