The Final Girl
NAME AND SURNAME: Ezachia Ngcobo
STUDENT NUMBER: 0514961J
COURSE NAME: Spectatorship in the cinema-horror
COURSE NUMBER: DRAA 342
LECTURER: Catherine Duncan
DUE DATE: 31 October 2007
ESSAY TOPIC: Carol Clover argues that, in particular the slasher film disturbs the traditional model of spectatorship and identification. "As the character who lives to tell the tale of horror, the final girl, Clover argues, must be accessible as a point of identification to male viewers. For this reason the final girl 's gender is ambiguous. The final girl is boyish says Clover and she adds, what filmmakers seem to know better than film critics is that gender is less a wall than a permeable membrane.
Using appropriate references to films covered in the course debate whether there is evidence to support this position. You will first need to define what is meant by spectatorial identification and how this is produced by the cinematic apparatus. Then go on to discuss Clover 's argument substantiating from one or more films how the final girl does/doesn 't disturb this identification.
Horror has been a genre that has been defined and redefined. It 's a topic that leads to a lot of debate and speculation when the film is finished. It 's also one of the few genres that allow the audience members, both female and male to engage in it according to some. This will be part of the essay discussion but the other part will also focus on the final girl ' theory.
The history of horror should be able to explain what the fascination is about concerning monsters ' and the possibilities of our fears becoming real. The name horror according to Jean Renoir " describes the very effects intended to have on their spectators" Jean Renoir goes on to say that the earliest form of horror is rooted in the Gothic literature where the landscape was ornate with castles and houses, populated by clearly recognized monsters (1). However the next major cycle of horror films came about in
STUDENT NUMBER: 0514961J
COURSE NAME: Spectatorship in the cinema-horror
COURSE NUMBER: DRAA 342
LECTURER: Catherine Duncan
DUE DATE: 31 October 2007
ESSAY TOPIC: Carol Clover argues that, in particular the slasher film disturbs the traditional model of spectatorship and identification. "As the character who lives to tell the tale of horror, the final girl, Clover argues, must be accessible as a point of identification to male viewers. For this reason the final girl 's gender is ambiguous. The final girl is boyish says Clover and she adds, what filmmakers seem to know better than film critics is that gender is less a wall than a permeable membrane.
Using appropriate references to films covered in the course debate whether there is evidence to support this position. You will first need to define what is meant by spectatorial identification and how this is produced by the cinematic apparatus. Then go on to discuss Clover 's argument substantiating from one or more films how the final girl does/doesn 't disturb this identification.
Horror has been a genre that has been defined and redefined. It 's a topic that leads to a lot of debate and speculation when the film is finished. It 's also one of the few genres that allow the audience members, both female and male to engage in it according to some. This will be part of the essay discussion but the other part will also focus on the final girl ' theory.
The history of horror should be able to explain what the fascination is about concerning monsters ' and the possibilities of our fears becoming real. The name horror according to Jean Renoir " describes the very effects intended to have on their spectators" Jean Renoir goes on to say that the earliest form of horror is rooted in the Gothic literature where the landscape was ornate with castles and houses, populated by clearly recognized monsters (1). However the next major cycle of horror films came about in
Bibliography: Bart, Pauline 1985 Stopping Rape: Successful Survival strategies. Oxford: Pergamon Press Browne, Nick 1998 Prefiguring American Film genres. Berkely: University of California Press Clover, Carol 1992 Men, women and chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film. Princeton: Princeton University Pam Cook & Mieke Bernink Ed. 1985 The Cinema Book. London: British Film Institute. Pinedo, Isabel, C 1997 Recreational Terror: Women and the Pleasure of Horror film viewing. Albany NY: State University of New York Wood Robin, 1977 American Nightmare: Essays on the horror Film. Toronto, Festival of Festivals. Horror Movies: History of a Genrehttp://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/jeanrenoir/Horror%20Movie%20-%20history.htm. Onlilne 30 October 2007