Whether it's Ripley from the Alien franchise or Laurie from Halloween, final girls are all over cinema.
Of course, this is really a movie-by-movie scenario. When women won, they were able to force men to watch them step into their own power. It allowed new points of view in storytelling. That became a very powerful sword to wield. But as the trope evolved, some feminists noticed that through this device, the males in the audience are forced to identify with a woman in the climax of the movie. Think about Marion Crane's sister in Psycho or Laurie in Halloween.įor many, the final girl is the living embodiment of stereotypical conservative attitudes of what women "should be" -virginal, subservient, untouched by the menace of the outside world. The book was written in 1992, but we've had final girls since the dawn of the slasher.
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In her book Men, Women and Chain Saws, Clover says, “She is the one who encounters the mutilated bodies of her friends and perceives the full extent of the preceding horror and her own peril who is cornered, wounded whom we see scream, stagger, fall, rise, and scream again. Clover was the first person to coin the term "final girl." 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' Credit: Vortex Where did she come from?įilm theorist Carol J. She is more intelligent than other victims and her character arc usually involves overcoming a personal problem or some sort of inadequacy that is exacerbated by the situation.
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When it comes to older movies (and TV shows) this woman is usually a virgin. It's the final girl and not the final guy because, at the end of these movies, it's almost exclusively women. She's the one who defeats the bad guy, or escapes, and is left standing (usually) at the very end.
There's a lot we need to take into account about how these generic tropes happen, like who are they for, why we keep using them, and different ways we can make them feel fresh.įirst up, we should talk about the definition of the final girl.Ī final girl is a heroine left at the end of a horror movie. I like digging deep into the kinds of characters we put into our stories. So if you'll indulge me, let's get into a topic I really enjoy writing about and have some fun.Ī Deep Examination of the Final Girl Trope Today I wanted to look at how she functions within these movies as well as break down where she came from and where we think she's going. These kinds of films have certain beats that seem to be followed every time.Īnd the most prominent one is that of the final girl trope. they have all the trappings of an Agatha Christie murder-mystery and all the excitement of an action movie.
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