Though the archetype of the final girl has existed for as long as the horror genre, the term was only coined relatively recently. In 1992 Carol J Clover coined the term in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. The final girl is defined has historically a young woman of particular moral superiority (one who refuses sex, drugs or like anything else fun) and manages to survive the monster while the rest of her friends are killed. But I love insane, imperfect women so I like to choose my additions to the category differently. A final girl is a survivor over all, whether that means she lives by using her wits, her strength, her sexuality or any other tools at her disposal, the final girl is often the most fascinating addition to horror with a history as important as that of the villain she opposes. So, as our first villain of the week is the iconic Count Dracula, I thought we would start by diving into the final girl who survived and helped vanquish him: Mina Murray Harker.
Mina’s role in the original novel is actually quite modern for its time. In the novel, it is Mina who finds Dracula, using a psychic connection she has with the vampire to locate where he is so that he can eventually be exterminated. Much of the book is from her point of view, and she is even viewed by the mostly male cast as a brilliant and courageous partner.
Though the film Nosferatu (1972) is not technically Dracula, much of its plot and inspiration comes from the novel. Just as in the novel Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to do business with a mysterious count and ends up being attacked and changed by the monstrous figure who lives there, in this case Nosferatu. Jonathan Harker is essentially turned into a vampire slave within minutes of the beginning of the movie and so it falls to his wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani at her most beautiful) to face the vampire and save her husband as well as basically the whole of Europe. The film is an allegory for the black plague which is apt as vampirism itself works remarkably like a contagion.
Standing in for the role of Mina, Lucy has her own strong connection to the vampire Nosferatu. After realizing that she will have no one left to rely on to stop the vampire, she is eventually told that all vampires are drawn to beautiful, kind hearted women, and that in his distraction he might be compelled to put himself in harm’s way. Lucy draws the vampire to her and allows him to suck her blood. He is so distracted by her beauty and taste that he doesn’t notice the sun come up and so he burns to death. Technically Lucy ends up dying from the bite, so in this instance she wouldn’t necessarily count as a final girl. However it is through her courage, cleverness and sexuality that she is able to destroy the vampire, and she is the only one who ever truly faces down Nosferatu.
The most well known film iteration of Mina is Frances Ford Coppola’s Dracula (1992) starring Wynona Ryder as Mina Harker. This film is probably the closest to the books in terms of storyline, however it fleshes out the relationship between Mina and the Count with far more detail than was present in the books. In this version, Mina is the reincarnation of Dracula’s long dead wife and he comes to London from Transylvania to find and be reunited with her. It adds much more depth to Dracula as well, which is absolutely fascinating and the chemistry between Wynona Ryder and Gary Oldman who plays Dracula is gorgeous and disturbingly sexy. What makes this storyline so compelling is the fact that Mina actively does seem to want to be with Dracula even knowing what he is. That conflict in her adds a layer of depth and agency to the character that was not otherwise seen. It also makes her choice at the end to finally kill the vampire even more courageous because she seems to love him even despite the need to kill him. Talk about a bad breakup.
The most recent incarnation of Dracula and Mina was the short-lived NBC Dracula drama which made a concerted effort to modernize the legend and the characters in turn. This Mina is an aspiring doctor and scientist, though oddly a bit more naive than Wynona Ryder’s Mina. However the theme of sexuality still exists between herself and the vampire who in this version hides in plain sight.
Apart from her long history in horror, Mina Harker is a fascinating final girl because of her intimate relationship with her monster. I am always deeply compelled by heroes who find themselves drawn and almost fond of the villain who they are forced to fight and Mina is a fantastic example of that. Her overcoming her attraction to the charming monster who represents in so many ways the freedom and carnal desires that she would not be able to give voice to at the time is what makes her ability to fight this monster so powerful and wonderful. And though she is very different than how we see the archetype most of the time, she is without a doubt a final girl.
