The Final Girl Theory
The Main ideas that Carol J Clover explores in her ‘Final
Girl Theory’ is that killers in horror films are usually distinctively male and
their victim’s more often than not are ‘young’, ‘beautiful’ females who are ‘sexually
free’. This character is formally
recognised as the ‘Final Girl’. This girl is usually one of the only characters
that lives to tell the tale of the horrific events as the other characters
(especially male) tend to die early on in the film making her the ‘slasher film
hero’. She is also the only character to be developed in depth and in any
psychological detail. Because of this, it is quite easy to spot from the very
beginning that this character will be a definitive part of the main storyline.
Carol goes on to explain how the ‘Final Girl’ is usually
very smart, intelligent and watchful of her surroundings, enabling her to spot
the first signs of abnormality and warn the others of her findings. The movie
is also usually shot from her perspective which is normally in alignment with
the audiences. Carol also believes that even though our sympathies may shift
back and forth towards other supporting characters, in the end we will always
‘belong’ to the Final Girl.
Carol also believes the Final Girl to have an essence of
masculinity. Examples of this are some of the names of the ‘slasher film
heroes’ e.g. Ripley, Cassidy, Will, Terri, Laurie etc - These all being boyish
unisex names. This is done so that the male audience can identify with the
female characters more and similar for some male characters too who have more
feminine qualities so that women are able to relate.
Quote Analysis
‘I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and
figure, I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or
man’. - Dario Argento
From this quote, director Dario clearly expresses his
misogynist views and believes women to be ‘objects’ rather than actual beings. This
shows that he does not view women as equals and seeks pleasure in seeing them
struggle and fight for their lives. I completely disagree with Dario as he makes
women appear to be ‘weak’ and ‘vulnerable’ individuals that can’t defend themselves which is not
always the case as movies such as ‘Sorority Row’ and ‘Alien’ portray women as
being strong and determined (which they are).
‘Torture the women!
The trouble today is that we don’t torture them enough’
- Alfred Hitchcock
This quote
being very similar to Argento’s, we can say that Hitchcock had a similar view
on women and found it entertaining to see them tortured in films. His attitude
towards women can also be classed as quite ‘negative’ as in many of his films
such as ‘The Birds’ and ‘Psycho’, women are tortured by cruel men. However I
disagree and believe that women should do more of the ‘torturing’ as women can
be just as if not more powerful than men.
No comments:
Post a Comment