“To Live Deliciously”: Folktales, Horror and the Ascension of the Final Girl/Folk Hero
Abstract
Folk Horror, as a subgenre of Horror, has been revived in recent
years. The films reflect the societal and political concerns of
the time in which they were made, while retaining connections to
specific folktales and their structures. This thesis will
consider the significance of the relationship between Folk Horror
and specific folktale narratives and structures, applied a
folktale lens to contemporary examples of Folk Horror. The films
examined are Robert Eggers’ 2015 film The Witch: A New England
Folktale and Ari Aster’s 2019 film Midsommar. Both films
recreate and adapt folktales to align with horror, commenting
upon the present through utilising narrative forms of the past.
Contemporary connotations of the folktale are in turn dismantled
and affirmed, as horrific elements of the folktale in the past
and in the present are rendered visual through Horror. A working
definition for folktales, alongside details about their origins
and implications, will be drawn from Jack Zipes’ 1979 work
Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy
Tales. Clover’s theory of the Final Girl will be applied and
altered in the context of Folk Horror. The structure and
narratives of the folktale demonstrably align with the tropes and
characteristics of horror.