As I was reading the article “The Final Girl,” I couldn’t help but see a greater paradigm at work; that is, the ‘Either/Or.’ Throughout history and to this day, a woman is labeled as either one extreme or the other, a this [whore, temptress] or a that [virgin, prude]. A girl can be either a Mary or an Eve, a morally pure person or a morally corrupted whore. This paradigm sets up a false dilemma by using extreme standards that a girl must either be one way or its complete opposite, and nothing in between.
It is clear that the portrayal of women in horror films fits this paradigm quite comfortably. A woman is either the whore who gets killed in the film, or the morally sound ‘Final Girl’ who prevails against the killer by attaining male-like qualities.
Great. Not only does this paradigm exist in nearly every social judgment made towards women, i.e. their weight or appearance, but it’s also found to exist in horror films. Why are we still so attracted as a culture to that model of judgment which has continued to exist for so many centuries? Will we, as women, ever be able to escape it?
In answer to your first question: because dichotomies are easy and simple and appealing. In answer to your second: LOL!
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