Day 130

 Day 130

March 8th, 2024

The smartest thing in the film is Freddy’s use of Pamela Voorhees.

Think about it. We know just enough of Jason's backstory, but the films never dwell on his love for his mother. We know that Pamela would do ANYTHING to protect Jason, but we only got sprinkled hints in Friday the 13th, Part 2, that Jason had a deep connection to his mother. He kept her severed head, for Pete’s sake. The head had control over Jason in that film. 

There is a more profound question there. How did Jason acquire the head? You would think that the police would have picked up the head along with the body when she died. Jason doesn’t seem educated enough to hatch a heist plan for a head, let alone find where they buried her. I could be wrong there.

Why do I think that using his mother against him was smart?

First is the obvious: it’s his mother. She has always been there and over-protected our favorite little mongoloid. For all we know, his mother was the only person he knew. We know his father, Elias, was never around, just watching from a distance. So it was pretty evident that the rage set in when she died, which leads you to believe that he saw her die.

The remake, in 2009, did not shy away from showing that Jason did see his mom die and that he was alive. 

The film portrays that Freddy was under the impression that he was in control, but the reality was that his power was limited to the dream world.

Freddy knew Jason would obey his mother. The dynamic between mother and son is a strong bond. Use someone who raised you, hid you from the public, and created a lore behind your “death.” 

It's possible that Pamela struggled with motherhood, and it's also possible that she had a difficult and painful past that led her to behave in manipulative and abusive ways. We must approach these situations with empathy and understanding, as we never know what someone may be going through.

Jason's relationship with his mother was one filled with fear and apprehension. This made him particularly vulnerable to Freddy's tactics, which expertly played on Jason's deep-seated worries. The revelation that Jason feared his mother came as a surprise to those around him, who had no idea about the extent of his emotional turmoil.

Freddy's strategy of using Pamela against Jason seemed practical initially, but he overlooked the indomitable spirit of rebellion within all of us.