Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher, Scream, is a film that takes the well-known format of the slasher film and creatively plays off the genre to provide a unique and clever film. In addition to this, gender roles play a large part in the events of the film, especially with the final girl, Sydney Prescott.
Sydney Prescott’s character falls along the lines of most slasher movies, because she is a innocent virgin teen at the beginning of the film. Her friend Tatum contrasts this by being a flirtatious and promiscuous teen and is supported by Carol Clover’s writings on the final girl, “she is not fully feminine-not, in any case, feminine in the ways of her friends.” Sydney’s character development includes the murder of her mother just one year prior to the events of the film. After another high school student, Casey, is stalked and killed by Ghostface, the murderer’s attention soon focuses on Sydney.
The image shown above of the main group of friends in scream provides a good basis for a mise-en-scene analysis. On the left side, we see protagonist Sydney and her boyfriend Billy. The couple’s relationship is a bit in limbo as Sydney is not ready to have sexual relations with Billy, shown by how Sydney is faced away from Billy, turning her back on what he wants from her. Next, the promiscuous couple of Stu and Tatum are sitting together, showing how comfortable they are with each other by eating together. Tatum is alos positioned between the legs of Stu in an almost sexual position. On the right is the nerdy video store worker, Randy, who becomes the most self-aware member of the group. Randy is shown away from the group and alone, much like how for the first half of the film he is the only one to see the position they are in.
The final showdown between Ghostface and Sydney comes somewhat after Sydney loses her virginity, which according to Randy would make her now vulnerable. After Sydney is first captured by Ghostface, it is revealed that the masked monster is a team killing effort between Stu and Billy. The inevitable chase between Sydney and the two is supported by Carol Clover’s writings, “she is the one who encounters the mutilated bodies of her friends and perceives the full extent of the preceding horror and her own peril.” Sydney, being the final girl, discovers the body of Tatum, and a multitude of horrors in her chase scene.
With Billy and Stu now known as the killer, shown above, the reason to target Sydney is apparent, more so with Billy. Sydney’s reluctance to have sex with Billy, and the twist that her mother had driven Billy’s parents provide a motive for the attack against her. The reason for punishment is supported by Clover when she writes, “the gender of the final girl is likewise compromised from the outset by her masculine interests, her inevitable sexual reluctance, her apartness from other girls, sometimes her name.” Clover’s thoughts align with the events in Scream.
Scream has a lot to interpret in its run time, but the most apparent theme in the film is the dynamic between high school teenagers. The force exhibited on young girls by men and the spotlight that is often cast on sexual activity fuels the the events of Scream, and the terror that follows.
Derek Stoberl CMS 353 