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topic: Horror/Slasher Genre: Best "Final Girl" ever?!? |
hamano
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post #1
on August 30, 2003 - 11:46 PM PDT
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Carol Clover's scholarly book, "Men, Women, and Chainsaw" put forth the concept of the FINAL GIRL, the female character that typically survives the killer/monster's attacks and often vanquishes the evil in the end. Since the glory days of the original Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street, there have been quite a few Final Girls and variations on the stereotype.
Who is your favorite Final Girl?
My vote goes to Jeryline (Jada Pinkett Smith) in the better-than-expected 1995 film, Demon Knight. This was one of Jada's earliest roles (before she became Mrs. Will Smith) and I was impressed by how her character grew from a trying-to-go-straight work-release petty criminal to a tough warrior. I only saw this film once, back when it was released theatrically, but I still remember Jeryline getting down to business, crouching in the dark, trying to sniff out danger. |
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hamano
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post #2
on September 1, 2003 - 9:27 PM PDT
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Some nominees might be:
"Halloween" - Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis
"Friday the 13th" - Alice, played by Adrienne King
"A Nightmare on Elm Street" - Nancy Thompson, played by Heather Langenkamp
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hamano
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post #3
on September 1, 2003 - 9:27 PM PDT
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| I'm just trying to get this thread noticed on the main GreenCine page. Sorry. |
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dpowers
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post #4
on September 2, 2003 - 12:21 AM PDT
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ellen hutter (greta schroder) from nosferatu. o-riginal.
ellen ripley (sigourney weaver) from alien. o-vicidal.
ellen brody (lorraine gary) from jaws: the revenge. o-god-why.
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larbeck
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post #5
on September 2, 2003 - 4:43 AM PDT
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> On September 1, 2003 - 9:27 PM PDT hamano wrote:
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> I'm just trying to get this thread noticed on the main GreenCine page. Sorry.
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Oh, man - now that is just cheap! C'mon - keep it honest here! |
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hamano
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post #6
on September 2, 2003 - 7:48 AM PDT
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Ah, my trusty mates from the Anime section! I don't know why, but the Cult Discussion Section is a Dead Zone. Hardly any traffic.
Ripley's a good one. She consistently survived somehow sequel after sequel, all the while kicking alien butt. Did the other Ellens survive their films?
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larbeck
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post #7
on September 2, 2003 - 9:07 AM PDT
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Okay, enough of my complaining - now I will help (some more)!
Speaking of "Alien" (one of my all time favorites), it seems that a director's cut is being release and it will play on the big screens!!! This is definitly one film that benefits from a 50 foot screen with a sound system that will rattle your bones:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-film.html?2003-08/26/12.30.film
Alien Re-Release Restores Scene
Ridley Scott, director of the 1979 classic SF film Alien, told SCI FI Wire that an upcoming extended version of the movie will restore a never-before-seen three-minute sequence. "The scene really explains what happened to Dallas [Tom Skerrit] and the others," Scott said in an interview.
At the time of Alien's original release, Scott said that he cut the scene to speed the movie's pacing. But upon reflection, Scott said that he is now happy to put it back. "I think it seemed to slow down the dynamics, and now, looking at it, I thought, 'Well, actually, it doesn't.' I think we didn't give it a fair shot then. [Now] I think it works." Fox will release the new cut of Alien in theaters on Oct. 31.
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hamano
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post #8
on September 2, 2003 - 9:27 AM PDT
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> On September 2, 2003 - 9:07 AM PDT larbeck wrote:
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> Okay, enough of my complaining - now I will help (some more)!
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> Speaking of "Alien" (one of my all time favorites), it seems that a director's cut is being release and it will play on the big screens!!!
SPOILERS!!!
I think the scene shows Ripley discovering an alien "nursery" where all the missing characters have been wrapped up in cocoons, somewhere deep inside Nostromo. I saw the storyboards and stills from the scene...
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dpowers
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dpowers
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Cinenaut
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post #11
on September 2, 2003 - 10:47 AM PDT
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer seems like the ultimate realization of the Final Girl. |
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dpowers
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post #12
on September 2, 2003 - 11:29 PM PDT
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| except she died a lot. |
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msilenus
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post #13
on September 3, 2003 - 7:58 AM PDT
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> On September 2, 2003 - 11:29 PM PDT dpowers wrote:
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> except she died a lot.
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And also the only way Buffy would be a "final girl" is if the entire Scooby gang was knocked off and she was the only one left correct?:)-MS
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spiv
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post #14
on September 3, 2003 - 8:39 AM PDT
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| Kind of a side comment. I like the portrayal of Laurie Strode in Halloween Resurrection. I don't remember another movie that showed the psychological outcome of being hunted by an unstoppable psycho. The rest of the film is a blur, but Laurie as an over-protective alcoholic pill-popping mess with PTSD seemed very appropriate. |
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Cinenaut
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post #15
on September 3, 2003 - 9:04 AM PDT
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Um, you've both got a point there. Well, at least Buffy fits from the female empowerment angle. Maybe you have to look at the Scooby Gang as one big Final Girl.
> On September 3, 2003 - 7:58 AM PDT msilenus wrote:
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> > On September 2, 2003 - 11:29 PM PDT dpowers wrote:
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> > except she died a lot.
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> And also the only way Buffy would be a "final girl" is if the entire Scooby gang was knocked off and she was the only one left correct?:)-MS
>
> ---------------------------------
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dpowers
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post #16
on September 3, 2003 - 7:49 PM PDT
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| we've been convened to determine the greatest final girl of all time. we need more nominees before we can vote, though, don't we? |
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spiv
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post #17
on September 3, 2003 - 9:05 PM PDT
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| The Frog is wise, if not a bit ellen-obsessed. |
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hamano
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post #18
on September 3, 2003 - 9:07 PM PDT
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dpowers is right. But where are all the other GreenCine customers? All you guys are stalwarts from the anime discussions. Don't non-anime customers really exist? Are we actually the only ones here? I thought by now we'd have a HK martial arts Final Girl, a French New Wave Final Girl, a Cinema Verite Final Girl and a lesbian Final Girl.
I might as well have started this thread in the Anime Discussion Section...
Did anyone see "The People Under the Stairs"? I wonder what happened to that little girl. She was strangely appealing. She looked a bit like the actor who played the boy in "The Tin Drum"... |
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hamano
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post #19
on September 3, 2003 - 9:12 PM PDT
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> On September 3, 2003 - 9:07 PM PDT hamano wrote:
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> All you guys are stalwarts from the anime discussions.
Oh, except Spiv. Hi spiv. Welcome. I thought you were the other woman with the Godzilla icon, RHorsman, from the anime boards. |
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spiv
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post #20
on September 4, 2003 - 7:45 AM PDT
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| S'okay! I've gotta go with Ripley from the Alien series. She is always being forced to adapt to new situations but still manages to persevere. Even though that meant throughing herself into a vat of molten metal in #3 (ouch). |
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