[Editorial] Tree Glebman: How Happy Death Day Redefines the “Final Girl”

As one of the staples of slasher horror, the “Final Girl” is the viewer's connection to the film, the girl they’re on the edge of their seats for, groaning in frustration when she inevitably makes some blunder that sends her closer into the clutches of the slasher who’s after her. A solid Final Girl can make or break a slasher film’s potential to become a franchise, and her performance can launch her into the sacred title of “Scream Queen” developing a devoted following of horror fans who will watch whatever mainstream film or B-movie she appears in.

Classic Final Girls like Halloween’s Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Scream’s Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) are just as vital to their respective franchises as the masked slashers who target them. They’re girls you can root for: mostly relatable, with positive qualities that outweigh any flaws and make the viewer feel that they deserve to live. Final Girls tend to follow this archetype, but the Happy Death Day franchise breaks the mold by introducing an initially unlikable Final Girl to viewers, Theresa “Tree” Glebman (Jessica Rothe). As she grows and develops through the franchise, she can still be tough to root for, but that’s what ultimately makes Happy Death Day unique.

Tree is a college student who wakes up in a stranger’s bed on the morning of her birthday, hungover with no patience for Carter (Israel Broussard), who made sure she left a party safely. Through the day, Tree proves to be shallow and selfish, a stereotypical sorority girl with practically no redeeming qualities. She’s entitled and used to getting what she wants. It’s clear that a lot of people don’t like Tree, and so on the night of her birthday, when a person in a Babyface mask—the college’s mascot—kills her, it could be just about anyone she knows. For the viewer, it’s almost satisfying to watch Tree die; it’s not as if she doesn’t deserve it. Instead of dying, however, Tree wakes up at the beginning of the day again, brushing off what had just happened as a dream. It isn’t until later on she realizes she’s in a time loop and has to figure out how to escape it before she actually dies.

As Tree goes through the time loop of being killed by Babyface on her birthday, she grows, despite the world around her remaining static. She becomes attached to Carter, despite his seeing her as a relative stranger each time she wakes up from the previous day. Their connection sticks, and when the physical effects of being brutally killed so many times catch up with Tree, Carter is still there to make sure she’s okay. Tree becomes easier to root for as Happy Death Day progresses, and she realizes what she could be doing better–standing up to her rude and self-absorbed sorority sister Danielle (Rachel Matthews) and rebuilding her relationship with her father, who she’d become distant from following her mother’s death. Despite her growth, learning the lessons that she apparently needed to, the time loop continues, and she finds balance in embracing her pettiness and quick temper to discover her true killer. Her roommate and fellow sorority sister, Lori (Ruby Modine), was jealous that Tree was also having an affair with their professor, and after a messy and brutal fight, Tree emerges triumphant as she pushes Lori out the window of their sorority house.

Tree and Carter begin dating, their relationship solidified by his consistently caring for and helping her through the time loop, even when he had nothing to gain from it each time. They wake up the next day, and Tree is relieved, and most viewers can’t help but be relieved too. However, Happy Death Day 2U brings Tree back into the time loop, introducing a sci-fi element to the series, wherein Carter’s roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) and his friends had been working on a project that affected space-time and caused the original time loop, which he had begun experiencing as well. After the university demands the project be shut down, the program malfunctions, and Tree finds herself not only in a time loop, but in a completely alternate universe. Again, she’s challenged, as in this universe, Carter and Danielle are dating, but her mother is still alive. She decides to stay in this alternate reality, but Babyface is still on the loose, looking to kill her, though in this reality, it isn’t Lori. As Tree and her friends experience the time loop, the physical effects of being killed over and over catch up to Tree again as she buys time and discovers new information so Ryan can fix the program and return them to the correct reality. Tree is still reluctant, as she doesn’t want to lose her mother again, but after a conversation with Carter, she decides to tie all loose ends and make things right. When the program begins to work again, everyone is brought back to the correct reality. 

This growth and self-sacrifice Tree displays are the classic characteristics of a Final Girl, and just when she seems to finally fit into that archetype, she breaks out of it. After the events of Happy Death Day 2U, a government agency wants to test the program that Ryan and his friends made, which created the time loop, and Tree doesn’t hesitate to suggest Danielle as their test subject. It’s a petty and spiteful way to end the experience, but it’s undoubtedly Tree. 

Through both Happy Death Day films, Tree ultimately becomes a better person, and she’s much easier to root for in the second film than the first one. Still, her growth doesn’t automatically take away her negative traits, she becomes more balanced, and her flaws make her relatable. Tree isn’t a Final Girl who necessarily “deserves” to live, she’s rude, selfish and has a quick temper, but she’s just as determined to live, despite dying dozens of times. She lives because she uses these traits to her advantage, saving her and her friends from death and space-time disaster. The quality of the Happy Death Day franchise is debatable, but it’s ultimately a fun take on horror and sci-fi, challenging the norms of slasher horror by presenting audiences with Tree and successfully making enough people root for and empathize with a Final Girl who isn’t consistently likable. 

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