Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping Claire C. Holland’s I Am Not Your Final Girl into the ol’ VCR.
Note: This piece won’t contain my regular photos with jokes in the captions because it didn’t seem appropriate.
I stumbled upon I Am Not Your Final Girl while scrolling through the internet one day, and I was immediately sold. Published in 2017, Claire C. Holland takes the final girls we’ve come to know and love and examines their trauma through a realistic lens. Sure, we cheer and applaud when our girl finally defeats the big bad, but what happens after the credits roll?
More importantly, Holland strips away the haunting score and special effects, and not only portrays the likes of Laurie and Sally, but more complex female horror leads like May and Carrie. Additionally, the phrase “final girl” doesn’t necessarily apply to all of the women Holland drew inspiration from; some of these characters don’t make it out alive.
However, I think it makes it all the more powerful. Not to mention this was written during a certain administration with a certain orange man with tiny hands who doesn’t deserve to be named.
I do want to give some CWs/TWs in advance. This collection is broken into four sections, with the first being Assault. These poems are from the perspective of women who have been r*ped, experienced SA, and/or were brutally attacked. Many of these themes do continue throughout the collection, so I’d recommend reading with caution if any of the things I’ve mentioned are triggering.
I Am Not Your Final Girl is not only a must-read for horror fans, but for any women, trans women (who are women, thank you), femme-presenting peeps, and/or non-binary peeps (if you aren’t triggered by the things I mentioned earlier). It’s poignant, and the way Holland describes iconic works of horror is truly beautiful.
I’d also say I Am Not Your Final Girl is a must-read for men. The people in your life who identify in the groups I mentioned above more than likely have a horror story. Whether they’ve been catcalled in the street, groped without permission at a bar, or worse, they have a story.
I’ve personally been groped, gaslit, grabbed, you name it.
To bring us home, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from the Introduction.
“Not all the women in this book are survivors, much as I wish they were. They’re final girls in my heart, though, and I hold them the closest. These are the women I feel raging inside me, the women whose pain and fury help me deal with my own darkest moments. They show me I can be stronger. They show me that I’m not alone. I cherish them all for going down fighting, and for taking a piece of their oppressors as they go.”
Claire C. Holland, I Am Not Your Final Girl
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