Purity Culture and the Final Girl

!spoiler warning for scream (1996)!

Laurie Strode, Sally Hardesty, Nancy Thompson, Alice Hardy, and Sidney Prescott are all names fans of slashers and horror in general may recognize. They are the leading ladies of their respective films and the only ones that survive until the end, the 'final girls'.

A final girl in a '70s-'90s slasher movie is easy to spot when you know what you're looking for. While all of her friends are doing drugs and having sex, she abstains. Thus, she is the only one pure enough to survive the night.

The 60s through the 80s were times of newfound sexual liberation and experimental drug use among young people. The purity propaganda that classic slashers push is the direct result of movements like Ronald and Nancy Reagan's "Just Say NO" campaign to discourage drug use and re-establish traditional relationship structures.

Two Interesting Reversals

• Scream (1996), being a satirical movie, flips the trope on its head. Sydney's horror buff boyfriend intentionally sleeps with her before he plans to kill her in order to 'ruin' her by erasing her purity.

• Black Christmas (1974) came out 2 months after Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), which was hailed as the first slasher and the inventor of the final girl trope. In Black Christmas, the lead is actually pregnant and plans to have an abortion. Not technically a trope breaker since the rules weren't fully established yet, but an interesting thing to note.

While many horror movies being released today actively combat this trope, many more still follow the tried and true formula.

--Bad Dogs In The House

(Photo from lovehorror.co.uk "The Top 10 Final Girls in Horror")