Final Girls, Final Girl Energy And Briefly Addressing My Viewing Perspective

In the anime The Ancient Magus Bride, there's Elias as shown in the GIF below

He has his 'Mage Apprentice' named Chise which is a terrible way to explain their relationship dynamic but we don't have time to unpack it. Anyways, Elias doesn't really understand human emotion and sometimes in the show he will explain to Chiro a feeling he had and he asks her what it is. She'll tell him and then there will be a cut to a water droplet hitting a smooth watery surface because what she said suddenly made so much sense. It's exactly what he was feeling and it couldn't have been anything else. It's actually kind of hilarious how confusing he finds basic emotions (although it's not ridiculously overdone). But anyways, discovering the Final Girl trope and recognizing Final Girl energy in things was my water-drop moment. It's something I've always loved even though I didn't know it was a thing that existed. That and finding out that the monster boi trope was a thing. So many things clicked into place in my head. It feels like an understatement to say that a movie trope/energy changed my life in the best way. Because it is such a deeply personal, and emotion-based thing it's hard to put into words everything I mean. The weird spiderweb of how my brain works attaching to things that don't make sense and tying it all together. Sometimes I want to spill it out, hence this post a little, but other times I'm like, I get it and that's all I care about. 

Sometimes it's enough that you know you love them
Words are hard.

Before I continue, I think it's important to explain that I don't really like to watch media through a *fails to think of the word I was going for* 'realistic lense' I guess? Dylan Is In Trouble on Youtube had a video addressing some people's complaints about his reaction to a movie that he'd done a video about that he didn't like and some people took it personally. Anyways, he was trying to carefully explain that he's not watching things to make a point, it's intentionally stupid. He's watching things to be entertained. He was using an example that some people watch things and they're viewing is through a very realistic lense, and take lessons from it, whereas he watches it with a disconnect from reality. He's often jokingly calling for people to murder each other in like every movie he watches and he explained that obviously he would be horrified by that in real life. Anyways, people took it way too personally and it was a little bit dumb that he even had to explain that because most people get what he means. I'm absolutely butchering this, but essentially I don't watch things and look at the characters as role models as an example. The way I relate to things is usually a little less direct most of the time. There's exceptions obviously, it's just I don't like when attention is called to a thing inside of a medium itself, I much prefer a thing when it's just a thing that's happening and if I take something away from it that's up to me to do. Most of the time anyways, but that's just what I do. Everyone attaches to things differently. The characters I relate to different aspects of usually aren't people that are supposed to be looked up to or were even meant to be looked up to. 

I love and relate to emotion based things, and I can't express how much I love those moments in film when a character's mask comes off and you see them for everything. The fun, the dark, the honesty of it feels like breathing to me when it happens. I'm generally a very analytical person so I'll read into things and give things that mean everything to me meanings that probably were never intentional. I get annoyed when someone else in the media does it for me. It's like I can see the the script directions through the screen as opposed to forgetting to watch the invisible hand carefully moving the pieces. A big pet peeve of mine is media that feels like it knows it's being watched, so it goes out of it's way to emphasize that it's doing a thing. I'm sick of things trying to be the next great american novel, I just want it to be an experience. The fact that I'm here means you already interested me in some way, I don't need the movie to justify why I'm here. I don't want to justify anything, if I'm here I'm here. I'm not out here trying to prove anything to anybody. I have my hills, but this is not one of them. I'm a firm believer that if you've done it well enough (but also writing/art/making any sort of media is insanely difficult so genuine kuddos to everyone) you don't have to explain it. Most people will get it, and if they don't, you did, so there's always that. But it's so nice when other people do as well.

I stand by that this is Tom Cruise's best role XD
Now that is one of my hills.

So now that I've talked for way too long about how I really dislike things being 'about' things being addressed without feeling intrinsically necessary, let me contradict myself and briefly talk about my love of Final Girl energy and what it means to me with about as much depth as the voice of a movie chipmunk. I will be brief is what I'm trying to say. Also know that Skye did a similar post last year that I will be shamelessly stealing from so I'm giving the credit now (Skye's Monster Bois and Final Girls Post)

This snippet from her post sort of briefly summed up what I'm trying to say in this post. 

'So aside from me being haunted by monster bois. I have a whole new appreciation for final girls. I don’t know what it is about the girl starting off naïve and seemingly weak. Only to go through something insanely traumatic and not only survive it but take down their tormentor in the process.  I dunno I love it!  I feel like my twenties have been somewhat feral and similar in a way. I’ve learned to hold my ground and fight back.

So watching these girls survive hellish situations and come out covered in blood in and a thick layer of cynicism is somewhat of a revelation. It’s surprisingly motivating and something that resonates with me.'

Skye's post about 'The Heroine's Journey' also touches on reasons I love the Final Girl trope.

I did a post sort of vaguely addressing my love of angry characters and I think it still holds up for me. (Angry Characters Post)

I think what it comes down to most of the time is I love the fight in characters. Harnessing rage. Although some of that might be blurring between the actual trope of Final Girl and confusing it with female rage.

 It's hard to explain it without context but I love when moments like this happen

the contrast 

(context: I'm pretty sure someone kidnapped Chise or seriously injured her or something)

Something about the coldness of it, the silent gaping breath of it on an emotional level
appeals to me.
A moment of stark rawness

Although this is more of a Final Girl/Final Girl Energy post so I'll mention some name of actual final girls. The point still stands though. When I say Final Girl energy I'm more referring to characters not from slasher movies. Something about Final Girl energy feels hopeful, the survival instinct. Sometimes these characters didn't have much going for them at the start but they end up fighting to save themselves, be that physically or more of a mental thing. But again, I prefer it when it's not an blatantly intentional allegory. I like creating the allegory for myself.

Some Final Girls/Varying Obvious Levels Of Final Girl Energy:

Grace (Ready or Not)

Sidney (Scream)

Elizabeth Swann (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Tree (Happy Death Day)

Chise (The Ancient Magus Bride)

Coraline (Coraline)

Lisa (Red Eye)

Sarah (Labyrinth)

Ophelia (Pan's Labyrinth)

Ripley (Alien)

Nancy (Stranger Things)

Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

Casey (Split/Glass)

Veronica (Heathers)

Ivy (The Village)

Wichita and Little Rock (Zombieland)

Harley Quinn (Birds of Prey version in particular has some Final Girl energy) (That scene on the dock with the echo-y voices was a particular final girl energy moment for me)

There's so many more but I'm blanking on them. I find Final Girls in all their harnessed rage, blood-soaked clothes, and will to live inspiring. It's cathartic and it makes me happy.  They're broken but they don't let it beat them. They carry on and they hold their ground while they fight for themselves.

I had a more cohesive idea for this post and it didn't touch on half the points I wanted to, but still, I think you guys get the point.

I just think it's neat.

Slight update: In hindsight of this post, I realized I should have put more gifs of actual final girls and less of Elias from The Ancient Magus Bride but the points still stand. Monster Bois need love too. Even bonehead ones.