Introduction
In certain spine-chilling and hair-raising films with horror and suspense genre wherein everyone dies except for one female survivor. This lone survivor is the personification of a Final Girl concept of this particular film classification. This leading character is luckily spared from the vicious attacks of the murderer. She is the last person to be alive to confront the killer and usually survives to talk about the ordeal, after all her friends are killed off, one after the other.
Origin
The ‘ final girl ’ aspect was originated by Carol J. Clover in her book entitled ‘Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film ’, published in 1992. It was during the time of the 1970s and 1980s, however, that the final girl concept had savored the sweet taste of fame with the help of the growing notoriety of the ‘Slasher ’ component in horror films like ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ’ and ‘Halloween ’. This notion became even more monumental at the latter part of the year 1990s and 2000s as the slasher film inched further at aiming to get through the younger generation of film viewers with the films, for example, ‘I Know what You Did Last Summer ’, ‘Scream ’, ‘ House of Wax ’ and ‘ Home of 1000 Corpses ’.
Exposure To Cinema & Movement
The intentions of the slasher films are originally aimed at catering to the taste of the male viewers. It is for this reason that the importance of the ‘ Final Girl ’ aspect becomes clearly defined. This idea became even more engaging when the female representation of this character evolves further at the steadfast use of this technique.
The behavior and the disposition of the ‘ final girl ’ in slasher films are normally depicted as a hopeless damsel in distress who is bombarded with all sorts of dread and insurmountable fear and panic at first. The moment she is drawn face to face with her attacker, since she then appears tough as a male as she fights against the attacker with a weapon in her hand in her hopes of survival. The perfect example of slasher films of all time that utilizes the ‘ final girl ’ concept are the 2006 film Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon by Scott Glosserman, the 1997 film “Alien Resurrection ” by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the 1998 film “Urban Legend ” by Jamie Blanks.
In the film Urban Legend, the filmmaker, dished out the horrific story of a group of students in a University and a mysterious killer on the loose who was in a killing spree, murdering people around, following the murder techniques that is illustrated in their urban folk tales or legends, thus giving this film the very title as the “ Urban Legend ” itself. The story about these series of killings eventually became one of the legends itself that was then shared to some students in the university. The shocking identity of the murderer was revealed at the end of this film. This film was directed by Jamie Blanks and was released on 1998. The response to this film by the film reviewers and enthusiasts, however, was apparently unfavorable.
Concept
The concept of the final girl is to show a female character who managed to overcome the life-threatening dangers and the most appalling terror she had encountered in the hands of her aggressor. The deadening aspect of utter grostic terror in slasher films serves as the measuring point of the amount of bravery of this female character. The Final Girl concept defines the very last character who remained alive after the rest of the characters were all murdered. The final girl typifies the dramatis personae who defies the extreme fears and triumphs over the assaults of her attacker and was in the end given a chance to recount her traumatic experiences.
Conclusion
Horror films are often exemplified having vulnerable female character personifications. However, as these female characters are being taunted and are tortured by insurmountable panic and terror in the point-blank face of the murder, the powerless demeanor of the final girl becomes toughened enough to handle and challenge her assaulter.
Nevertheless, the final girl excessively censured by the feminist groups and specialists, particularly those who overlook the usage of female bodies as a means of accommodating the male pipe-dreams and intent stare. In this particular film genre, it shows that despite of the fact that the final girl overcomes the nightmaric experiences, still the trauma takes a toll on her for the rest of her life.
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