Women in Horror: The longstanding issues with the final girl trope

The video above, for instance, is a classic example of the “trashy” party girl who only serves the purpose of providing fan service for men (or women and other genders who prefer women). This is by far one of the most popular shots of the film, which just so happens to see actress America Olivo undressing and seducing one of the men in the film.

This is the opening scene for the Friday the 13th remake in 2009, in which Jason Voorhees brutally kills almost all of the friend group that’s introduced at the beginning. America Olivo’s character is among the casualties in this scene. As for the two survivors of the film, they just so happen to be Jared Padalecki (yes, exactly who you’re thinking of) and Amanda Righetti’s characters, the two morally conscious and sensitive protagonists with hearts of gold and tragic backstories.

This specific film branches from the problems of the party girl into the problems with the other type of role that’s reserved for women in horror films. If a woman isn’t cast for the role of the ill-fated party girl or as an extra, then what else is there? That leads to the equally problematic role of the ‘final girl.’

Neve Campbell in Scream 4, from Dimension Films

As I mentioned before, the final girl is an intriguing and potentially progressive concept, having a lone woman fight off the evil villain at the end, using nothing but her wits and strength to overcome. It’s a great opportunity for horror films and shows to make forward-thinking strides and provide further diversity in roles for women, right?

It’s all fine and dandy until we see what traits the final girl actually possesses. The lone survivor is often the polar opposite of the party girl: she’s kind, caring, intelligent and not obsessed with the idea of guys fawning over her. In fact, the final girl tends to be a virgin, fending off potential suitors because they’re just not worth her time. If they’re dating someone, it’s not a relationship one would call sexually charged, resorting to a classic case of “holding hands and giving each other short and sweet kisses.” Our hero is not some dirty jezebel sticking herself to guys and drugs. No, she’s a sweet and wholesome girl who is completely innocent and morally free of sin.

And that’s literally about it.

By writing the lone heroine to typically be a shining beacon of innocence, horror filmmakers further reassure the mindset of putting this type of woman on a pedestal, being treated as the one thing women have to be in order to potentially survive a dangerous situation. When women go into a theater to watch a movie like this, there is no real character for them to latch onto, besides the final girl, who is often written into a creative corner with only one outcome.

The guys themselves hardly have a personality to work with, so no chance of a real connection there. By writing the final girl this way, it removes the opportunity for the role to get expanded upon. Apart from the slight deviance in formula here and there, such as Cabin in the Woods and Scream, the final girl is as hollow as the party girl role on the opposite side of the spectrum.

This prevailing attitude towards women in horrors and slashers has subsequently painted them into a creative corner, closing off opportunities for women to develop more complex, engaging, or just plain fun roles as a result. Slashers, in particular, have developed a winning formula for the structure of their films and this formula has trickled down to character types.

The types are boiled down to simple caricatures, such as the lonely loser who’s never had sex and the wild party animal who gets punished for her abrasive behavior. How many times have we cheered whenever the killer offs a character like the latter? The character that is written to be so unlikable and imperfect that the only form of relief we can gather is from her grisly death?

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Why is her death so deserved? Because she didn’t follow “horror movie” logic and had fun? Because she’s kind of unpleasant to be around? Why is a person like that hardly afforded the chance gain glory as the final girl? I believe it’s because horror, as a genre, does not want us to celebrate this kind of personality. Horror is a genre that typically thrives on outsider and sexually restrained protagonists, such as Tommy Jarvis and Alice in Friday the 13th, Sydney Prescott in Scream (her lone sex scene doesn’t change up her outsider status) and Laurie Strode in Halloween. These are protagonists that are not hindered by partying, sex or drugs. They are essentially saints and their respective films paint them as examples to lead by.

This leaves the other female roles in the dust, as there’s no room for either complexity or victory available to them. The violence inflicted onto the “immoral”party girls is not meant to disturb the audience. It’s a breather for us and a time for the killer to shine and show us what they’re made of. The party girls can be there to look attractive for the audience, but other than that, they are not deemed worthy enough to survive.

This is where the new Coralie Fargeat film, Revenge, comes in and completely rewrites the rules of character dynamics in a horror film.

The discussion on Revenge‘s contribution to the horror genre will be continued in Part 2 of this discussion on final girls in horror!