Why is it the only way to survive a horror movie is to throw away femininity?

I’ve been thinking a lot about “strong female characters” and moving forward from the problematic language. Obviously, this isn’t referring biology as much as gender representation, but then again we don’t exactly see very many trans characters that aren’t villains (Silence of the Lambs and Sleep Away Camp). We have Buffy, who is all the things. But then we have others Ripley, Katniss, Hermione, Storm, and Zoey (because this list is looking hella white, but I’m having trouble thinking outside of Whedon—say something I dare you—but then again, media is overwhelmingly white, the tools we have people, the tools we have). We’re questioning and changing things particularly in comics with Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertas. This is great by the way, and I recommend checking it out. But now we’re seeing the dawn of a new age: final girls.

I didn’t know what this was at first either, but apparently they are a new take on the survivor of horror movies. You know the Jamie Lee, but contemporary dealing with our stereotypes instead of those from the 80s. Same rules apply to slutty because slutty girls get killed. It is rule number one in the handbook you get with your period. However, instead of being seen as universally weak, the contemporary final girls have to be all the things…so it is like the feminist dilemma: you can have it all, but does that mean you should.

Brief definitions:

Strong female protagonist: key defining characteristic is strength usually physical—typically masculine trait; they conform to other gendered norms thus not being problematic and threatening to male characters.

Problem: women are defined by masculine traits and are often just female counterparts of male characters (I’m looking at you Supergirl), as a result they are reflects and nonthreatening to the patriarchy.

Final girl (traditional): she survives the freak show, often virginal, feminine until she takes up arms against her assailant, usually the “investigative conscious” of the media meaning she is figuring things out with/for the audience.

Problem: women aren’t fully developed, rigid gender norms, and in a way very representative of conservative ideals. For example, virginal and traditionally feminine until they are forced to act like men then right back to their traditionally feminine state (I’m thinking of Laurie being saved by Dr. Loomis at the end of Halloween).

See the commonalities here? Oh yeah, the homage to masculinity as strength. The new final girl is slightly different, and commonly being played by Abigail Breslin and Chloe Grace Moretz. Don’t get me wrong; they are both good actresses and adorable. However, the final girls they play have a few things in common too: violence as strength and damage because duh, all strong women are damaged in some way. See they are more masculine from the beginning than their predecessors. Looks like we’re not getting that far from the tropes after all. Breslin looks pretty great in the trailer for Final Girl additionally, it seems like the film could make some interesting statements on male privilege and entitlement if done right. The new final girl is powerful from the beginning and is pulling one over on our bad guys by appearing weak and feminine (yeah, blonde hair, blue eyes, red lipstick, red and white dresses feminine). I’m kind of over the feminine being weak just because. I like a good vintage style red dress as much as the next girl, but I think I’d like to see a movie where some gender stereotypes are broken and bent while not fulfilling tropes.

But I’m worried we’re going to see the tropes I hate that make “strong female characters” and “final girls”. These tropes include “destiny/responsibility,” damage, defense of loved ones and self, etc. These tropes that are used in the same way as motivation for male heroes such as rape of a woman, death of a woman, exploitation of a woman, kidnapping of a woman—see where I’m going with this? Of course, male heroes can also be acting for their ideals…I wonder why women never have ideas in media? I mean Wonder Woman does, but for every Wonder Woman we have Buffy, River, and Katniss who have their destinies determined by other people. Can we have a final girl who isn’t damaged or defending herself right out of the gate and isn’t taking up the cloak of masculinity, meaning can strength mean something other than physical strength? I know this would be hard in a horror movie. But you know maybe compassion and empathy can be strength?

I get that tropes are what make media. We have come to expect certain things from certain movies. Horror movies involve a psychotic killer targeting women because ‘Merica. I’m also not demanding all women characters cast off or embrace femininity just for the sake of it. I’m just frustrated that the only way to survive a horror movie is to being like a dude. This of course isn’t always the case; meta-horror movies sometimes can subvert the tropes while developing complex characters. For example, Teeth is amazing because it turns some of those tropes over like the male hero, well he isn’t that heroic after all.

I like strong female characters like Buffy, and I like that Ashley Judd got away from Wesley in Kiss the Girls (that’s funny for those of you who are familiar with the movie). But I also like seeing women characters that act and sound like women and don’t have to forego femininity to survive. It seems like a lot of these media presentations are telling women they can’t be themselves if they want to survive or win. I wonder what that says about our culture?