Clayton George Wickham - final thesis

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lack of concern for attachments made by viewers of the previous film, at most a
design to place the franchise viewer at a disadvantage. In this way, although the
franchise viewer has the advantage of knowing Tommy’s and Jason’s backstories,
this knowledge becomes a hindrance in continuity that does not affect the new
viewer.
Although the pre-titles sequence of Jason Lives! contains similarities to A
New Beginning, it heavily rewards the franchise viewer at the risk of isolating the
new viewer. Like A New Beginning, there is no series of clips to explain the
background and context of the film. Jason Lives! begins with a series of tripodmounted
establishing shots of a cloudy sky with flashes of lightning, Camp Crystal
Lake, and the surrounding forest at night shrouded in fog. Then an old pickup truck
is shown driving down the road in the middle of the woods. The first cut after this
shows Jason’s hockey mask in close up held by someone, as a male voice says, “I
don’t know how you talked me into this, Tommy.” There is then a cut to a threequarters
shot of a young man riding in the passenger’s seat of the car, talking, so that
the voice heard in the previous shot is attributed to him. The mention of the name
Tommy will likely conjure a familiarity with the franchise viewer, as Tommy was
one of the central characters in the previous two films. The male character that is
onscreen then says, “Hell, I must be crazy. You know, if the institution ever found
out about this, they would haul our butts back in straitjackets. Permanent.” Another
voice is heard, saying, “You didn’t have to come, Hawes.” There is then a cut to a
three-quarters shot of a blond young man who looks similar to 17-year-old Tommy
from A New Beginning driving the truck. He speaks again, connecting the voice
from the previous shot to him, saying, “This is between me and Jason.” Hawes then
says that he does not understand the therapy in what they are about to do, and that