Final Girl theory

Stephen Neale discusses the role of the male and female in different genres. Specifically, he suggests that in a male dominated film, the female is just as important in the balance and vice versa. (1980, pp. 59-61).

In Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) the very first death, as seen through the eyes of Michael’s mask, is that of a vulnerable and naked woman. The only on-screen death of a male character can be associated with the female body as an object of desire: the victim was getting a drink for his girlfriend, so posed as a threat to the killer should he want to attack the girlfriend next.

Common theme of a moral code: those who take drugs, drink alcohol, have sex outside of marriage are punished. This links back to Todorov’s theory (Todorov, 1995, p. 159) but Sotiris Petridis expands further, comparing the difference between gender: “Any character in these films who smokes, has sex or does drugs has to die. The sex of the victims is both male and female, but there is a differentiation in the way that they are killed.” (Petridis, 2014, p. 77).

Petridis continues the discussion to the way in which females are portrayed – they are over sexualised and there is a lot of aggression towards them. “the opening sequence always presents a woman’s death and/or an image of her mutilated body” (Dika, 1987, p. 94 quoted in Petridis, 2014, p. 79). Although the heroine is unlikely to be over sexualised and behaves herself, “she is rewarded for following all the laws of the community, not doing anything that is contrary to normality” (Petridis, 2014, p. 79) – the reward being that she lives.

These theories are closely linked to Final Girl theory: “The image of the distressed female most likely to linger in memory is the image of one who did not die: the survivor, or Final Girl” (Clover, 1987, p. 201).

Application and Analysis

These theories can be applied to Friday the 13^th (Cunningham, 1980) in different ways. The ‘final girl’ is the most obvious, with Alice (Adrienne King) prevailing over Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer). Alice has survived the ordeal and is rescued in a state of distress by the police. The film, however, seems to play around with the theory a little. We see the decomposing body of Jason pull her into the water immediately before she wakes up in a hospital bed. It serves to place doubt into the mind of the audience: the monster has been killed, the heroine apparently now safe, so the audience would be at a sense of ease before this happens.

Petridis’ discussion on the moral code is particularly valid for Friday the 13^th. The very first death scene is that of a couple of young lovers and Alice, who ‘behaves’ herself survives until the end. “the opening sequence always presents a woman’s death and/or an image of her mutilated body” (Dika, 1987, p. 94 quoted in Petridis, 2014, p. 79).

The film continues to play with these theories, specifically Neale’s observation “[…] most monsters tend, in fact, to be defined as ‘male’, especially in so far as the objects of their desire are almost exclusively women […] it could well be maintained that it is women’s sexuality, that which renders them desirable – but also threatening – to men […]” (1980, p. 61). Throughout the film it could be assumed that the killer is Jason, but it is unexpectedly revealed at the end of the film to be his mother, Mrs Voorhees.

The Final Girl theory can also be applied to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974). In the final scene, the heroine escapes from her attackers and is rescued by passers-by – the quote from Carol J. Clover is particularly relevant: “The image of the distressed female most likely to linger in memory is the image of one who did not die: the survivor, or Final Girl” (Clover, 1987, p. 201). Expanding on this, should the distressed female have been captured and killed, the image the audience would likely have taken home would have been that of the triumphant attackers and not the distressed female.