Editing The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (section)

===Violence against women===
The underlying themes of the film have been the subject of extensive [[Misogyny in horror films|critical discussion]]; critics and scholars have interpreted it as a paradigmatic [[exploitation film]] in which female protagonists are subjected to brutal, sadistic violence.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=Robin|year=1985|page=19|title=An Introduction to the American Horror Film|journal=Movies and Methods |volume=2|url=http://www.neiu.edu/~circill/F1313.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609053420/http://www.neiu.edu/~circill/F1313.pdf |archive-date=June 9, 2011 |access-date=June 2, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Weaver|first=James B. III|date=Summer 1991|title=Are Slasher Horror Films Sexually Violent?|journal=Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media|volume=35|issue=3|pages=385–392|issn=1550-6878|doi=10.1080/08838159109364133}}</ref> Stephen Prince comments that the horror is "born of the torment of the young woman subjected to imprisonment and abuse amid decaying arms&nbsp;... and mobiles made of human bones and teeth."<ref>{{cite book|last=Prince|first=Stephen|title=The Horror Film|year=2004|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8135-3363-6|page=113|chapter=Postmodern Elements of the Contemporary Horror Film}}</ref> As with many slasher films, it incorporates the "[[final girl]]" trope—the heroine and inevitable lone survivor who somehow escapes the horror that befalls the other characters:<ref name="Grant82">{{cite book|last=Grant|first=Barry Keith |title=The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=1996|edition=illustrated|page=82|isbn=978-0-292-72794-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Schmidt|first1=Leonard J.|last2=Warner|first2=Brooke|title=Panic: Origins, Insight, and Treatment: Issue 63|year=2002|publisher=North Atlantic Books|isbn=978-1-55643-396-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781556433962/page/224 224]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781556433962/page/224}}</ref> Sally Hardesty is wounded and tortured, yet manages to survive with the help of a male truck driver.<ref>{{cite book|last=Prince|first=Stephen|title=Screening Violence|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum]]|year=2000|edition=illustrated|page=146|isbn=978-0-485-30095-6}}</ref> Critics argue that even in exploitation films in which the ratio of male and female deaths is roughly equal, the images that linger will be of the violence committed against the female characters.<ref name="Grant82"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wells|first1=Alan|last2=Hakanen|first2=Ernest A.|title=Mass Media & Society|year=1997|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-1-56750-288-6|page=476}}</ref><ref>[[#Clover93|Clover 1993, p. 7]]</ref> The specific case of ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' provides support for this argument: three men are killed in quick fashion, but one woman is brutally slaughtered—hung on a meathook—and the surviving woman endures physical and mental torture.<ref name="Bogart00">{{cite book|last=Bogart|first=Leo |title=Commercial Culture: The Media System and the Public Interest |publisher=Transaction Publishers|year=2000|edition=2, illustrated|page=349|isbn=978-0-7658-0605-5}}</ref> In 1977, critic Mary Mackey described the meathook scene as probably the most brutal onscreen female death in any commercially distributed film.<ref name="JumpCut">{{cite journal|url=http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC14folder/MassacreWomen.html|title=Women and Violence in Film|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506224934/http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC14folder/MassacreWomen.html |archive-date=May 6, 2009|last=Mackey |first=Mary|year=1977|pages=12–14|issue=14|journal=Jump Cut|access-date=November 15, 2009}}</ref> She placed it in a lineage of violent films that depict women as weak and incapable of protecting themselves.<ref name="JumpCut"/>

In one study, a group of men were shown five films depicting differing levels of violence against women.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1460-2466.1984.tb02180.x|last=Linz|first= Daniel|author2=Donnerstein, Edward |authorlink2=Edward Donnerstein|author3=Penrod, Steven |date= September 1984|title=The Effects of Multiple Exposures to Filmed Violence Against Women|journal=Journal of Communication|volume=34|issue=3 |pages=130–147|url=http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ308140&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ308140}}</ref> On first viewing ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'' they experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety; however, upon subsequent viewing they found the violence against women less offensive and more enjoyable.<ref name="Bogart00"/> Another study, investigating gender-specific perceptions of slasher films, involved 30 male and 30 female university students.<ref name="Study">{{cite journal|last=Nolan|first=Justin M. |author2=Ryan, Gery W. |year=2000|title=Fear and Loathing at the Cineplex: Gender Differences in Descriptions and Perceptions of Slasher Films|journal=Sex Roles|volume=42|issue=1 & 2|page=39|issn=0360-0025|doi=10.1023/A:1007080110663|s2cid=142297913 }}</ref> One male participant described the screaming, especially Sally's, as the "most freaky thing" in the film.<ref name="Study"/>

According to Jesse Stommel of ''[[Bright Lights Film Journal]]'', the lack of explicit violence in the film forces viewers to question their own fascination with violence that they play a central role in imagining.<ref name="BrightLights">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/71/71horror_stommel.php |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5xiv2Zpwj?url=http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/71/71horror_stommel.php |archive-date=April 5, 2011 |title=Something That Festers |last=Stommel |first=Jesse |date=February 2011 |magazine=[[Bright Lights Film Journal]] |access-date=February 24, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nonetheless—citing its feverish camera moves, repeated bursts of light, and auditory pandemonium—Stommel asserts that it involves the audience primarily on a sensory rather than an intellectual level.<ref name="BrightLights"/>