Halloween Overview Halloween is a landmark film of its era in the way that it pioneered the slasher genre with its keystone aspects of being made on a low budget and having an eerily normal setting with a slightly supernatural killer/antagonist, the film also features an androgynous primary protagonist in the form of Laurie (a typical nerdy teenager) who has a rather wide spectrum of stereotypes in the form of her two friends: Annie and Lynda who are the typical “bad “girl and blonde cheerleader types respectively. Over the course of the film the spectator/audience is introduced to the character of Michael Myers, who from the very first scene is visibly disturbed and depending upon the audience’s perspective they may even pity the character via the method of presenting his childhood “trauma” to begin with, using the fact that it is Halloween night to supposedly make it seem as if the traditions and then current aspects of the commercial side of Halloween, e.g. the horror film marathons and costumes have taken a toll on the poor child’s mind and made him think those acts didn’t have consequence or any repercussions. In his first scene Myers is a child and wearing a clown costume, seemingly for the purpose of trick or treating, in all of his other scenes he is wearing a blue boiler suit and a white mask resembling a distorted face, the mask is described as being a Halloween mask and this could be a way to show Michaels connection with the event even in his older age, perhaps showing his connection/lack of moving on from his past. It is notable to say that the type of weapon hew brandishes on both occasions are the same kind of knife, showing a preference or prowess with knives perhaps?. The character of Laurie is a landmark one in terms of her innately masculine personality traits, these are exemplified through the way she talks (her voice is rather lower in tone than her friends) and through the way she dresses (she wears clothing which is much closer to that of a much more mature or of a less
feminine person. Laurie is made more standout of course by the way her colleagues act and dress with them encapsulating the aftermath of the sexual revolution of the 60s and the severe change in sexual mores and attitudes towards sexual actions and appearances. There is an argument to be made that the fact that Laurie is a virgin where her friends are not, is cause to believe that the undertone of the film is to show how the current sexual attitudes will lead to a death (perhaps societal). For the most part the theory was put to rest with Carpenters intended reading of film being that the teenagers who were killed were all distracted by things whereas Laurie was attentive and stayed focussed where the others had late night rendezvous and beer to fill their nights with (as opposed to Laurie who focussed on her job to its end). One of the films more universally agreed upon undertones is one of that the events depicted in the film (or those similar) could happen to you or take place in your area, this was included due to the recent mass murders and the revelation that anyone could be a murderer, even those who you live near or even with. Perhaps in an attempt to not ground the film too much and make it have some sort of disconnect they made Myers more of a supernatural villain, making a point of his being able to move without making noise and also impale a teenager to a wall with nought but a typical carving knife and his own strength. The end of the film also shines a supernatural light on Myers as he suddenly disappears when killed, maybe moving onto the next victim or slipping from our reality with his purpose or intended actions unfulfilled. (The most likely reason behind him disappearing would be to spawn some sequels with Myers in them but “that’s the movie industry for you�)