Blog #3

The myth of the “Final Girl” is shown in the 2013 horror film Evil Dead. This film starts out just like any other, with five teenagers in a cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere. The Final Girl, Mia, goes to this cabin with her two friends Eric and Olivia, her brother David, and David’s girlfriend Natalie. They all meet up at the cabin to help Mia get over her cocaine addiction and they make it a game called “Cold Turkey.” It is obvious that Mia is dressed less feminine than the other girls. Mia wears baggy sweatshirts while the other girls wear tight jeans or dresses.

Soon after they begin the process, Mia starts complaining about a terrible smell she cannot stand. She says “something is dead and it wreaks.” No one else can smell anything so they blame it on her being extra sensitive because of her withdrawal. This shows how the Final Girl notices something amiss before anyone else. The kids find a hidden basement trap door, and once they open it, everyone finally notices the smell. The basement is covered with dead cats hanging off the ceiling. They see a book covered and tied up in wire. Mia warns them that they should not have touched anything in the basement. Out of curiosity, Eric opens the book and reads the words out loud, releasing the demons. The human flesh bound book that they found in the basement says that once five souls are dead, the skies will bleed again and the abomination will rise from hell.

Mia is outside at this time and sees a ghost in the distance. She tells her friends she wants to leave but her friends just say that she is going insane and losing her mind. Mia takes the car keys and sneaks out of her bedroom window. She drives away in the pouring rain, spots a demon in front of her car and spins into the lake. After she climbs out, while making her way back to the cabin, she is tied up and choked by tree branches that come to life. The demon stands in front of Mia and barfs up a black, slimy, worm-like creature that crawls between Mia’s legs. This is a phallic symbol and is also how Mia becomes possessed.

When Mia tells her friends about the ghosts she saw in the woods, everyone once again says it is crazy withdrawal talk. She begs her brother to take her out of there because there is something in the woods and she thinks it is inside the house with them. He responds that it is just all in her head.

Mia’s friend Olivia also becomes possessed before she dies. While she is possessed, Olivia stabs Eric with a sharp piece of glass. She also stabs him in the eyeballs with a needle which is another phallic symbol.

After it is believed that everyone but David and Maria are dead, David buries Mia and apologizes for not being there for his sister when she needed him. Mia becomes unpossessed and is brought back to life. Eric is actually not dead, but has now become possessed. Eric tries to kill David and Mia, but to save his sister, David sets the house on fire once Mia is outside.

            Finally, the prolonged, fifteen minute final battle between Mia and the demon begins. The sky starts bleeding and the demon rises up from the ground. Mia gets in the car to drive away but the car will not start. The demon then burns her with its hand. After, Mia crawls into a small cave to hide. The cave leads to a shed where Mia knocks down a shelf of tools to block the demon from moving closer. She is stabbed all over by the demon. This shows how Mia is tortured and wounded by the killer during the battle and also shows how she is resourceful under pressure. Mia later hides under the jeep, but the demon knocks the jeep onto Mia, causing her arm to get stuck underneath. Mia gains willpower and strength and then rips her arm in half and out from under the jeep. Mia winds up a chainsaw, cuts the demons body in half, killing it and causing it to sink back into the ground. This is an example of how the Final Girl is masculinized because she is able to work machinery. Mia penetrating the demon with a large chainsaw as her weapon is also a major phallic symbol adding to her masculinity. The sky stops pouring blood and Mia walks away alone into the sunlight. Mia portrays the myth of the Final Girl because she confronts the demon that has killed her family and friends and she is the only person left to tell the tale.