THE FINAL GIRL THEORY

THE FINAL GIRL THEORY

The final girl is a trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). The final girl is referencing the last girl, usually the last character, alive to confront the killer towards the end of the film, and if there is a narrative voice she is the one to tell the story. The term was coined by Carol J Glover in her book "Men, women and chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film". Clover suggested in this book, that the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer but encountered a shift in identification to the female protagonist partway through the film.

A common plot line in many horror films is one in which a series of victims is killed off one-by-one by a killer, and the last character left alive (usually female) must either defeat the killer or escape. Usually the final girl is portrayed unlike the other victims and is typically sexually inexperienced or a virgin and avoids the vices of the victims such as consuming alcohol and using illegal drugs. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward, and as such, displays many qualities such as intelligence, vigilance, and being strong willed.

Examples of final girls

Ellen Ripley

Ellen Ripley is the main protagonist of the "Alien" franchise and appears in four out of the five movies in the series, minus the prequel "Prometheus". She exhibits many of the traits that Clover associates with the final girl: intelligence,competent in practical matters and strong. She also has several traits that make her stand out from typical horror female victims such as being somewhat of a tom boy, having short hair. She manages to defeat the xenomorph in the first film by using her intelligence to cast the creature into the vacuum of space, uses her strength to kill the alien queen in the second film and even though she dies in the third film, it's only because she takes her own life in order to stop an alien queen from escaping her body and thus preventing further killing sprees.

However, it can be argued that due to being a science fiction film, Ellen Ripley is not a final girl, or at least not the conventional final girl- as the film does not follow the conventions of a slasher film and abides by those of the sci-fi genre. Although Ripley refuses the men's sexual advances in the films there is no foregrounding of the characters abstinence and in alien 3 it is heavily implied that she has sexual intercourse, thus she does not fit the standard conventions of the final girl.

Nancy Thompson

Nancy Thompson is the protagonist of the film "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". She is regarded as one of the most influential horror heroines and has lead the way for later female characters in horror movies. She is intelligent and investigates the Freddy Krueger killings and uncovers the mystery of why all the teenagers are dying in their dreams. She is strong willed and capable of defeating Freddy at the end of the film by actively getting him to chase her and louring him into a series of traps. In the third film she is portrayed as the same insightful young woman and helps teens troubled by Freddy by working with them to uncover their powers inside the dreams and is integral to the survival of the remaining characters.

Sidney Prescott

Sidney is the protagonist of the "Scream" franchise. She displays the general conventions associated with the final girl character archetype. However, towards the end of the first film she loses her virginity, to the killer nonetheless, but she defies the horror trope of the characters who engage in sexual activity die. She manages to defeat both killers; first by using her strength to over power Stu Macher and then pushing a television onto his face. Then using her smarts and turning the tables on Billy and stabbing him through the chest and the shooting a bullet into his head. In the second film she manages to defeat the two further killers, in Scream 3 she overcomes her half brother who attempts to kill her and in Scream 4 she overcomes her niece and her friend. She shows great strength in overcoming the death of her mother and facing her killers and shows much character development throughout the series.

ICONIC SLASHER HEROINES

A common character in many slasher movies is the heroine or "the final girl". They sometimes have some sort of relation to the killer and are often equipped with a special skill or certain ability to combat them. More often than not they survive the film and defeat the villain in the 'final battle'.


Laurie Strode

Laurie Strode is the main antagonist of the Halloween franchise, despite not appearing in all of the instalments she is easily the most iconic person ever to go head to head with Michael Myers. Laurie Strode is widely recognised as the first true female heroine in a slasher film, one of the earliest and most influential examples of the "final girl", and it is made clear to slasher audiences that several of later movies heroines have some of her traits and adhere to several conventions that she was part of introducing.

Nancy Thompson 

Nancy Thompson is the main antagonist of A nightmare on Elm street and one of the main deuteragonists of A nightmare on Elm street 3: Dream warriors. She was the daughter of an alcoholic mother and a policeman father. In the first film she was haunted by Freddy Krueger the dream demon during his original killing spree on the children of Elm street, whilst in the third film she was a researcher at Western hills hospital who helped the remaining children of Elm street defend themselves against Freddy. She falls victim to Freddy towards the end of the film when he stabs her with his iconic bladed glove. She is the last person to die in the film. The death of Nancy brought a big change to slasher films as it broke the convention of the heroine serving until the end and defeating the villain.

Sidney Prescott

Sidney Prescott is the main protagonist of the Scream franchise, appearing in all four films. Linked to all of the killing sprees committed by all those who took on the alias of 'Ghostface', Sidney showed that she was more than a match for all of the killers. Originally surviving the first killers Billy Loomis and Stu Macher and eventually going on to encounter her own cousin, Jill, in the fourth film. Daughter to the infamous Maureen Prescott ( the woman responsible for the divorce of Billy's parents and victim of the rape and murder committed by Billy and Stu in response) Sidney showed she was nothing like her mother by remaining a virgin( until the ending) and considered as being conservative in terms of character. She goes through a great deal of change; being somewhat tough already in the first film to Being nothing short of a true hero by the fourth- she's even brave enough to take on Ghostface in a physical combat. The attempts on her life have made her braver and tougher, allowing her to save the lives of others even in the face of danger, not like your typical damsel in distress.

            

Alice Hardy

Alice Hardy is the main protagonist of Friday the 13th(1980). She is one of the counsellors at camp crystal lake and was the only survivor of Pamela Vorhees killing spree. Alice fits many of the traits that make a final girl, she's a virgin and quite conservative, especially in comparison to her fellow counsellors. Horror movie conventions dictate that she will be the final girl and she does so in great fashion. Towards the end of the film , Pamela Vorhees confronts Alice about how the counselors let Jason drown in the lake. Obviously Alice is not one go these counselors as Jason died many years previous to her arrival at the camp. After a long chase, Alice finally gets the upper hand and decapitates Pamela- ending her killing spree. In a dream, she falls asleep on a boat and Jason pulls her under killing her, for her to wake up and find it was only in her head. However in the second film she isn't so fortunate when Jason shows up for real. He finds out that she murdered his beloved mother and seeks revenge. He puts his mothers head in her fridge, once she discovers it Jason stabs her through the head with a screwdriver, becoming his first victim. Showing not every heroine lasts the entire franchise.