Continuing about surviving horrible situations, making it to the end alive, there’s a concept, in horror, called the “final girl” that I’d like to expand on.
Basically, a final girl is the girl that makes it alive to the end of a scary movie, the last one standing in a slasher film. “Slasher”, generally referring to the type of horror stories where there’s a group of people and the killer mercilessly kills as many of them as they can. Part of the intrigue of a slasher film is who will make it to the end alive when all is done. Or even in what order each person will die. Usually, there’s the assumption or obvious signs early on that it will be a massacre leaving few to no survivors. And perhaps, it will be a typical case of a single, final girl.
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| Scream (2016) |
The term isn’t new, but it recently stood out for me in the Scream TV series. One of the main characters there, a horror fan, brought it up as he compared their circumstances to that of a slasher film with a final girl and pieced things together.
At this point, in our current times, the final girl, in horror, could really be anyone. There’s no strict profile that she must fit other than the fact that she is a girl (or a woman) who somehow survives the slasher although others don’t. However, sometimes, she is the final girl because the killer is particularly obsessed with her and saves her for last, either out of attachment and not wanting to let her go just yet or out of pleasure from watching her witness and suffer all the deaths before hers. Might even put her in situations where it would seem as though there’s a chance that she can do something to help her friends, so that she will give her all to it, but her efforts will ultimately be futile. The killer has too much of an advantage and is confident that she will fail.
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| Scream (2016) |
And speaking of the killer’s advantage. Just by being the killer, there’s a tremendous head start. For one, they catch their targets by surprise and off guard. Furthermore, they lack the compassion that would limit others’ options to get ahead. Sure, often, the killer is also incredibly skilled, strong, and/or enduring, but they still get away with a lot merely by being the killer in the scenario rather than, say, somebody with at least some sanity who’s simply living their life and going about their day relatively normally. And this, as well as tactics and strategies that they may employ, makes up for how they are outnumbered. So, killers, don’t pat yourself on the back; you don’t have that much merit.
The final girl yet gets to see the dawn.
But how? What is it that makes it so? How does she survive? Well, it can go a number of ways or even be mixed factors:
• She is “God’s favorite child”. Meaning, she’s incredibly “lucky”. Things keep working in her favor no matter the odds.
• She is protected by one or more of those around her. There may even be sacrifices made for her sake.
• She is tough as nails. Maybe not from the start but, put through that, finds it in herself or allows herself to be.
• She makes intelligent decisions, without necessarily losing her humanity, and doesn’t let emotions always get the best of her.
• She has something that makes the killer vulnerable, which she uses against them to slow, weaken, or distract in any manner.
• She knows something important that is key to this ordeal.
Then, what about final boys? Is there no such thing? Well, characters in horror can be old-fashioned in the sense that male protagonists are normally concerned with saving others, especially females (you know, women and children first), rather than saving themselves. And if the latter is the case, they are likely despicable cowards and/or selfish bastards, making them barely, if at all, any better than the killer. And who would like to see someone like that get away? Double standards? Not entirely, all things considered; they probably could have easily done more but didn’t (and females that happen to have the upper hand and don't lift a finger for others, or even throw them under the bus to secure their own safety, are treated similarly in horror).
But of course, there are exceptions. There are “final boys” when the group is composed of males only, for example. Or if things go terribly wrong and it escapes the final boy's hands - then he will not be left with survivor’s guilt alone, but also with shame that they couldn’t do any better as the masculine figure or guy around. And so on. Regardless, it’s not as common as the final girl phenomenon.
Horror authors seem to take the opportunity to show how impulsive, reckless, overconfident, verging on stupid men can be and how, as a result, they would lose their lives. Alternatively, they’re so stubbornly skeptical and dismissive that they ignore all warnings and become some of the easiest targets. Men die heroically in these stories or, at the other end of the spectrum, they have absurd deaths. Women die absurdly too, though, but usually doing needlessly feminine things instead (e.g. being extra vain or delicate). The story might be an elaborate compilation of what not to do if you’re being chased by a killer. The final girl can be guilty of a bunch of those as well.
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| Scream (2016) |
When there’s no “final girl” and no “final boy”, and the killer is permanently defeated or temporarily loses their grip on the situation, giving a break until a later future, we may have what I’d call a final few. Frequently, it’s a pair, but it can be a small group that remains from the larger group. As was the case in the Scream TV series, season 1 and season 2. Whatever the case, however, the number of people was significantly reduced. Therefore, much of the concept and what it entails still applies to these survivors.
How would you make it to the end, surviving in a slasher horror story?