there are certain rules that run off /
in order to successfully survive a
horror movie one is the loneliest number
especially when someone or something is
trying to kill you
welcome to watchmojo.com struct the
cliches archetypes and story devices
that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content in this episode we’re
taking a look at the final girl the last
woman standing in a slasher film who
after seeing her friends die at the
hands of the killer survives to tell the
tale the Virgin’s death is optional one
of its last main thing is that she
suffers that she did final girls
throughout the history of the genre sure
more in common than just their gender
and survivor status in theory she is the
quintessential good girl
characterized by her above-average moral
restraint she refrains from having sex
drinking doing drugs and other such
deviant behaviors that so often get her
peers killed that’s why she always
wanted to kill in a big chase eNOS only
virgins can do that don’t you know how
much she’s also inquisitive and
resourceful enough to devise a strategy
to avoid sharing their fate she is her
own Savior all that being said to be a
final girl the heroine doesn’t need to
check every box on the list and in
practice they rarely do bearing in mind
the deviations from the textbook formula
are to be expected some version of the
final girl can be found standing at the
end of almost every classic slasher film
you can find examples of this trope
dating back as far as the early 70s but
it wasn’t until Carol Jay clovers 1992
book men women and chainsaws gender in
the modern horror film that someone gave
it a proper name clover saw the final
girl not as just a character to be
exploited and victimized for the
pleasure of the genres predominantly
male audience but rather as an empowered
female figure one with whom male viewers
come to identify and celebrates as she
overcomes her oppressor as one of the
earliest cited examples of the trope
Jeff Bradford the heroine of the 1974
Canadian called classics black Christmas
is more of a proto final girl appearing
on screen before the whole chasity
element of the trope came into play she
is sexually active pregnant and planning
on getting an abortion
and yet she’s considered by many to be
among the greatest final girls to ever
grace the silver screen she’s
strong-willed resourceful and a true
survivor in retrospect the characters
lack of virginal qualities and then
progressive approach to reproductive
rights have been largely praised for
avoiding the moralistic trappings that
later examples of the trope so often
suffer from its going to abort that baby
Peter you’re not going to tell me what I
can and cannot do while Jess Bradford
may have paved the way for future final
girls it’s Laurie Strode from the
Halloween franchise that’s most widely
credited with establishing the rules
that would go on to make this trope so
identifiable all around her Laurie’s
sexually active peers are cut down by
the knife wielding Michael Myers but our
heroine who just happens to be a virgin
makes it out alive
of course it’s not just her chastity
that’s a sir she also fights back in
just the first film Laurie displays
agency by stabbing Michael with knitting
needles a coat hanger and finally a
knife as previously mentioned before few
final girls abide by every convention in
Laurie’s case the deviation comes in the
form of dr. Loomis a male figure who
ultimately saves her from the force of
evil what I put Hume in as that a fact
that was in practice however this trope
is so pervasive and versatile that it
easily extends beyond slasher films the
sci-fi horror classic alien features
another iconic final girl Ellen Ripley
in an interesting twist
Ripley trades in the trademark innocence
and chastity for a certain androgynous
and a sexual quality even more so than
many of her final girl peers she is
composed a sort of survivor as a result
of her own resilience and willpower we
know it’s using the air shaft we listen
to me Parker shut up
unfortunately the pervasiveness of this
film trope is its own undoing the
slasher genre has accrued more than its
fair share of subpar films over the
years but with the sympathetic and well
fleshed out final girl our ability to
identify with her can often make for a
nonetheless satisfying viewing
experience however when Studios turn out
unoriginal slashers featuring paper-thin
final girls the audience fails to
connect with the character and the film
becomes functionally dead on arrival
long before the villain claims their
first victim if the final grill is
uninteresting and unrelatable than the
viewing experience
is reduced to an exercise in
exploitation you left passively watching
the suffering of people you don’t really
care about from the 2008 remake of prom
night and its final girl Donna Keppel –
Natalie Simon in urban legend in recent
decades the slasher genre has developed
a habit of dropping the ball in crafting
final girls focusing too much on the
conventions of the trope and not enough
on the characters themselves did you
even spend one minute thinking about
that in the year since clover coined the
term final girl
the trope has been the subject of much
analysis and debate adding to this
discussion are films like scream and The
Cabin in the Woods as both acknowledged
the final girl trope by simultaneously
acting as both homage and deconstruction
Sidney Prescott the heroine of The
Scream franchise has been described as
the first postmodern final girl who in
each film truly develops as a character
dismantling and challenging the
archetype along the way clear clear
clear in cabin in the woods Dana Polk
and her friends are set up within the
film to live out a classic horror movie
premise each of them even given
archetypal rules with Dana being
identified despite her protests as the
virgin or close enough to it it’s a
hilariously effective genre study in
which the final girl is explicitly
allowed to survive should she be the
last one standing and of course
resourceful enough this meta slasher not
only lays out the trope for all to see
but reminds us how it can continue to be
used effectively actually rooting for so
much heart because all that pain
kela right given that this trope is
hopelessly intertwined with the slasher
genre we’re not likely to stop seeing
outdated final girls anytime soon but
with a new generation of self-aware
horror flicks and filmmakers following
in the footsteps of Wes Craven’s scream
franchise films like it follows and
you’re next prove that modern female
horror heroines don’t have to conform to
the traditional final girl formula they
just have to be interesting compelling
characters some some sort of freedom
again so what do you think should this
trope be left in the classic era of
slasher horror films or at the greatest
generation of final girls just begun and
what are some of your favorite examples
of the final girl trope no please don’t
kill me mr. ghost face I want to be in
the sequel
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from WatchMojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
in order to successfully survive a
horror movie one is the loneliest number
especially when someone or something is
trying to kill you
welcome to watchmojo.com struct the
cliches archetypes and story devices
that won’t go away
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content in this episode we’re
taking a look at the final girl the last
woman standing in a slasher film who
after seeing her friends die at the
hands of the killer survives to tell the
tale the Virgin’s death is optional one
of its last main thing is that she
suffers that she did final girls
throughout the history of the genre sure
more in common than just their gender
and survivor status in theory she is the
quintessential good girl
characterized by her above-average moral
restraint she refrains from having sex
drinking doing drugs and other such
deviant behaviors that so often get her
peers killed that’s why she always
wanted to kill in a big chase eNOS only
virgins can do that don’t you know how
much she’s also inquisitive and
resourceful enough to devise a strategy
to avoid sharing their fate she is her
own Savior all that being said to be a
final girl the heroine doesn’t need to
check every box on the list and in
practice they rarely do bearing in mind
the deviations from the textbook formula
are to be expected some version of the
final girl can be found standing at the
end of almost every classic slasher film
you can find examples of this trope
dating back as far as the early 70s but
it wasn’t until Carol Jay clovers 1992
book men women and chainsaws gender in
the modern horror film that someone gave
it a proper name clover saw the final
girl not as just a character to be
exploited and victimized for the
pleasure of the genres predominantly
male audience but rather as an empowered
female figure one with whom male viewers
come to identify and celebrates as she
overcomes her oppressor as one of the
earliest cited examples of the trope
Jeff Bradford the heroine of the 1974
Canadian called classics black Christmas
is more of a proto final girl appearing
on screen before the whole chasity
element of the trope came into play she
is sexually active pregnant and planning
on getting an abortion
and yet she’s considered by many to be
among the greatest final girls to ever
grace the silver screen she’s
strong-willed resourceful and a true
survivor in retrospect the characters
lack of virginal qualities and then
progressive approach to reproductive
rights have been largely praised for
avoiding the moralistic trappings that
later examples of the trope so often
suffer from its going to abort that baby
Peter you’re not going to tell me what I
can and cannot do while Jess Bradford
may have paved the way for future final
girls it’s Laurie Strode from the
Halloween franchise that’s most widely
credited with establishing the rules
that would go on to make this trope so
identifiable all around her Laurie’s
sexually active peers are cut down by
the knife wielding Michael Myers but our
heroine who just happens to be a virgin
makes it out alive
of course it’s not just her chastity
that’s a sir she also fights back in
just the first film Laurie displays
agency by stabbing Michael with knitting
needles a coat hanger and finally a
knife as previously mentioned before few
final girls abide by every convention in
Laurie’s case the deviation comes in the
form of dr. Loomis a male figure who
ultimately saves her from the force of
evil what I put Hume in as that a fact
that was in practice however this trope
is so pervasive and versatile that it
easily extends beyond slasher films the
sci-fi horror classic alien features
another iconic final girl Ellen Ripley
in an interesting twist
Ripley trades in the trademark innocence
and chastity for a certain androgynous
and a sexual quality even more so than
many of her final girl peers she is
composed a sort of survivor as a result
of her own resilience and willpower we
know it’s using the air shaft we listen
to me Parker shut up
unfortunately the pervasiveness of this
film trope is its own undoing the
slasher genre has accrued more than its
fair share of subpar films over the
years but with the sympathetic and well
fleshed out final girl our ability to
identify with her can often make for a
nonetheless satisfying viewing
experience however when Studios turn out
unoriginal slashers featuring paper-thin
final girls the audience fails to
connect with the character and the film
becomes functionally dead on arrival
long before the villain claims their
first victim if the final grill is
uninteresting and unrelatable than the
viewing experience
is reduced to an exercise in
exploitation you left passively watching
the suffering of people you don’t really
care about from the 2008 remake of prom
night and its final girl Donna Keppel –
Natalie Simon in urban legend in recent
decades the slasher genre has developed
a habit of dropping the ball in crafting
final girls focusing too much on the
conventions of the trope and not enough
on the characters themselves did you
even spend one minute thinking about
that in the year since clover coined the
term final girl
the trope has been the subject of much
analysis and debate adding to this
discussion are films like scream and The
Cabin in the Woods as both acknowledged
the final girl trope by simultaneously
acting as both homage and deconstruction
Sidney Prescott the heroine of The
Scream franchise has been described as
the first postmodern final girl who in
each film truly develops as a character
dismantling and challenging the
archetype along the way clear clear
clear in cabin in the woods Dana Polk
and her friends are set up within the
film to live out a classic horror movie
premise each of them even given
archetypal rules with Dana being
identified despite her protests as the
virgin or close enough to it it’s a
hilariously effective genre study in
which the final girl is explicitly
allowed to survive should she be the
last one standing and of course
resourceful enough this meta slasher not
only lays out the trope for all to see
but reminds us how it can continue to be
used effectively actually rooting for so
much heart because all that pain
kela right given that this trope is
hopelessly intertwined with the slasher
genre we’re not likely to stop seeing
outdated final girls anytime soon but
with a new generation of self-aware
horror flicks and filmmakers following
in the footsteps of Wes Craven’s scream
franchise films like it follows and
you’re next prove that modern female
horror heroines don’t have to conform to
the traditional final girl formula they
just have to be interesting compelling
characters some some sort of freedom
again so what do you think should this
trope be left in the classic era of
slasher horror films or at the greatest
generation of final girls just begun and
what are some of your favorite examples
of the final girl trope no please don’t
kill me mr. ghost face I want to be in
the sequel
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from WatchMojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
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