THE FINAL GIRL CONCEPT

 

Laurie Strode

The final girl is a thriller and horror film tradition that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, and sometimes the one left to tell the story. The term was created 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, also she sometimes has a unisex name.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.

Buffy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer

One of the basic premises of Clover’s theory is that audience identification is unstable 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. Also 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.

Examples of final girls

Williams gives several examples of final girls from the Friday the 13th franchise: Alice from Friday the 13th, and the heroines from Part II and Part III. (He observes that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter does not have a final girl.) He notes that they do not conclude the films wholly victorious, however. The heroines from Parts 2 and 3 are catatonic at the ends of the respective films, and Alice survives the monster in the first film only to fall victim to "him" in the second. The final girl in Part 2 is carried away on a stretcher, calling out for her boyfriend (which Williams argues again undermines the notion of final girls always being victorious). Moreover, Ginny's adoption of the monster's own strategy, in Part II, brings into question whether the final girl image is in fact a wholly positive one.
 
  How Laurie Strode defines the final girl archetype: . Carrying books.

Final girl Laurie Strode with books and scream queen.

. Later on she say 'I've forgotten my chemistry textbook' and her friends laugh at her and tell her how they forget their book all the time. .Her clothing is very unglamourous, not very sexy. . Also the hair colour dark brown. .She doesn't have a boyfriend, which is usually the case that she un sexually active, whereas the scream queens do have boyfriends and are sexually active. .Responsible character, unlike the other scream queens.   How Sydney Prescott defines the final girl in Scream(Wes Craven , 1987): .Denotation of her night dress is quite childish, and when we first see her she's doing her homework. .She has the conventional hair , dark brown. .Mise-en-scene used for her bedroom with it being neat and tidy. .Boyfriend talks to her about the lack of sexual activity , she's still a virgin. .'I wouldn't dream of breaking your underwear rule' Billie Loomis talking to Sydney Prescott.