Abstract
This chapter offers a reflection on the horror film’s spectatorial address through an analysis of Todd Strauss-Schulson’s The Final Girls (2015). In particular, it shows how the film’s self-referentiality and metagenericity help destabilize horror’s assumed gendered address, bridging ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ cinematic codes, as they have traditionally been perceived by film criticism. By establishing intertextual dialogue with Wes Craven’s Scream franchise, the chapter focuses on two particular aspects: the place of motherhood in the horror film and a reconsideration of the Final Girl trope through the affective politics set up by the hybridized conventions of the slasher form and maternal melodrama. Paszkiewicz concludes that what might be considered new in the film—female friendship, a collaborative front against the patriarchy, self-referentiality interwoven with the emotional intensity and affect—is already present in the horror genre.
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Notes
- 1.
See the piece by Linda Williams, ‘When the Woman Looks’ (1983), one of the key texts in early feminist horror scholarship.
- 2.
For a contrary view, see Klaus Rieser’s reflections on the Final Girl being ‘wholly masculine,’ and thus ‘anti-woman,’ for she is a ‘female figure in a male mold rather than a heroine pursuing a feminine subjective trajectory’ (2001, 378). Jody Keisner, in turn, argues that, because of the Final Girl’s masculinization, ‘female viewers are not identifying with the victorious Final Girl, but with the unlucky victims’ (2008, 425) and therefore are likely to be disempowered by the slasher films.
- 3.
In this critical strand, contemporary horror films are sometimes seen as updating ‘the protofeminism of the slasher film’s Final Girl from the late 1970s and early 1980s’ (Craig and Fradley 2010, 87).
- 4.
According to Hayt, ‘this is perhaps nowhere more strongly stated than in Kevin J. Westmore’s Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema (2012) wherein he argues that because terrorism is indiscriminate in its victims (men, women, and children are all fair game), the horror films that variously recreate terror in the post-9/11 era should not be approached through gender-inflected criticism (which he lumps into the categories of psychology/psychoanalysis and sex/sexual politics)’ (2017, 131).
- 5.
See, for example, Pinedo 2014.
- 6.
As Lizardi observes, drawing on several scholarly works, the proliferation of the slasher remakes is closely related with the US post-9/11 context on several levels: ‘significant societal battles over immigration laws […], fear of impending terror attacks on the news […], and the increasingly shaky U.S. reputation overseas […]. The overseas-tourist horror films like Hostel (2005), Hostel: Part II (2007), Turistas (2006) and The Ruins (2008) could be seen as an example of the genre reacting to the issues of fear of outsiders’ (2010, 117). It is worth noting, though, that some feminist scholars writing about the films that emerged in this context have not shied away from the gender perspective, but rather expanded this critique by resorting to critical race theory and thus acknowledging the intersectionality of the Final Girl trope. See, for example, Palmer (2017).
- 7.
In Lizardi’s words: ‘It seems that the slasher horror film remakes are saying that women can look forward to a long and hopeful future of being tortured back into “normal” hegemonic gender roles’ (2010, 121).
- 8.
The scene of the screening is a self-conscious nod to the horror trope: ‘horror film characters are forever watching horror movies […], and not a few horror plots turn on the horrifying consequences of looking at terror’ (Clover 2015, 167).
- 9.
Additionally, Tina and Nancy seem to be named after characters from A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
- 10.
In another moment, when Kurt greets the girls with ‘What’s up, funbags?,’ the contemporary character, Vicki, responds with sarcasm: ‘Funbags? […] Right […] Yay, feminism!’
- 11.
In the mother–daughter inversion of the Persephone myth, Max, just like Demeter, ends up traveling to the underworld in an attempt to save her mother.
- 12.
Similar to other US teen horror films, The Final Girls is, for the most part, white and middle-class in both focus and sensibility. The only black character in the film, Blake (Tory N. Thompson), is given little screen time. Such generic limitations in terms of representation have been recently challenged by films such as Get Out (2017, USA/Japan, dir. Jordan Peele), discussed in Isabel Pinedo’s chapter in this collection.
- 13.
- 14.
See, for example, Wee (2006).
- 15.
Billy’s trauma after a humiliating prank echoes the one represented in The Burning (1981, USA, dir. Tony Maylam).
- 16.
The song was originally written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, but it was made popular by Carnes.
- 17.
Making reference to Stella Dallas (1937, USA, dir. King Vidor), Dark Victory (1939, USA, dir. Edmund Goulding), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, USA, Max Ophüls) and Imitation of Life (1959, USA, Douglas Sirk), Garrett argues that ‘one of the reasons that such films subsequently proved of such interest to feminist film scholars is that they focused more on mother-daughter relationships, abusive husbands, trauma and illness than conventional heterosexual romance’ (2017, 73).
- 18.
As Hayt further explains: the ‘realignment of patriotic values replaced the post-Vietnam era emotions that had carried through the 1990s […] and allowed America to once again be the “Good Guys” reeling from an unprovoked attack’ (2017, 133).
- 19.
One of the reasons for this is the film’s different generic identity: an amalgam of horror, comedy, teen movies and melodrama.
- 20.
In the same article, we read that The Final Girls reflects aspects of Joshua John Miller’s, one of its screenwriters, life. Miller’s father, Jason Miller, the Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and actor, portrayed Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist (1973, USA, dir. William Friedkin). ‘Like Max, the younger Miller has had the unique experience of watching a character played by his father killed in a horror movie. That experience led Miller to write about his own father’s death (Jason Miller passed away in 2001) in the context of the familiar grounds of horror movies with Fortin, his partner in both life and screenwriting’ (in McKittrick 2015).
- 21.
Probably because she is not a virgin; according to the slasher rules, she cannot play the part of the Final Girl.
- 22.
Max was seriously wounded, but when Nancy dies, she suddenly becomes more powerful.
- 23.
As Rowe Karlyn further explains: ‘Sidney learns that he was renowned for hosting wild parties for powerful men and young women seeking careers in the movies. At one of those parties which Maureen attended, “things got out of hand,” and she ended up leaving Hollywood for good. Other references to the casting couch add weight to the film’s critique of Hollywood’s sexual politics and imply that they continue to the present’ (2011, 114).
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Filmography
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
——— (2010, USA, dir. Samuel Bayer).
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006, USA, dir. Johnathan Levine).
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003, USA, The WB Television Network/United Paramount Network).
Captivity (2007, USA, dir. Roland Joffé).
Carrie (1976, USA, dir. Brian De Palma).
Dark Victory (1939, USA, dir. Edmund Goulding).
Final Destination (2000, USA, dir. James Wong).
Friday the 13th (1980, USA, dir. Sean S. Cunningham).
——— (2009, USA, dir. Marcus Nispel).
Get Out (2017, USA/Japan, dir. Jordan Peele).
Ginger Snaps (2000, Canada, dir. John Fawcett).
Halloween (1978, USA, dir. John Carpenter).
——— (2007, USA, dir. Rob Zombie).
House of Wax (2005, USA/Australia, dir. Jaume Collet-Serra).
Imitation of Life (1959, USA, Douglas Sirk).
Jennifer’s Body (2009, USA, dir. Karyn Kusama).
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, USA, Max Ophüls).
My Bloody Valentine (2009, USA, dir. Patrick Lussier).
Peeping Tom (1960, UK, Michael Powell).
Prom Night (2008, USA, dir. Nelson B. McCormick).
Scream (1996, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
Scream 2 (1997, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
Scream 3 (2000, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
Scream 4 (2011, USA, dir. Wes Craven).
Sleepaway Camp (1983, USA, dir. Robert Hiltzik).
Stella Dallas (1937, USA, dir. King Vidor).
Teeth (2007, USA, dir. Mitchell Lichtenstein).
The Amityville Horror (2005, USA, dir. Andrew Douglas).
The Burning (1981, USA, dir. Tony Maylam).
The Exorcist (1973, USA, dir. William Friedkin).
The Final Girls (2015, USA, dir. Todd Strauss-Schulson).
The Hills Have Eyes (2006, USA, dir. Alexandre Aja).
The House on Sorority Row (1983, USA, dir. Mark Rosman).
The Last House on the Left (2009, USA, dir. Dennis Iliadis).
The Matrix (1999, USA/Australia, dir. The Wachowskis).
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, USA, dir. Marcus Nispel).
Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001, USA, Renaissance Pictures).
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Paszkiewicz, K. (2020). ‘Just Keep Looking Forward or We’ll Be Stuck Here Forever’: The Final Girls, Spectatorial Address and Transformations of the Slasher Form. In: Paszkiewicz, K., Rusnak, S. (eds) Final Girls, Feminism and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31523-8_13
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