Friday, October 13, 2017

Mrs. Voorhees Was A Victim



Note: this is written tongue firmly in cheek, so try not to take too much out of it. I made the mistake of looking up other entries about this, and boy do these people go in-depth!

Well, since today was Friday the 13th, we did the responsible thing and watched the original slasher movie. While we were watching, it hit me (after 30+ years of enjoying this film): Pamela Voorhees was merely a grieving mother.

As I said in the above note, this subject has been broached before. Hell, I'm not even sure why it took me so long to see it. I know I've always loved the brief glimpse of her character in the movie, but I chalked it up to just loving the villains in general. Then tonight was like a revelation of, "Wait...she's just sad her son died in a stupid way and she probably had no mental health care because all of this took place between 1956 and 1979 and they weren't keen on people who were nuts, no matter what the reason for their lunacy."

Yeah, run on thought. It happens.

Anyway, I guess there was a lot more back story about her and Jason done in later movies (I never progressed past 1989), so there is quite a bit of detail that makes my thought more valid. She married and got pregnant young, to an abusive man, of course. Jason was born with physical issues. Her husband left. She worked where she could, already spiraling into some madness. Jason dies, she goes crazy with unchecked grief and murders the two counselors she held responsible for Jason's death. She was never suspected, so she continued to valiantly try to shut down the camp, eventually resulting in her going to a mental institution for six months. I don't think it helped (understatement).

Then in 1979, the camp was to be opened again and it renewed her grief and rage. Murders happened to people who, in her mind, were still responsible, especially because they were trying to open the camp again. I mean, just another day at Camp Crystal Lake, right? Unfortunately she was never able to gain mental clarity and come to terms with everything because she gets decapitated in the first movie.

And if you consider any of this a spoiler, you can get stuffed. It's been 37 years and it's not my problem if you haven't seen it.

So yeah, just a random quick thought on this Friday the 13th. Sometimes even murder machines need a hug. Like her son does.

But that's a different blog post all together.


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