The Last Breath is Hers: Reassessing Feminist Film Approaches to the Slasher Genre in the #MeToo Era
Date of Award
2019
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Master's Paper
Degree Awarded
Master of Arts (MA)
Program
English
Department
English
College
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Faculty Advisor
Wicktor, Emily
Description
You’re Next (2011) and Hush (2016), feature women who at first glance resemble stereotypical final girls. However, throughout their respective films, Erin (You’re Next) and Maddie (Hush) break the expected binary outcome of either a dead girl or franchised final girl, and are recognized as a different iteration of the final girl—a girl who both survives a brutal attack and is able to actively bring resolution to the narrative, representing a turn toward critically and socially sensitive representations of a woman’s experience. In seeing this current trajectory of Erin to Maddie to a new Laurie (Halloween 2018), a revolutionary trend develops that fractures, complicates, and invigorates tired slasher tropes. By recognizing and tracing this trend I give voice to and identify a theory that complicates the final girl, encompasses both of these women characters, and places these films in the realm of a more complex, feminist, depiction of horror.
Recommended Citation
Stevens, Hannah Leigh, "The Last Breath is Hers: Reassessing Feminist Film Approaches to the Slasher Genre in the #MeToo Era" (2019). English. 98.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/english/98
Rights
NDSU Policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/29733