Halloween (1978 Film) - Reception - Themes and Analysis

Themes and Analysis

Many criticisms of Halloween and other slasher films come from postmodern academia. Some feminist critics, according to historian Nicholas Rogers, "have seen the slasher movies since Halloween as debasing women in as decisive a manner as hard-core pornography." Critics such as John Kenneth Muir point out that female characters such as Laurie Strode survive not because of "any good planning" or their own resourcefulness, but sheer luck. Although she manages to repel the killer several times, in the end, Strode is rescued in Halloween and Halloween II only when Dr. Loomis arrives to shoot Myers.

On the other hand, other feminist scholars such as Carol J. Clover argue that despite the violence against women, slasher films turned women into heroines. In many pre-Halloween horror films, women are depicted as helpless victims and are not safe until they are rescued by a strong masculine hero. Despite the fact that Loomis saves Strode, Clover asserts that Halloween initiates the role of the "final girl" who ultimately triumphs in the end. Strode herself fought back against Myers and severely wounds him. Had Myers been a normal man, Strode's attacks would have killed him; even Loomis, the male hero of the story, who shoots Michael repeatedly at near point blank range with a large caliber handgun, cannot kill him.

Aviva Briefel argued that moments such as when Michael loses his mask are meant to give pleasure to the male viewer. Briefel further argues that these moments are masochistic in nature and give pleasure to men because they are willingly submitting themselves to the women of the film; they submit themselves temporarily because it will make their return to authority even more powerful. Critics, such as Pat Gill, see Halloween as a critique of American social values. She remarks that parental figures are almost entirely absent throughout the film, noting that when Laurie is attacked by Michael while babysitting, “No parents, either of the teenagers or of the children left in their charge, call to check on their children or arrive to keen over them.”

Another major theme found in the film is the dangers of pre-marital sex. Clover believes that killers in slasher films are fuelled by a “psychosexual fury” and that all the killings are sexual in nature. She reinforces this idea by saying that “guns have no place in slasher films...” and when examining the film I Spit on Your Grave she notes that “a hands-on killing answers a hands-on rape in a way that a shooting, even a shooting preceded by a humiliation, does not.” Equating sex with violence is important in Halloween and the slasher genre. Generally. Pat Gill makes notes of this in her essay “The Monstrous Years: Teens, Slasher Films, and the Family” when she remarks that Laurie’s friends “think of their babysitting jobs as opportunities to share drinks and beds with their boyfriends. One by one they are killed... by Michael Myers an asylum escapee who years ago at the age of six murdered his sister for preferring sex to taking care of him.”

The danger of suburbia is another major theme that runs throughout the movie and the slasher genre itself, Pat Gill remarks that slasher films “seem to mock white flight to gated communities, in particular the attempts of parents to shield their children from the dangerous influences represented by the city...” Halloween and slasher films, generally, are supposed to represent the underside of suburbia. Michael Myers was raised in a suburban household and after he escapes the mental hospital he returns to his hometown to kill again; Myers is a product of the suburban environment.

Carpenter himself dismisses the notion that Halloween is a morality play, regarding it as merely a horror movie. According to Carpenter, critics "completely missed the point there." He explains, "The one girl who is the most sexually uptight just keeps stabbing this guy with a long knife. She's the most sexually frustrated. She's the one that's killed him. Not because she's a virgin but because all that sexually repressed energy starts coming out. She uses all those phallic symbols on the guy."

The usage of Michael Myers' white mask also poses analytical thought on several levels. For one, the mask (actually a debased William Shatner mask) is used as a concealing agent for Michael that helps keep his identity and mystery alive and fearful to others. Furthermore, the white blank austerity of the mask helps personify Michael as an emotionless, sociopathic killer who is incapable of feeling remorse for his actions, and therefore, does not exhibit such on his face. In a way, the lifelessness of the mask (it being a mere object that is devoid of human qualities) mirrors Michael's personality, in that, he too is blank, emotionless and ultimately cold to life or death. Also, the white mask characterizes Michael as a universal character, with anyone's face being transplantable onto it. The mask is merely an open canvas that Carpenter uses to invite viewers to paint their own killer on to make Michael's character more personal, and scarier, to each viewer.