Who is the final girl? This presentation takes a look at the progression of one of the horror genre's most timeless tropes and the changes it has gone through over the span of film history. It takes look at the archetypal journey of the final girl, as she is evolving from being a character who is the virgin into one that takes on traits of the amazon. A more feminist attitude will be seen as one observes the increase of final girls in modern slasher films who don't need a male figure to come save them in the end. Examples of final girls shown will include older characters such as Laurie Strode from John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) as well as more modern final girls, such as Sidney Prescott from Scream (1996) and Erin from You're Next (2011). This presentation will explore what this says about our society and what progress we've made and what progress we still need to make in terms of feminism.
Jimmy Schindewolf is a first year honors student at Kent State Stark. He is currently working towards earning a bachelor’s degree in English. When not working on schoolwork, Jimmy enjoys going out with friends, binge- watching his latest Netflix obsession, and being the first in line to see the latest superhero movie.