Prey is an amazing movie about a girl named Naru who is trying to prove herself as a hunter even though she is a woman and hunting is a “man’s” job, nobody in the film really believes she’s capable and throughout the movie it might seem that she really isn’t until she manages to kill the predator. Throughout the movie we see the Hunters (Predator, Fur Trappers, and Comanche Warriors) display the typical display of violent yet strong archetypes of masculinity, the type of masculinity that is to be proven by catching the biggest fish or killing the largest animal because back when humans were hardwired to be hunters and make sure their families are well fed the size of the catch mattered. Although now hunting is mostly for fun those instincts are still in our brains.
Though I can explain the science behind catching the biggest animal I cannot explain why it is strictly masculine to be a hunter, it could be attributed to the bigger stature of men and how they tend to be able to gain more muscle, although with that said I don’t think anybody can explain some of the misogyny that is in today’s society. In the film Prey it shows that to be hunter you have to be strong, although that isn’t always the case, sometimes hunting is a game of intelligence and craftiness which is shown in the final fight when Naru MacGyver’s her way into killing the Predator, no man in the Comanche Warriors could’ve killed the Predator in the way Naru did she proved that intelligence is a great strength which does go against most action tropes seeing as most of the movies are about a male with a bodybuilder figure or a male who is a warrior/hunter which is why I believe that this film subverts this hardbody action hero although I do think that at the start of the movie it tugs at the fact that Naru is not that stereotype and she might not be the hero of the movie, which might be best because it leaves viewers shocked that she got herself out of a long fight with the predator, it’s up to the viewers to decide if she has it in her to finish the fight but in the end we see that she is indeed capable and uses intelligence and quick wit as her escape, which is just as powerful as pure strength.
In Prey we also see multiple references to other historical events such as reference to French fur trappers, who really set the scene as what colonization was really like, maybe not completely accurate but some of the references are historically accurate, and I believe it reflects an early European idea on hunting and trapping that can still be accurate to our view on the world and it’s resources today, how we treat hunting as just a game and how we have these complex weapons that were never needed that were brought in to society and used for bad as supposed to good. Even if it’s not a completely accurate representation there is still some things to draw back and think about how the world is not treated entirely different from Prey.
Naru is a strong female lead who really breaks out of tropes that most traditional action leads portray (strong, males, previous fighting/hunting experience, etc.) and it is really great to see a main character not use traditional tropes and really break barriers but Prey still does portray unfair stereotypes that women can’t be strong hunting warriors like men but instead have to use intelligence to outsmart their targets but it should be said that women can indeed still be just as strong and just as good at traditionally masculine things, it just requires the right training but that applies to men too. This also shows that Naru is at risk of falling into a trope that is very stereotypical to indigenous people, although I believe the film did a good job at portraying indigenous in a correct light there is always going to be stereotypes in a film that isn’t strictly written by indigenous people and about their experiences which is the same as most films in Hollywood where even if it is mostly accurate there still is some stereotyping going on. I do believe that Prey really does try to uplift Naru, but I also believe that there is still some stereotypes with the fact that Naru is an indigenous woman that could be worked on and changed to fully show how strong of a character Naru is.
Notable shots in the film Prey
– 3:34-3:45 first interaction with Naru and hunting in the woods uses a top angle to set the whole scene and background of what Naru is doing and where she is.
– 54:55-55:05 uses a zoom to show the Predator and the suspense of what will happen when Naru gets caught.
– 1:29.11-1:29.26 uses an eye level medium shot to make it seem like the viewer is there with Naru when she tells her village to move because its not safe.
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