I understand the concept of Final Girl and the research behind it.
What I do not understand is why the Final Girl has to be a pure, beautiful, yet masculine woman?!
I guess what I am saying kind of goes with Madalyn's post below. Whore or pure? beautiful or ugly? Why can't she be normal looking and enjoy sex? Does it freak men out that women enjoy sex? Is that why the final girl has to be a virgin? So men won't run out of the theater screaming "not only is this woman powerful and killed the psycho, she also has a powerful vagina!"
Do women really like these kind of horror movies? Movies that tell us "well, if you have had sex with multiple men then you have it coming to you!"
GAH...any input?
I'd love to hear others' comments on this.
ReplyDeleteJust one thought from me on this: The notion that a strong woman can only be portrayed thus if she is also "pure" is a very pervasive one. The whole "Virgin-Whore" dichotomy informs cultural ideals of women. Both extremes can be worthy of admiration depending on who is doing the admiring. Interestingly, "whore" (or the many synonymous words that convey its equivalent) is almost always seen as derogatory; whereas derogatpry words referring to a virginal woman are not nearly so numerous. I suppose there are times when "whore" or "slut" are used as terms of affection or empowerment...but not often.