A Hack’s Look at the Politics of the Horror Words by Caitlin Battye Genre The horror genre has been intensely political since its inception. A lot has already been written examining the political subtext in a lot of horror media, from xenophobia in Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Vietnam War readings of Texas Chain Saw Massacre through to the ‘good for her’ energy of Midsommar. However, there’s one question that has yet to be answered: Out of the many horror franchises out there, which is the most based? To conduct this integral piece of research, it was important to ensure I was drawing on a variety of different kinds of horror franchises. These franchises will each be given a number on the ‘Based Scale’ between 1-10. These ratings don’t necessarily indicate the quality or entertainment value of a given film, but simply how based and left-wing-pilled it is.
FRIDAY THE 13TH
Friday the 13th is a conservative wet dream. You’ve got a disabled manturned-unstoppable-zombie-killer (because obviously disabled people gotta be mindless and bad) slaughtering a slew of unlikeable teens indulging in drug use and premarital sex. The franchise’s conservativism shines in its portrayal of women, especially compared to the character of Tommy Jarvis. Tommy was the ‘Final Girl’ in the fourth, fifth, and sixth instalments. The ‘Final Girl’ in the slasher subgenre is the last (wo)man standing in the group, and is typically the woman who best embodies conservative values - the one most likely to have skipped all that drug use and premarital sex. In the fourth film, 12-yearold Tommy and his older sister Trish are ‘Final Boy’ and ‘Final Girl’. Trish is the typical conservative and ‘pure’ woman whereas Tommy is allowed to indulge in violent tendencies and voyeuristic sexual attraction. So while women survive based on how well they conform to conservative ideas of morality, Tommy evades the same level of judgement. Plus…Tommy was in three films! Other slashers have recurring ‘Final Girls’, sure, but they’re typically introduced in the first film, not the fourth. It’s particularly glaring considering they had to keep reusing Tommy despite having to recast him every film. Meanwhile, if a female character reappears, she’s already dead by the opening credits.
Based Score: 2/10 Way too conservative. Squandered its chance to
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subvert its conservative archetype on a cishet white guy whose actor they couldn’t even keep for more than one film. Basically, if you’re wanting a subversion of the final girl archetype with a male lead in a classic slasher franchise, check out Nightmare on Elm Street 2 because that uses the subversion to depict a (subtextually) gay teen which is inherently cooler.
