TheGoose

I certainly agree that anyone taking Amy as “proof that all women are crazy” has got it wrong. Most films depicting this type of intense manipulation feature men at the reigns, and the reaction is never an equivalent “all men are crazy”.

This disappointing reaction aside, I do think that Amy’s character is clearly a much more sick and twisted individual than Nick, who is largely victimized. Amy’s actions in the film are fairly indefensible, and appealing to Nick’s wrongdoings in order to make him seem like less of a victim doesn’t really help your point that the generalization of all women as akin to Amy is problematic.

We must remember that the internet brings out both the worst in people, and the worst people, and that the loudest voices are not always representative of everyone’s thoughts. Hopefully plenty of people saw the film as an instance of feminist progress wherein a female character was depicted as being just as dangerous and insane as a typical male villain, which I believe it was.

I haven’t yet seen Final Girl, but have studied the final girl trope this year and am very interested to watch it now. Your review of the trope and its many incarnations is extensive and impressive. One horror/thriller trope that may contribute to a discussion on the role of gender in horror film is the transgendered killer (such as the villains in Silence of the Lambs and Dressed to Kill). The depiction of these killers could tie in nicely with your discussion on Oedipal castration anxiety (particularly the one in Dressed to Kill).

It’s always nice when games at least attempt to explain the double jump, as you mentioned with Pyschonauts. The Metroid games (and certainly a few others) justify it by way of “rocket boots”, but I suppose the appeal of these games was never their realism!