Final girl
The final girl is a horror film (particularly slasher film) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The concept has been used in dozens of films, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Alien, Halloween,[1] Scream, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. The term was coined [2] by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film.[3] Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
History
 | This section possibly contains original research. (January 2009) |
The final girl is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, narcotic usage, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g. Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.
One of the basic premises of Clover’s theory is that audience identification is unstable and fluid across gender lines, particularly in the case of the slasher film. During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. Conversely, Clover points out that the villain of slasher films is often a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, are in crisis. Examples would include Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, or Billy and Stu from Wes Craven's satirical horror film Scream. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture.
The phenomenon of the male audience having to identify with a young female character in an ostensibly male-oriented genre, usually associated with sadistic voyeurism, raises interesting questions about the nature of slasher films and their relationship with feminism. Clover argues that for a film to be successful, although the Final Girl is masculinized, it is necessary for this surviving character to be female, because she must experience abject terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male. The terror has a purpose, in that the female is 'purged' if she survives, of undesirable characteristics, such as relentless pursuit of pleasure in her own right. An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability.
The film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) explains and talks extensively about this popular horror film trope (although in the film, it is referred to as "survivor girl"), even using it as a major plot device.
List of Final Girls
| Movie Title/Franchise | Final Girl Character | Actress |
|---|---|---|
| Alien | Ellen Ripley | Sigourney Weaver |
| Halloween (I, II, H20) | Laurie Strode | Jamie Lee Curtis |
| A Nightmare on Elm Street | Nancy Thompson | Heather Langenkamp |
| Scream (1, 2, 3) | Sidney Prescott | Neve Campbell |
| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) | Sally Hardesty | Marilyn Burns |
| The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 Remake) | Erin | Jessica Biel |
| I Know What You Did Last Summer (1, 2) | Julie James | Jennifer Love Hewitt |
See also
References
- ^ Professor Nicholas Rogers discusses how the "final girl" aspect of the Halloween films undermines "the misogynist thrust of slasher movies." See Nicholas Rogers, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 118, 120.
- ^ Essay about feminism and slasher films
- ^ Clover, Carol J. (1992). Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 260. ISBN 0-691-04802-9.