Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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directly involves the viewer within the action. Although the film does not provide a
direct address throughout the rest of the film, creating such an effect so close to the
start of the film pointedly attempts to draw the viewer closer to the action by
breaking through the limitations of the eye/camera and engaging him/her directly. 2
While these elements demonstrate the unique and aggressive approach that
Friday the 13 th takes with the eye/camera, critics such as Wood and others insist
upon describing the eye/camera of the film in the same negative way as other slasher
films of the period, as discussed in the previous chapter. Preceding an analysis of
eye/camera sequences in Friday the 13 th , Reynold Humphries deconstructs the
eye/camera’s function by discussing the effect alternating perspectives has on the
viewer. In essence, Humphries sees the eye/camera as infusing the viewer with the
illusion of power while simultaneously creating empathy for the victims of this
power. With these sensations juxtaposed, Humphries argues that the negative
aspects of both are blunted; the viewer is both excused from relishing in sadism of
the aggressor while protected from the experience of being victimised. He then
summarises by saying that this ultimately places the viewer in a position to
experience an event where, in reality, he/she is more likely to be the victim. (143-4)
Despite his critical view of the eye/camera, Humphries defends Friday the 13 th ’s
innovative use of the eye/camera through the examples of two sequences:
2 This use of the opening credits to create visceral impact has since been re-created and adapted. A
recent example is Final Destination 5 3-D (dir.Quale; 2011), where the titles are apparently printed on
transparent glass. Objects that appear in the background move toward the viewer, such as lead piping,
nails, dismembered body parts and charred corpses. As these items reach the titles, the glass panes
shatter, and the objects as well as small shards of glass appear to move toward the spectator.