R I P L E Y F R O M A L I E N

ANALYSIS OF A HORROR CHARACTER

‘THE FINAL GIRL’

• Carol J. Clover introduces us to the theory of ‘the final girl’ in her essay “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the slasher film”• The final girl is a female character (most often the

main character) in a slasher film, who is the only character who survives the story.• Clover states that “The Final Girl is watchful to

the point of paranoia; small signs of danger that her friends ignore she takes in and turns over. Above all she is intelligent and resourceful in extreme situations".

RIPLEY

• Ripley is undeniably the hero of Alien, however she does not meet all the criteria that clover puts forwards.

• Clover states that the final girl is introduced at the beginning of the film and is the only character to be developed in a great amount of detail.

• Ripley does not begin to become the focal character of the film until about half an hour in, and the other characters also receive detail and development.

• However, she is indeed the most observant of the crew as she sees the danger of letting the first alien creature onto the ship. She is resourceful as she destroys the ship along with the alien.

RIPLEY

• She comes across as a very masculine character as she does what we would usually assume a male to do, she saves the day.• She is also only every referred to by her last

name, which is typical of military situations.• She is dressed in unfeminine clothing, it

is simple and not revealing like what other female characters tend to wear.

RIPLEY

• Clover states that at the film ends with an extended chase scene between the final girl and the threat (in this case the alien) and either the final girl kills the threat or is recued. In this case, Ripley fights against the alien and defeats it, doing what the other characters were unable to do.