Friday The 13th Gender

1687 Words4 Pages

When one thinks of the horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s, scenarios of obviously fake gore and campy female actresses usually spring to mind as normally stereotypical elements of the genre. In addition to this, there is usually the character of the “final girl,” the female character who survives by either escaping or defeating the antagonistic force at the end of the film, who differentiates in language use and body language to the other females of the films who ultimately become victims to the murderous villain. However, the film Friday the 13th not only shows the difference in the language of the final girl, Alice, to the other young women in the film, but it also shows a fluidity of gendered style in Bill, one of the young men in the …show more content…

After being shut down for many years, it finally reopens to become a full-fledged camp again, much to the uneasiness of the residents who live near there. The film follows Alice, Bill, and other camp counselors, all of whom are in their late teens, as they begin to get the camp ready before the campers arrive in two weeks’ time. During the late afternoon and evening hours, however, the counselors are killed off one by one by an unseen character without raising the suspicions of the remaining teens, and it is only when Alice discovers Bill’s body that she discovers that all of her friends are dead, and she is in immediate danger. As Alice shelters in place and attempts to come up with a plan to protect herself, a woman named Mrs. Voorhees drives up to the cabin and attempts to console her, claiming to be a friend of Alice’s boss, Steve. After observing Brenda’s corpse on the floor of the cabin, Mrs. Voorhees drops the façade and confesses that she is the murderer. She explains that her son, Jason, attended the summer camp years ago and that he drowned due to the negligence of the counselors and that Jason tells her to kill anyone who comes to the camp from beyond the grave. Mrs. Voorhees then becomes violent and attempts to kill Alice with a large knife, but Alice narrowly escapes …show more content…

She is first introduced to the audience doing heavy labor on her own accord while telling the senior counselor that she already has her mind set on returning home; she obviously has plan that she wants to stick to, but she reluctantly stays on the condition that she can return home to California in a week if she hates working at the camp. However, she also kind, demure, and she does not go out of her way to dominate a situation, which makes her adhere to the “good girl” archetype that usually goes hand-in-hand with the “final girl” archetype. Her friend Bill is similar in his characterization as well; he is nice, not physically or socially imposing, and he is helpful in whatever way he can

Open Document