Film Analysis Of Carol Clover's 'Men Women And Chainsaws'

Too many horror films provide scares and screams throughout their respective cinemas. Not many viewers follow what kind of model the films follow to appease their viewers. However, after reading film theorist Carol Clover’s novel, watching one of the films she associates in the novel “Halloween”, and also watching the movie “Nightmare on Elm Street” I say almost every “slasher” or horror film follows a model similar to Clover’s. The model is a female is featured as a primary character and that females tend to always overcome a situation at some point throughout the film. First off, in Carol Clover’s novel “Men Women and Chainsaws” the narrative is focusing on how women overcome their challenges throughout varies films. Clover focuses

Throughout the cinema Michael continues to harm and stalk Laurie at points throughout Halloween. Drawing a few lines to Carol Clover’s model Michael is the male tormentor throughout the film with Laurie trying to become the “final girl.” I believe without a doubt Halloween followed the exact model Carol Clover laid out. Clover was spot on with how she related Halloween to her novel. The focal point of Clover’s theory is how do females come out in “slasher” films and defeat there opposer and become victorious. Halloween demonstrates that with with Laure constantly escaping Michael’s threats and pulls off surviving Halloween night without any major harm to herself. At that point Laure then became the “final girl” by surviving Halloween while some of her friends didn’t. The film virtually replicated Clover’s theory and really showed a new perspective to film

Throughout Clover’s novel she never mentioned “A Nightmare on Elm Street” even though it is part of the same franchise as “Halloween”. However, I say the film followed Clover’s exact model. A link can be made from the film to Clover’s theory from a couple of standpoints. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” had a very Halloween like feel to it. Freddy Krueger acted as the male tormentor as he harmed Tina Gray and Nancy Thompson. The line here is that the base for the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is the same base that was used in “Halloween” as well as the base theory Carol Clover provides in her novel. In “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Tina and Nancy have a goal of becoming the “final girl(s)” because they have the same common goal of surviving Freddy Krueger’s attacks. Tina and Nancy’s stories sound exactly like Laurie’s in Halloween. The base is the same in that a male continued to attack female characters until the female(s) overcame the challenge to become the “final girl.” I really feel that most “slasher” films follow this