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The '''final girl''' or '''survivor girl'''<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44779929 |jstor=44779929 |title=Ahabs, Turtles, and Survivor Girls: Postmodernism in "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" |last1=Teague |first1=Savanna |journal=Studies in Popular Culture |date=2017 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=23–37 }}</ref> is a [[Trope (cinema)|trope]] in [[horror film]]s (particularly [[slasher film]]s).{{sfn|Clover|1992|pp=35}}{{sfn|Harper|2004|pp=31}} It refers to the last surviving female character to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, notable examples being ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'', ''[[Voices of Desire]]'', ''[[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'', ''[[Halloween (1978 film)|Halloween]]'', ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'', ''[[Friday the 13th (1980 film)|Friday the 13th]]'', ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'', and ''[[Scream (1996 film)|Scream]]''.{{sfn|Rogers|2002|pp=118,120}} The term "final girl" was coined{{sfn|Totaro|2002}} by [[Carol J. Clover]] in her article "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film" (1987).{{sfn|Clover|1987|pp=201}} Clover suggested that in these films, the viewer began by [[Point-of-view shot|sharing the perspective]] of the killer, but experienced a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.

==Usage of the term==
The original meaning of "final girl", as described by Clover in 1987, is quite narrow. Clover studied [[slasher film]]s from the 1970s and 1980s (which is considered the [[golden age (metaphor)|golden age]] of the genre)<ref>{{Cite book|title=The slasher movie book|last=Kerswell|first=Kerswell, J. A. (Justin A.)|date=2012|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=9781556520105|location=Chicago, Ill.|oclc=761851819}}</ref> and defined the final girl as a woman who is the sole survivor of the group of people (usually youths) who are chased by a villain and who gets a final confrontation with the villain (whether she kills him herself or she is saved at the last minute by someone else, such as a police officer), and who has such a "privilege" because of her implied moral superiority (for example, she is the only one who refuses sex, drugs, or other such behaviors, unlike her friends).

==Trope concept==
A common plot line in many horror films is one in which several victims are killed one-by-one by a killer amid increasing terror, culminating in a climax in which the last surviving member of the group, usually female, either vanquishes the killer or escapes.

The final girl trope has evolved throughout the years, from early final girls most often being [[damsels in distress]], often saved by a strong male (such as a police officer or heroic stranger), to more modern final girls who are more likely to survive due to their own abilities. According to Clover's definition, [[Lila Crane]] from ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960) is an example of a female survivor and not a final girl, due to her lack of moral purity, who is saved by a male (Sam Loomis, not to be confused with the ''Halloween'' character of the same name) at the film's ending. [[Laurie Strode]] from ''Halloween'' (1978) is a final girl, but one that is saved by someone else (also named [[Samuel Loomis|Sam Loomis]]).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4fLaCLD11MC&pg=PA38|title=Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film|last=Clover|first=Carol J.|date=1993|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691006208|language=en}}</ref>

On this basis, Tony Williams argues that, while [[List of horror films of the 1980s|1980s horror film]] heroines were more progressive than those of earlier decades, the gender change is done conservatively, and the final-girl convention cannot be regarded as a progressive one "without more thorough investigation."{{sfn|Williams|1996|pp=169&ndash;170}} Furthermore, in many slashers, the final girl's victory is often ambiguous or only apparent. The fact that she is still alive at the end of the movie does not make her a victorious heroine. In many of these movies, the end is ambiguous, where the killer/entity is or might be still alive, leaving viewers uncertain about the future of the final girl (a notable example being [[Jess (Black Christmas)|Jess Bradford in 1974's ''Black Christmas'']]). The viewers wait for a send-off or sequel bait, and are felt that they are left with an apparent victory. Tony Williams also gives several examples of final girls in the heroines of the ''Friday the 13th'' series, such as Chris Higgins from ''[[Friday the 13th Part III|Part III]]''. He notes that she does not conclude the film wholly victorious and is [[catatonia|catatonic]] at the end of the film. Williams also observes that ''[[Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter]]'' does not have a final girl, despite Trish Jarvis surviving at the end. Additionally, Williams notes that final girls often survive, but in the sequel they are either killed or institutionalized. A notable example is [[Alice (Friday the 13th)|Alice Hardy]], who survives ''Friday the 13th'' (1980) only to be killed in the beginning of ''[[Friday the 13th Part 2]]'' (1981). Derek Soles argues that the tragic destiny of such final girls represents an expression of patriarchal society where capable, independent women must either be contained or destroyed.<ref>''The Essentials of Academic Writing'', by Derek Soles, pg 374.</ref> In more recent films, this has started to change, with the final girl no longer being always doomed, a notable example being the ''[[Scream (franchise)|Scream]]'' series.

According to Clover, the final girl in many movies shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or [[virgin]]al and avoids the vices of the victims, like [[Recreational drug use|illegal drug use]]. She sometimes has a [[unisex name]] such as Avery, Chris, or Sidney. Occasionally the final girl will have a shared history with the killer. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward, and as such, she exhibits intelligence, curiosity, and vigilance. Another trope of slashers (particularly in the 1980s) is "death by sex", where sex scenes are shortly followed by violence, with the participants being murdered in gruesome ways.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/08838159409364261|title = Dialogue: Sex and violence in slasher films: A reinterpretation| journal=Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media| volume=38| issue=2| pages=243–246|year = 1994|last1 = Linz|first1 = Daniel| last2=Donnerstein| first2=Edward|authorlink2=Edward Donnerstein}}</ref> More recent horror movies and series challenge more of these tropes. [[Buffy Summers]] in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', in the words of Jes Battis, "subverts" the final girl trope of [[B-grade]] horror films.{{sfn|Battis|2005|pp=69}} Jason Middleton observes that although Buffy fulfills the monster-killing role of the final girl, she is the opposite of Clover's description of a final girl in many ways. Buffy is a cheerleader, a "beautiful blond" with a feminine first name, and "gets to have sex with boys and ''still'' kill the monster".{{sfn|Middleton|2007|pp=160&ndash;161}}

One of the basic premises of Clover's theory is that the capacity for audiences to identify with characters is unstable and fluid across gender lines, particularly in the case of slasher films. Clover argues that, during the final girl's confrontation with the killer, she becomes masculinized through "phallic appropriation" by taking up a weapon such as a knife or [[Chainsaws in popular culture|chainsaw]] against the killer. She also argues that, in order for a film to be successful, it is necessary for the surviving character to be female because she must experience [[abject]] terror, and many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male; the terror has a purpose in that, if a female character survives, she is "purged" of undesirable characteristics such as the tendency to relentlessly pursue personal pleasure.

== Notable characters ==
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===1970s===
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==== Diane Adams ====
One pioneering example of the "final girl" trope occurs in ''[[Silent Night, Bloody Night]]'' (1972), whose main protagonist and narrator Diane Adams, portrayed by [[Mary Woronov]], has been cited by multiple commentators as displaying the characteristics of a "final girl," with Rosie Knight of ''[[WomenWriteAboutComics]]'' even positing that she is arguably the first example of this character type.<ref>{{cite news |last=Knight |first=Rosie |date=December 13, 2016 |title=Merry Scary Christmas: The Raddest and Baddest Festive Final Girls |url=https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2016/12/merry-scary-christmas-the-raddest-baddest-festive-final-girls/ |work=[[WomenWriteAboutComics]] |access-date=November 3, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Noel |date=October 20, 2018 |title=Silent Night, Bloody Night is the Perfect Streaming Slasher for Halloween Fans |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/20/18003352/silent-night-bloody-night-streaming-recommendation-halloween-horror-movies-free |work=[[The Verge]] |access-date=November 3, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Van Horn |first=Shawn |date=October 1, 2022 |title=From Jessica Harper to Camille Keaton, the Best Final Girls of the 1970s |url=https://collider.com/best-final-girls-of-the-1970s-suspiria-carrie/ |work=[[Collider (website)|Collider]] |access-date=November 3, 2023}}</ref> Conversely, in her own review of the film, Rebecca McCallum of ''Attack from Planet B'' contends that the film "follows the then more typical presentation of the hysterical woman or submissive mistress as opposed to the final girl trope which would be cemented in [[Sally Hardesty]] of [[Tobe Hooper]]'s ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]''."<ref>{{cite news |last=McCallum |first=Rebecca |date=December 5, 2019 |title=SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (AKA NIGHT OF THE DARK FULL MOON) (1972, USA) REVIEW |url=https://www.attackfromplanetb.com/2019/12/silent-night-bloody-night-aka-night-of-the-dark-full-moon-1972-usa-review/ |work=Attack from Planet B |access-date=November 3, 2023}}</ref>

==== Jess Bradford ====
{{main|Jess Bradford}}
Another early example of a "final girl" can be found in the film ''[[Black Christmas (1974 film)|Black Christmas]]'' (1974), where [[Jess (Black Christmas)|Jess Bradford]], played by [[Olivia Hussey]], is a well-developed character who refuses to back down against a series of more or less lethal male antagonists.<ref name=Piepenburg>{{cite news| last1= Piepenburg| first1= Erik| title=In Horror Films, the 'Final Girl' Is a Survivor to the Core| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/movies/in-horror-films-the-final-girl-is-a-survivor-to-the-core.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0|access-date=24 October 2015|work=The New York Times|date= 22 October 2015}}</ref>

==== Sally Hardesty ====
{{Main|Sally Hardesty}}
[[Sally Hardesty]] from ''[[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'' (1974), created by [[Tobe Hooper]] and portrayed by [[Marilyn Burns]], has been regarded as one of the earliest examples of the final girl trope.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3315496/marilyn-burns-first-final/|title=Marilyn Burns: The First 'Final Girl' - Bloody Disgusting|website=bloody-disgusting.com|access-date=April 28, 2018|date=October 2, 2014}}</ref>

==== Laurie Strode ====
{{main|Laurie Strode}}
[[File:Jamie Lee Curtis (cropped).JPG|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Jamie Lee Curtis]], who portrayed [[Laurie Strode]] in seven movies in the [[Halloween (franchise)|''Halloween'']] franchise.]]

According to Clover, [[Laurie Strode]] (from ''[[Halloween (1978 film)|Halloween]]'', ''[[Halloween II (1981 film)|Halloween II]]'', ''[[Halloween H20: 20 Years Later]], [[Halloween: Resurrection|Halloween Resurrection]], [[Halloween (2018 film)|Halloween (2018)]]'', ''[[Halloween Kills]]'' and ''[[Halloween Ends]]'') is another example of a final girl. Tony Williams notes that Clover's image of supposedly progressive final girls are never entirely victorious at the culmination of a film nor do they manage to eschew the male order of things as Clover argues. He holds up Strode as an example of this. She is rescued by a male character, Dr. [[Samuel Loomis]], in the ending of ''Halloween''.

==== Ellen Ripley ====
{{main|Ellen Ripley}}
[[File:Sigourney Weaver by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sigourney Weaver]], who portrayed [[Ellen Ripley]].]]
Before the release of ''[[Alien 3]]'', Clover identified [[Ellen Ripley]] from the [[Alien (franchise)|''Alien'' franchise]] as a final girl. Elizabeth Ezra continues this analysis for ''[[Alien Resurrection]]'', arguing that by definition both Ripley and Annalee Call must be final girls, and that Call is the "next generation of Clover's Final Girl". In Ezra's view, Call exhibits traits that fit Clover's definition of a final girl, namely that she is boyish, having a short masculine-style haircut, and that she is characterized by (in Clover's words) "smartness, gravity, competence in mechanical and other practical matters, and sexual reluctance" being a ship's mechanic who rejects the sexual advances made by male characters on the ship. However, Ezra notes that Call fits the description imperfectly as she is a [[gynoid]], not a human being.{{sfn|Ezra|2008|pp=73&ndash;74}}

Christine Cornea disputes the idea that Ripley is a final girl, contrasting Clover's analysis of the character with that of [[Barbara Creed]], who presents Ripley as "the reassuring face of womanhood". Cornea does not accept either Clover's or Creed's views on Ripley. While she accepts Clover's general thesis of the final girl convention, she argues that Ripley does not follow the conventions of the slasher film, as ''Alien'' follows the different conventions of the [[science fiction film]] genre. In particular, there is no foregrounding in ''Alien'', as there is in the slasher film genre, of the character's sexual purity and abstinence relative to the other characters (who would be, in accordance with the final girl convention, killed by the film's monster "because" of this). The science fiction genre that ''Alien'' inhabits, according to Cornea, simply lacks this kind of sexual theme in the first place, as it has no place in such "traditional" science fiction formats.{{sfn|Cornea|2007|pp=150&ndash;151}} Additionally, professor Brenda M. Boyle argues that in ''Alien Resurrection'', Ripley has crossed the line between human and monster. This conflict of identity could further jeopardize her status as a final girl beyond ''Alien 3''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boyle |first=Brenda M. |date=Nov 2005 |title=Monstrous Bodies, Monstrous Sex: Queering Alien Resurrection |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.7227/GS.7.2.5?journalCode=gothic |journal=Gothic Studies |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=162 |doi=10.7227/GS.7.2.5 |via=Edinburgh University Press|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==== Sue Snell ====
{{main|Sue Snell}}
In [[Brian De Palma]]'s [[Carrie (1976 film)|1976 film]] based on [[Stephen King]]'s 1974 novel, ''[[Carrie (novel)|Carrie]]'', [[Sue Snell]] (played by [[Amy Irving]]) is the sole survivor of [[Carrie White]]'s telekinetic outburst of destruction at a [[Prom|high school prom]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.horrorhomeroom.com/short-cut-carries-final-girl-and-the-precariousness-of-survival/|title=Short Cut: Carrie's Final Girl and the Precariousness of Survival - Horror Movie|date=February 2, 2016|website=Horror Homeroom}}</ref>
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===1980s===
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==== Ginny Field ====
{{main|Ginny (Friday the 13th)}}
The character [[Ginny (Friday the 13th)|Ginny Field]] (from ''[[Friday the 13th Part 2]]'') has often been viewed as an example of the trope. In ''The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film'', [[Barry Keith Grant]] stated that, "Ginny temporarily adopts Mrs. Voorhees's authoritarian role to survive. Although circumstances necessitate this, she clearly uses her enemy's strategy to become a phallic mother herself. This posture really questions the positive image of the Final Girl." He then called her "not victorious" when she called out for her boyfriend at the end of the film saying that it was done in a "non-independent manner".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film|last=Grant|first=Barry|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0292772458}}</ref> John Kenneth Muir references Ginny in ''Horror Films of the 1980s, Volume 1'', saying "Amy Steel is introduced as Ginny, our final girl and heroine, and the only person who seems to have an inkling of the nearby danger. She's more resourceful than Alice and nearly upstages even Laurie Strode during the film's tense finale, wherein she brazenly dresses up as Jason's dead mother and starts barking orders at the confused serial killer."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Horror Films of the 1980s, Volume 1|last=Muir|first=John|publisher=MacFarland|year=2012|isbn=978-0786455010}}</ref> In ''Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle'', Richard Nowell said "The shift in characterization of the female leads was also trumpeted during Ginny's self-confident entrance (Amy Steel) in ''Friday the 13th Part II''. Where the makers of its predecessor introduced Alice as she prepared cabins while dressed in denim jeans and a shapeless lumberjack shirt, the sequel's conventionally attractive lead is established immediately as combining masculine traits with feminine attributes. Ginny exits a battered VW bug in a flowing fuchsia skirt and a low-cut t-shirt."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle|last=Nowell|first=Richard|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|year=2010|isbn=978-1441188502|pages=210}}</ref> Ginny's adoption of the monster's own strategy, in ''Part II'', brings into question whether the final girl image is in fact a wholly positive one.{{sfn|Williams|1996|pp=169&ndash;170}}

==== Nancy Thompson ====
{{main|Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare on Elm Street)}}
The character [[Nancy Thompson (A Nightmare on Elm Street)|Nancy Thompson]] (from ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' and ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors]]'') has often been regarded as one of the most influential horror movie heroines. In his book ''Horror films of the 1980s'', John Kenneth Muir<ref>{{Cite book|title=Horror Films of the 1980s, Volume 1|last=Muir|first=John|publisher=McFarland|year=2012|isbn=978-0-78645-501-0}}</ref> references Nancy Thompson.

===1990s===
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==== Sidney Prescott ====
{{main|Sidney Prescott}}
[[File:Neve Campbell (210977774).jpg|thumb|[[Neve Campbell]], who portrayed [[Sidney Prescott]].]]
The character [[Sidney Prescott]] (from the ''[[Scream (franchise)|Scream]]'' films) is widely recognized as one of the most iconic and popular horror film heroines. Ana Horvat describes Sidney Prescott as "embodying the most important characteristics of the Final Girl".<ref>{{cite thesis |type=MSc |last=Horvat |first=Ana. |date=2018 |title=Final Girl: Analysis of the Slasher Film Trope |publisher=University of Zadar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | doi=10.1525/9780520327306-010 | volume=20| pages=187–228|year = 1987|last1 = Clover|first1 = Carol J.| title=Misogyny, Misandry, and Misanthropy| chapter=Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film| isbn=9780520327306 }}</ref>

==== Gale Weathers ====
{{main|Gale Weathers}}
The character of [[Gale Weathers]] (also from the ''[[Scream (franchise)|Scream]]'' films) is recognized as "one of the most seminal character arcs in horror movie history".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/editorials/431326/gale-weathers-is-a-classic-final-girl/?amp|title=Gale Weathers is a Classic Final Girl|website=Dread Central|date=June 15, 2022}}</ref> Often cited as a foil to protagonist Sidney Prescott, her character development over the course of the series has led many critics to acknowledge her as a prominent final girl as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gamerant.com/scream-gale-weathers-strong-final-girl-too/|title=Why Scream's Gale Weathers Can Be Seen As A Strong Final Girl Too|website=Game Rant|date=March 19, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/gallery/final-girls-horror-slasher/|title=Who Are The Ultimate Final Girls in Horror Gallery: From 'Laurie Strode', to 'Sidney Prescott' & 'Dorothy Gale'|website=Deadline|date=October 25, 2022}}</ref>

====Julie James====
{{main|Julie James (I Know What You Did Last Summer)}}
In the [[Kevin Williamson (screenwriter)|Kevin Williamson]] [[1997 in film|1997 slasher film]] based on [[Lois Duncan]]’s [[1973 in literature|1973]] [[novel]], ''[[I Know What You Did Last Summer (novel)|I Know What You Did Last Summer]]'', [[Julie James (I Know What You Did Last Summer)|Julie James]] (played by [[Jennifer Love Hewitt]]) is the only main character to survive a vengeful killer.<ref>{{cite web |date=February 27, 2023 |title=Do Ray And Julie Die In I Know What You Did Last Summer? |url=https://gamerant.com/i-know-what-you-did-last-summer-do-ray-julie-die/ |website=Game Rant}}</ref>

===2010s===
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==== Dana Polk ====
Characters in the 2011 horror film ''[[The Cabin in the Woods]]'' explicitly discuss Dana's role as the final girl after a zombie attack on her and her friends. As part of a human sacrifice ritual that mirrors various horror film traditions and requires the deaths of five slasher movie archetypes: "the whore," "the athlete," "the scholar," "the fool," and "the virgin," the equivalent of the final girl who can die last or survive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/final-girls/5-horror-movies-that-subvert-the-final-girl-trope/#1-dana-%E2%80%93-the-cabin-in-the-woods|title=5 Horror Movies that Subvert the "Final Girl" Trope|website=Paste Magazine|date=April 5, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/laurie-strode-sidney-prescott-horrors-best-final-girls/kristen-connolly-cabin-woods/|title=From Laurie Strode to Sidney Prescott: Horror's best final girls|website=The Telegraph|date=October 31, 2017}}</ref>

==== Mia Allen ====
From the 2013 horror remake ''[[Evil Dead (2013 film)|Evil Dead]]'', Mia starts off as a troubled addict, goes through withdrawal, literally goes to Hell and back, loses her brother and friends and turns into a final girl. Also, the fact that the Abomination appears as an evil double of Mia could be seen as a metaphor for Mia overcoming her drug addiction and gaining control. She faces her inner demon both literally and figuratively and conquers it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conforti |first=Elena |date=2023-05-02 |title=Mia Allen Is a Better Evil Dead Protagonist Than Ash Williams in One Key Way |url=https://www.cbr.com/mia-allen-better-protagonist-ash-williams-evil-dead/ |access-date=2024-05-25 |website=CBR |language=en}}</ref>

==== Victoria Heyes ====
{{main|Victoria Heyes}}
Heyes from the 2016 [[slasher film]] ''[[Terrifier]]'' has been observed by some critics to be a darker depiction of the "final girl" archetype. Having been driven insane by the events in the film, Heyes becomes a killer herself.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fearforever.com/film/film-review-terrifier/|title=FILM REVIEW: TERRIFIER|date=March 27, 2018|website=Fear Forever}}</ref> An analysis by Brendan D. describes Victoria as a reflection of Art—"Our most recent final girl is Victoria from ''Terrifier'', and what makes her so unique is her post-final girl status. Most final girls appear in the sequel or following situation as a capable guide for the next group of cannon fodder to demonstrate the villain's return. Instead, the trauma corrupts Victoria; she becomes monstrous like Art, with a disfigured appearance; and the brutality of a live-show death when a talk-show host mocked her. She is not a heroine but a dark reflection of the atrocities Art the Clown committed, fit for ridicule and loathing."<ref>{{cite web |last1=D. |first1=Brendan |title=The Final One: An Analysis of Horror Character Tropes |url=https://themembranesjournal.com/2021/07/22/thefinalonepart1/ |website=The Membrane's Journal |access-date=5 January 2022 |date=July 22, 2021}}</ref>

==== Tree Gelbman ====
{{main|Tree Gelbman}}
John Squires<ref>{{cite web |last1=Squires |first1=John |title='Happy Death Day' Heroine Tree Gelbman is the Perfect Survivor Girl for a Whole New Generation |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3546634/happy-death-day-heroine-tree-gelbman-perfect-survivor-girl-whole-new-generation/ |website=Bloody Disgusting |access-date=16 February 2019|date=February 14, 2019 }}</ref> of ''[[Bloody Disgusting]]'' described ''[[Happy Death Day]]''{{'}}s Tree Gelbman as a modern example of the trope and contrasts her to [[Friday the 13th (1980 film)|''Friday the 13th'']]{{'}}s [[Alice (Friday the 13th)|Alice Hardy]].
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===2020s===
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==== Maxine Minx ====
{{main|Maxine Minx}}
[[File:Mia Goth at Berlinale 2023 -1.jpg|thumb|[[Mia Goth]], who appears in the [[X (film series)|''X'']] franchise.]]
The character Maxine Minx (from ''[[X (film series)|X]]'' films), manages to escape the farm alone where she and her friends have endured horrors under the elderly couple during the night.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://collider.com/most-iconic-final-girls-in-horror-movie-history/ |title="The 10 Most Iconic "Final Girls" in Horror Movie History |date=6 October 2022 |website=Screen Rant |access-date=19 December 2022 |quote=}}</ref> While the focus of characterization signals her as the primary final-girl candidate early on, her open promiscuity marks a notable departure from the common criteria of the genre. Coinciding with the series’ themes of female sexual empowerment, Maxine’s survival serves as a rebuttal of traditional slasher formulas on sexual autonomy.

==== Samantha Carpenter ====
{{main|Sam Carpenter (Scream)}}
Being the estranged daughter of the late Billy Loomis, Samantha Carpenter (from ''[[Scream (2022 film)|Scream]]'' (2022) and ''[[Scream VI]]'') becomes the new target of the new generation of Ghostface killers. Throughout the film, it is revealed that she has been haunted by her father's past and struggles with the legacy he left behind. Her survival and eventual triumph over the killers further subverts the traditional Final Girl trope, as she is not presented as a purely innocent or virginal character. Instead, she is a "flawed and complex individual who is ultimately able to use her past trauma and inner strength to overcome the killers".<ref>{{cite web |date=9 March 2023 |last=Zweiman |first=Benjamin |url=https://dknation.draftkings.com/2023/3/9/23626122/scream-movie-2023-cast-list-killers-melissa-barrera-sam-carpenter-billy-loomis |title=What is the relationship between Sam Carpenter and Billy Loomis? |website=DraftKings Nation |access-date=14 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web  |url=https://www.thegamer.com/scream-6-sam-carpenter-final-girl/ |title=Scream's Sam Carpenter Shows The Final Girl Doesn't Have To Be Nice |date=14 March 2023 |website=TheGamer.com |access-date=14 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref>

==== Sienna Shaw ====
{{main|Sienna Shaw}}
Sienna is the main protagonist of the 2022 slasher film ''[[Terrifier 2]]''. Her character was designed to be the good equivalent to the evil of [[Art the Clown]], even down to the design of her later costume; a Valkyrie-style angel warrior. Unlike Vicky, Sienna is braver and more heroic and she actively poses a threat to Art, so far being the only person in the franchise to kill him.  In the 2024 sequel ''[[Terrifier 3]]'' Sienna reprises her role as the main protagonist and once again takes him on solo.

== List of Final Girls films ==
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Name
!Film
!Actress
!Description
|-
|[[Jess Bradford]]
|''[[Black Christmas (1974 film)]]''
|[[Olivia Hussey]]
|Is a member of the sorority house Pi Kappa Sig that during a Christmas party, is the first ''sole survivor'' of [[slasher film|slasher]] villain [[Billy (Black Christmas)|Billy]]. 
|-
|[[Kelli Presley]]
|''[[Black Christmas (2006 film)]]''
|[[Katie Cassidy]]
|Is depicted as a member of the Delta Alpha Kappa sorority. She is the ''sole survivor'' of the attacks of notorious murderer [[Billy (Black Christmas)|Billy Lenz]] and her sister Agnes during Christmas night.
|-
|[[Nica Pierce]]
|''[[Child's Play (franchise)|Chucky (franchise)]]''
|[[Fiona Dourif]]
|She is a paraplegic woman, who, in addition to [[Andy Barclay]], is the main victim of the possessed doll and antagonist of the franchise, [[Chucky (Child's Play)|Chucky]] and his girlfriend, [[Tiffany Valentine]].
|-
|[[Victoria Heyes]]
|rowspan="2"|''[[Terrifier (film series)]]''
|[[Samantha Scaffidi]]
|As a college student who is left facially disfigured and driven insane after narrowly escaping the serial killer [[Art the Clown]] on [[Halloween night]]. The sequels follow her becoming possessed. 
|-
|[[Sienna Shaw]]
|[[Lauren LaVera]]
|As a teenager interested in cosplay who battles the enigmatic villain [[Art the Clown]].
|}

== See also ==
* [[Alfred Hitchcock#Representation of women|Alfred Hitchcock and representation of women]]
* [[Feminist film theory]]
* ''[[The Final Girls]]''
* [[Gender in horror films]]
* ''[[Ready or Not (2019 film)|Ready or Not]]''
* [[Scream queen]]
* [[Women in refrigerators]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book
  |title=Blood Relations
  |first=Jes|last=Battis
  |chapter=What It Feels Like for a Slayer: Buffy Summers and the Paradox of Mothering
  |publisher=McFarland
  |year=2005
  |isbn=978-0-7864-2172-5}}
* {{cite book
  |last=Clover|first=Carol J.|author-link=Carol J. Clover
  |title=Men, Women and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
  |publisher=Princeton University Press
  |year=1992
  |location=Princeton, N.J.
  |isbn=978-0-691-04802-4}}
* {{cite book
  |title=Science Fiction Cinema
  |first=Christine|last=Cornea
  |publisher=Edinburgh University Press
  |year=2007
  |isbn=978-0-7486-1642-8}}
* {{cite book
  |last=Ezra
  |first=Elizabeth
  |title=Jean-Pierre Jeunet
  |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/jeanpierrejeunet00eliz
  |chapter-url-access=registration
  |series=Contemporary Film Directors
  |date=April 2, 2008
  |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]
  |isbn=978-0-252-07522-3
  |oclc=171049674
  |chapter=Uncanny Resemblances: ''Alien Resurrection''
  |url-access=registration
  |url=https://archive.org/details/jeanpierrejeunet00eliz
  }}
* {{cite book
  |last=Harper|first=Jim
  |date=May 1, 2004
  |chapter=The Heroine
  |title=Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies
  |location=Manchester|publisher=Critical Vision
  |isbn=978-1-900486-39-2
  }}<!--|access-date =February 21, 2009-->
* {{cite book
  |title=Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice
  |editor1-first=Frances K.
  |editor1-last=Gateward
  |editor2-first=Murray
  |editor2-last=Pomerance |editor2-link = Murray Pomerance
  |first=Mary Celeste
  |last=Kearney
  |chapter=Girlfriend and Girl Power
  |publisher=Wayne State University Press
  |year=2002
  |isbn=978-0-8143-2918-4
  |url-access=registration
  |url=https://archive.org/details/sugarspiceeveryt0000unse
  }}
* {{cite book
  |title=Undead TV
  |editor1-first=Elana|editor1-last=Levine
  |editor2-first=Lisa|editor2-last=Parks
  |first=Allison|last=McCracken
  |chapter=At Stake: Angel's Body, Fantasy Masculinity, and Queer Desire in Teen Television
  |publisher=Duke University Press
  |year=2007
  |isbn=978-0-8223-4043-0}}
* {{cite book
  |title=Undead TV
  |editor1-first=Elana|editor1-last=Levine
  |editor2-first=Lisa|editor2-last=Parks
  |first=Jason|last=Middleton
  |chapter=Buffy as ''Femme Fatale'': The Cult Heroine and the Male Spectator
  |publisher=Duke University Press
  |year=2007
  |isbn=978-0-8223-4043-0}}
* {{cite book
  |first=Nicholas|last=Rogers
  |title=Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
  |location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press
  |year=2002}} — Professor Nicholas Rogers discusses how the "final girl" aspect of the ''Halloween'' films undermines "the misogynist thrust of slasher movies".
* {{cite journal
  |url=http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/final_girl.html
  |date=January 31, 2002
  |title=The Final Girl: A Few Thoughts on Feminism and Horror
  |first=Donato|last=Totaro
  |journal=OffScreen
  |issn=1712-9559
  |access-date=December 7, 2010}}
* {{cite book
  |last=Tropiano|first=Stephen
  |date=August 1, 2005|chapter="Like Totally Serious": "It ''was'' the bogeyman"
  |title=Rebels and Chicks: A History of the Hollywood Teen Movie
  |location=New York|publisher=Back Stage Books
  |isbn=978-0-8230-9701-2|oclc=69423080
  }}<!--|access-date =February 21, 2009-->
* {{cite book
  |title=The Dread of Difference
  |editor1-first=Barry Keith|editor1-last=Grant
  |first=Tony|last=Williams
  |chapter=Trying To Survive on the Darker Side
  |publisher=University of Texas Press
  |year=1996
  |isbn=978-0-292-72794-6}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book|last=Starks|first=Lisa S.|date=October 2002|contribution=Cinema of Cruelty: Powers of Horror in Julie Taymor's ''Titus''|editor-last=Starks|editor-first=Lisa S.|editor2-last=Lehmann|editor2-first=Courtney|title=The Reel Shakespeare|publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] Press|pages=128, 134–136|isbn=978-0-8386-3939-9|oclc=49383749}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ndalianis|first=Angela|date=December 1, 1998|contribution="Evil Will Walk Once More": ''Phantasmagoria''—The Stalker Film as Interactive Movie?|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Greg M.|title=On a Silver Platter: CD-ROMs and the Promises of a New Technology|publisher=[[New York University Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/onsilverplatterc0000unse/page/93 93–112]|isbn=978-0-8147-8081-7|url=https://archive.org/details/onsilverplatterc0000unse/page/93}}
* {{Cite book|last=Driscoll|first=Catherine|date=August 15, 2002|chapter=Distraction: Girls and Mass Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/girlsfeminineado0000dris |url-access=limited |title=Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture & Cultural Theory|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/girlsfeminineado0000dris/page/230/mode/2up?q=%22final+girl%22 229–232]|isbn=978-0-231-11912-2|oclc=47790838}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070824233928/http://www.cinemademerde.com/Essay-Final_Girl.shtml Essay: Is the Final Girl an Excuse?]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090502173537/http://axwoundzine.com/tktfg.htm Teenie Kill & The Final Girl: Gender and the Slasher Film]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20091226110337/http://pretty-scary.net/content/finals-week-gender-roles-scary-movies Gender Roles within Scary Movies by Alex Boles]}}

{{Stock characters}}
{{Women in media}}
{{Horror film}}

[[Category:Final girls| ]]
[[Category:Female stock characters]]
[[Category:Women and death]]
[[Category:Women in horror film]]
[[Category:Feminism and the arts]]
[[Category:Depictions of women in film]]
[[Category:1990s neologisms]]
[[Category:Horror fiction]]
[[Category:Tropes]]
[[Category:Damsels in distress]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Final girl|access_date=2026-02-23}}