In Carol Clover’s famous essay “ Her body, herself: Gender in the slasher”, she explains that there are 6 explicit parts that make up a “slasher” , “the terrible place”, “the killer”,”weapons”, “victims”, “final girl” and “shock.” Carroll goes on to explain that a final girl is the one who typically has to carry the burden of the experience throughout the rest of her life, is masculinised with a uni-sex or male nickname to fit in with her counterparts, and the person in the film who personifies the terror taking place in the film, and is most of the time female (of course). However,while thinking about these criteria as Caroll lists them, I realized that a male horror character that fits this mold also is Ashly J. Williams from the Evil Dead series. Using Carroll's criteria as a guide, we will explore if Ash Williams is truly a “final girl” in …show more content…
I believe this is proven by as Ash’s role in the franchise is to carry the burden with him through the years and of that night at the cabin and the events that resulted from that, Ash’s real name is Ashly J. Williams and is only called that by his sister (which tells us that perhaps even he is ashamed of his real name, giving more of the illusion of the masculine/feminine battle of his name), and also is the person who the terror of the films are personified through. If one wanted to put Ash in the hall of fame of horror characters ( and I really don’t think that would be a debate), he would deserve his own room,full of his exploits in his films as well as his rise to cult film character status. However, if one was to make a gallery in the hall of fame of the greatest “final girls” of horror, at least according to the rules in Caroll’s essay, Ash Williams deserves to have a plaque next to Lilla Crane, Laurie Straub, Nancy Thompson and Ellen