We all know (or at least should) that Pamela Voorhees sought vengence for her retarded son’s death by punishing teenage fornicators and/or drug and alcohol users. And that when she died, Jason rose from the dead and killed her murderer. Now, with his mother avenged, why did/does Jason continue to kill anyone who tresspassed in the Camp Crystal Lake area?
Sure, that sounds like a stupid question.. but what’s even more stupid is the common answer you would recieve, which is to punish teenager’s illicit behaviour as did his mother.
However, Jason is not his mother, nor did he ever really know her after his childhood death drove her to insanity. Glimps of her final hours isn’t going to teach one as mentally retarded as Jason his purpose in life.
I feel, Jason has proved to the observor that he kills indiscriminatly. If his victim is a teenager that happens to be drinking and is promiscous, it’s not even a coincedance, because guess what? that describes every single teenager in America. Not to mention that he does always try to kill the straight laced virgins as well.. they just run too fast. Jason has also killed many “innocent people”, even some mothers.
Some may argue things like “Okay, he killed that fat hitchhicker in the begining of part 4… for.. for.. giving the finger or hitchhiking!”, because people have said similar things to which I can only reply, “give me a fucking break”. I guess that means all the dead animals about his shack in part 2, Jason killed for running around naked then?
The truth is, this poor retarded man suffers from cronic migraines and occasional hallucinations. As the day progresses, the pressure in his head builds up more and more, until he develops tunnel vision and feels like his head is about to explode. That’s when the voices in his head tell him to “Kill, kill, kill”. Heeding them and killing the first thing(person) in site usually seems to soothe that tension, sometimes it takes a few more deaths.
This also explains why somtimes he’ll neglect to kill a person, even a “bad person”, although this isn’t very often. That’s according to the screenplays of part 2 and 3, which granted, I don’t expect everyone to have read. Well, that’s not true. I do expect fans to read that sort of thing.
Yet 10+ years later, Jason X even suggests fornicating teenage substance abusers is his usual targets in a scene parodying the series, where Freddy vs Jason flat out says it. Why? I blame this misconception on the “casual fan” who really is just a standard movie goer, doesn’t even pay attention to the movie.. or watches it once, drunk, then fills in the blanks later. Or maybe the unfortunate fan who misses what’s going on due to people that shout things at the charactors like, “Don’t go in there! oh shit! I told you not to go in there!”, etc. Which sadly happens too often.. to me at least, but i then rent the movie asap. Anyway.. so this leaves us with 10 years (or 12 if you don’t acknowledge Jason goes to Hell, as I don’t) for myths to evolve.
So the next time someone suggests to you that Jason Voorhees kills people for drinking, doing drugs and/or having under-aged sex (because I’m sure you hear that at least 25 times a day), you punch them in the face, then tell them to go buy that Friday the 13th box set and review each movie again.
Article by Chris Cooper
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