Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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another, with a certain amount of depth. The new viewer, however, only receives a
superficial understanding of these elements. Ginny can be understood as a central
victim, Jason as the primary antagonist, and “Mother” as Jason’s dead mother whom
he idolizes. While this information is all that is necessary to understand the
remaining film, the new viewer can potentially be disoriented by the sudden
appearance of these characters in action, who are depicted as previously established
characters. The franchise viewer could view this sequence comfortably from the
beginning because of a previously defined relationship with them. In this way, the
opening of Friday the 13 th Part III 3-D behaves more as a serial continuation than a
loosely attached sequel, as the beginning of Friday the 13 th Part 2 functions.
The introduction to The Final Chapter, a title which directly alludes to a serial
narrative, returns to the framing device used at the beginning of Friday the 13 th Part
2. This time, the frame is a clip from Friday the 13 th Part 2 in which Paul is telling
the other counsellors the story of Jason as they sit around a campfire. Relevant clips
are shown from Friday the 13 th through Friday the 13 th Part III 3-D, including death
sequences to punctuate the story. For instance, Steve Christy’s death from Friday
the 13 th is shown after Paul says, “Some folks claim they’ve even seen him right in
this area.” Following Paul’s statement that, after seeing his mother beheaded, “He
took his revenge,” film clips from the deaths of Vickie, Sandra and Jeff as well as the
first attack on Ginny are cut into the sequence. The campfire story framing needs
little context, as the story of Jason sounds like the sort of myths and urban legends
that are typically passed around the campfire, as described by Stephen King:
The story of The Hook is a simple, brutal classic of horror. It offers no
characterization, no theme, no particular artifice; it does not aspire to