Women in Horror: The longstanding issues with the final girl trope
By Wesley Lara
Friday the 13th — Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The final girl trope may seem progressive on the surface, but it is only a cover for the problems of limitation that the trope empowers.
It’s 1980. Friday approaches its sunset, leaving folks to celebrate the end of the week in a celebratory fashion. Kids and teenagers, in particular, relish the idea of a Friday night. No school for the next two days means everyone can party their hearts out on this night. Going out of town, rushing to a music concert, and for those who would prefer to get thrills without going too crazy, there’s the idea of going to the movies.
Going to the movies fulfills our desires to project our issues and views onto something. Why else do people go to the movies? Because they want to be entertained? Yes, that is very true, but the source of the entertainment is relating something personal onto whatever is being shown.
For example, when watching a bloody slasher film, how many times have you caught yourself thinking how YOU would react in that situation? How you would’ve ran out the front door instead of hurriedly rushing up the stairs to your certain doom? How you would’ve been smart enough to aim the gun at the head, as opposed to the lonely protagonist’s decision to go with body shots? I know for me, it’s been much too many to count.
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The idea of projection is especially true in horror movies simply due to the life and death situations that seemingly normal people (like you and me) get into. There’s a masked psycho who wants to slaughter you and your friends. There’s an alien life form that does unspeakable things to your body if you get too close to it. There’s a ghost that’s just a tad reckless and proceeds to chuck your fine china at the wall and watch you sleep. These are situations that audiences, in some way, shape or form, are curious about, so much so that they are willing to pay money to sit in a dark theater and watch how events unfold and justify their own mindset and beliefs in the process.
The most glaring example of projection in horror, to me, is the now seemingly inescapable cinema trope of the ‘final girl’ in a horror film. If you’ve only seen a handful of horror films in your life, then chances are you still might’ve come across this trope at some point. When the mysterious, murderous entity has killed off everybody else, there’s only one person left to combat this evil. This lone survivor? The last remaining girl of the original group, who conveniently manages to be the smartest and most evasive victim of the group, proving to be the entity’s sudden kryptonite –yhe final girl in a nutshell.
On paper, this seems to be a progressive move for the horror genre. It’s no secret the horror genre has a reputation for undercutting women in its various films and shows. A woman’s appearance in a horror film tends to be boiled down to the status of ‘cannon fodder’ for the monstrous antagonist to lay waste to. Though the guys get the same treatment for the most part, it’s especially strong with women in the media, fitting into roles that specifically serve as stereotypes and in many ways, reassurance of their roles in horror media.
Slasher horror films are where this problem becomes all the more apparent. In the previously mentioned group of victims for the evil villain(s) to slaughter, there is hardly room for diversity, in terms of character traits for women in those groups. One of, if not the most popular role for a woman in that group, is the role of the outgoing party girl, for instance.
Many slashers, such as the Friday the 13th series, Wrong Turn, See No Evil, House of Wax, and even self-aware horror comedies such as Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and The Cabin in the Woods, all have this popular character. This is the girl who is notoriously not aware of the horrors that surround her and often finds herself to be among the first of the victims of the film. She is far too busy drinking, partying, being a nuisance to the main character, and aiming to get laid by either her boyfriend or a potential lover in the group. She is often graced with the lovely reputation of being either a giant airhead or a totally antagonistic jerk.