Introduction

John Carpenter’s 1978 film Halloween has long been considered a classic and a must watch by critics and horror fans alike. It is likely that the vast majority of viewers have taken the film at face value and merely consider it to be a typical “slasher”, but some would argue that there may be deeper themes.

If a random person on the street were approached and asked whether they consider Halloween to be a feminist film the proposition would likely be met with a look of confusion. I say this because I myself had that same reaction when the question was posited, but upon reflection, I do see how a viewer could come to that conclusion.

Jamie Lee Curtis’ character in the film is an example of what Kristin Lene Hole and Dijana Jelaca, authors of Film Feminisms A Global Introduction, refer to as the “final girl” trope (coined by Carol J. Clover in 1992).

The premise of the is that in many slasher/horror films it is common to find a lone female character stand up to and defeat the (male) villain when countless others have fallen victim to them. It’s for this reason that I would consider Halloween to have enough feminist elements to be considered a feminist film in some regard.

While I don’t necessarily believe John Carpenter’s explicit intentions were to create a feminist film (I believe he was primarily focused on making a great horror film), I do think that the portrayal Laurie Strode has some empowering feminist elements.