The Final Girls and Survival of the Fittest
The moral case for working together rather than being selfish.
Author’s Note: I had a problem with sending this out so I’m resending it to make sure it goes out to everyone. Hope it’s okay with everyone.
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The strong survive and the weak will die.
This is the fundamental idea behind the well known concept of survival of the fittest. People who do anything to survive regardless of the consequences have earned the right to continue on, while anyone who doesn't deserves to die. It's such a powerful idea that no one ever really questions it in any serious way. They just accept it as fact. They put it in movies, particularly horror movies and this becomes the basis of what the movie genre supposedly promotes. But is it actually true? Do those who are only out for themselves really make it through?
If you look at what actually happens in horror movies though, this isn't necessarily true. While there is some truth to the idea given that the person or people who survive tend to do so by doing whatever they can, what they do is a lot more complex. Looking at the lone wolves in movies, they tend to die pretty quickly. The ones who are in it for themselves tend to be willing to sacrifice others for their own survival but they ultimately die. Selfishness isn't something that is a good survival strategy. In large part because those who are willing to sacrifice others don't tend to have a lot of people willing to sacrifice themselves for them.
What actually works is being able to work together. Those who survive horror movies tend to be people who are trying to rally others to the cause of survival. They try to get other potential victims of whatever bad guy is trying to kill them to work together. To mount a defence of those who are left towards staying alive long enough until help arrives or they find a way out of the mess they find themselves in. It's that ability to rally others which leads to the best outcomes for the most amount of people.
At it's core, this is what The Final Girls is about. With a somewhat comedic take on the traditional horror movie tropes, you see things differently. Max, Chris, Vicki, Gerti and Duncan all play into what a traditional horror movie has. The mean girl, the smart nerdy guy, the jock, the best friend and the final girl. And they have their mirror images in Kurt, Tina, Paula, Blake and Nancy following similar trajectories in the movie.
The thing that gets them through is working together rather than turning on each other. Developing strategies of survival that require a team effort rather than sacrificing other members of the group for their own benefit. It leads to a willingness to be self sacrificing instead of selfish behaviour. These are the true lessons of horror movies like The Final Girls.
Being able to work together and to rally people to your cause is the hallmark of what makes someone the fittest. It's not a weakness, despite what the traditional view of survival of the fittest is.
Take the time to learn the lessons by watching The Final Girls on Netflix.
"The thing that gets them through is working together rather than turning on each other." Not sure I entirely agree with this point, as the team efforts to stop the killer fail and it ultimately comes down to fulfilling the 'rules' of the slasher film. Granted, Max gets her friends back in the end, but that seems to be more of a magical reversal.