The duration of film openings can vary largely being from 2 minutes long all the way to 15 minutes. An example of a very long film opening is "Scream" made by Wes Craven in 1996 which is 13 minutes long. A Nightmare on Elm Street which is also created by Wes Craven in 1984 is 4 minutes long which is significantly shorter than Scream even though it is directed by the same director.
"The final girl is a trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). It refers to the last woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream." - Wiki
Here are some examples of Final Girls in Slasher movies:
... Scream - Sidney Prescott ...
... In this clip we see Sidney Prescott fighting back, she is clearly a Final Girl and follows many of the key conventions, for example, she is tough, resourceful, intelligent and survives till the end due to her fighting back.
Halloween H20: 20 years later- Laurie Strode ...
... Laurie Strode is another very clear final girl example and is a key archetype to the final girl conventions, she is a brunette, not sexually active, an introvert, tough, resourceful and uses her intelligence to survive.
Scary Movie (deconstruction = postmodernism) - Cindy Campbell ...
... Scary Movie is a great example of a final girl character as it is a post-modern deconstruction of many movies, in the clip it is a deconstruction of Scream. In scary movie, the characters roles are amplified and shown more intensely, this means that Cindy Campbell's role as a final girl is amplified and shows her to be extra resourceful, tough and a fighter all key parts of a final girl role
Carole J Clover:
The Final Girl Theory was first made famous by Carol J Clover in the essay "her body, Himself: Gender in the slasher film" (1987), in this essay she stated that Slasher movies presented woman in a way that gives a very clear picture of the sexual attitudes of men towards woman at the time. Clovers theory lay in the reversal of the male role and scream queen role in which the final girl defeats the killer instead of being the first to die.
The Archetype:
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Laurie strode is the key archetype for a final girl, as can be seen here (girl on the left with books) she is nerdy, intelligent and in this scene it is made clear she does not have a boyfriend and is not sexually active. In this scene she she also says that she forgot her book at school to which her friends mock her for. Her friends are also smoking and talking about plans with their boyfriends, Laurie does not smoke or say she has plans which enforces her role as a Final Girl.
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The costume of Laurie Strode wears helps to signify her role, this is because it is very conservative, unrevealing and stereotypically worn by someone that is nerdy.
Other Examples of Final Girls:
Here are some other examples of Final girls in a variety of slasher movies, all of these reflect parts of the Final Girl convention.
Friday 13th - Alice hardy
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Psycho - Lila Loomis
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Nightmare on Elm street - Nancy Thompson
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Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Sally Hardesty
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Many of these characters reflect the same conventions of the final girl, they all dress conservatively, they are intelligent and tough and they either die lateen the movie or survive, juxtaposing the traditional scream queen role.
Possible Influences
Will have conservative clothikng
She will be seen as a smart/intelligent character
Will be the last character to survive (along side scream queen in which we have challanged the convetions)
The term scream queen is used when referring to a young, attractive, sexually active and rebellious women. The convention is that the scream queen will be the first character to be killed. A scream queen is usually blonde, busty and seen as 'dumb'.
A brilliant example of a scream queen is Drew Decker in the film Scary Movie(Keenen Ivory Wayans)(2000). This film has really taken every single convention of a scream queen and put it into one character. This convention relates largely to the male gaze theory as it is a women who is being objectified.
Sometimes the films also challenge the conventions and create a 'Scream King' which is basically a male version of a scream queen. We have done this in our own film opening.
Here are some few examples of scream queens in slasher movies.
Scream (Wes Craven)(1996) - Casey Becker ...
... In this clip Casey Becker is at home on the phone and the killer is on the other side telling her what to do and asking her questions. The killer then appears and she is chased throughout the house. To her parents shocks she is killed at the end and hung from a tree.
Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans)(2000) - Drew Decker ...
... This is one of the first scenes in the film. It is a recreation of Casey Becker getting killed in Scream. With the same scenario of her being chased throughout the house. Drew Decker is a great example of a scream queen, there are shots where it shows how 'dumb' she is. For example, a sign saying saftey pointing to the left and a sign saying death posting to the right. Drew decided to go right where the sign says death. All this links into the fact that Scary Movie is a post-modern deconstruction of the slasher genre.
Black X/Cmas - Barbra Cord Psycho - Marion Crane Cherry Falls - Jody Marken NoES - Tina Grey Cry_Wolf - Becky All the Boys Love Mandy Lane - (Scream King) Dylan Babysitter Wanted - Rebecca Miller TCM - Pam
Possible Influences
We will create the young and rebellious character
Will have mise - en -scene to suggest she is sexually active
