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Saturday 20 July 2013

Final Girl Concept


The final girl referd to the last femaile standing to confront the killer. She is seen as a sexually unavailbable or a virginal. she sometimes has a unisex name and is masculine The final girl is a thriller and horror film (particularly slasher) trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Clover suggests that in these films, the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but experiences a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Hellraiser, Alien and Scream.

History
According to Clover, the final girl is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, avoiding the vices of the victims (sex, narcotic usage, etc.). She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g., Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney). Occasionally the Final Girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance.
           One of the basic premises of Clover’s theory is that audience identification is unstable and fluid across gender lines, particularly in the case of the slasher film. During the final girl’s confrontation with the killer, Clover argues, she becomes masculinised through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon, such as a knife or chainsaw, against the killer. Conversely, Clover points out that the villain of slasher films is often a male whose masculinity, and sexuality more generally, are in crisis. Examples would include Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Clover points to this gender fluidity as demonstrating the impact of feminism in popular culture.
          The phenomenon of the male audience having to identify with a young female character in an ostensibly male-oriented genre, usually associated with sadistic voyeurism, raises interesting questions about the nature of slasher films and their relationship with feminism. Clover argues that for a film to be successful, although the Final Girl is masculinised, it is necessary for this surviving character to be female, because she must experience abject terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male. The terror has a purpose, in that the female is 'purged' if she survives, of undesirable characteristics, such as relentless pursuit of pleasure in her own right. An interesting feature of the genre is the 'punishment' of beauty and sexual availability (Leading to the idea that "Sex = Death" in Horror Movies)



Halloween binary opposites
Laurie strode defines the final girl archetype as she links this tho intellegence this signifies she is intellegent and hard working later on in the film we meet her friends who are screamers and we can then see the binary opposition as she asks for her biology book. She wears unattractive clothing such as thick white tights and long skirt and turtle neck jumper this is typical for final girl as she also is brunette.she is also a responsible character un like her friends who are scream queens. She also can be interpreted as a virgin as her other friends are screamers and they are killed they have boyfriends and she doesnt.



Scream queen and final girl
common device also used is in the lesson is the girl is talking about fait as when she looks out the window he is there she talks about they can not change fait.


Binary opposition is then used to contrast the friends as they talk about boyfriends the final girl faces the scream queen as they both argue becuase it matters a great deal to the final girl that she left the book at school but her friends make fun of her.


Scream ( Wes Craven 1996) sidney prescott,
the character of sidney prescott is presented as the final girl first her night wear is long , old fashioned and childish we can allso denote when we see her first she is doing her homwor she has the classic dark brown hair.Bedroom also signifies she is a responsible moral character due to it been old fashioned it is also what you would not expect from a teen girl. Final girl is pertraded as a virgin as she talks to her boyfriend bully lumis then says ' i would not dream of breaking your underwear rule'.

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