Why Are We So Connected to the Halloween Franchise?

Is the Halloween franchise truly going to end? It's unlikely. Even as the next film in the franchise is literally called Halloween Ends, my cynical mind cannot accept that idea. Sure, Jamie Lee Curtis and her continuity in the franchise will end, I trust her when she says she's finished with the series. But, Hollywood doesn't just stopping making a franchise in this day and age. If they feel there is still money to be made from an intellectual property, they will keep reheating it for eternity.

That said, my cynicism fully expressed, I want to posit why we are so connected to this particular franchise. What is it about John Carpenter and the endurance of this horror franchise? What is it about Michael Myers and Laurie Strode that compels us back to the theater for movie after movie. This question arose as I was watching a newly released featurette on Halloween Ends. It's about Jamie Lee Curtis' final days on set and the family atmosphere behind this intense horror franchise. Even as I have not liked the newest entries in the franchise, I could not help but get a little emotional as Jamie Lee Curtis teared up and said goodbye to the crew of Halloween Ends.

Our relationship to Good and Evil

The unquestioned good of Lori Strode and the undying evil of Michael Myers are the basis for identification with this franchise. Lori Strode was just an average teenage babysitter who became the target of a supernatural monster of a man. It's the classic David versus Goliath story, how can this unprepared young woman possibly survive an attack by this unkillable monster? It's also a classic underdog story. On first glance, there is no chance for young Lori Strode to survive against Michael Myers. Automatically, our sympathy lies with her.

On a base level, Halloween is about Yin and Yang, good and evil and how they cannot exist without each other. What is good if not the opposite of evil? Who is Laurie Strode if not the opposite of Michael Myers. On the most simplistic level, that is always appealing. Beginning in the earliest days of passing stories along by word of mouth, to the creation of literature translated to the stage, and the screen, we've always returned to this very basic theme of good overcoming evil, the meek inheriting the Earth. Laurie Strode is who we are in struggle and Michael Myers is the problem we must overcome.

Jamie Lee Curtis

That very basic identification with Laurie Strode is only one reason why the Halloween film franchise has endured. The other is the way Jamie Lee Curtis has shaped the character and evolved her. Laurie's survival of her trial against Michael changed her forever. Just as we are changed by the varying kinds of traumas, both extreme and mundane, that we overcome. We've watched the original Halloween for 44 years as a representation of overcoming the odds, of growing up, of experiencing grave trauma and coming out the other side. It's cathartic, watching Laurie Strode survive the original film is akin to us surviving our own traumas big and small.

That connection to Jamie Lee Curtis and Laurie Strode has deepened over time. The Laurie Strode that has emerged in the most recent Halloween movies, 2018's Halloween, 2020's Halloween Kills and soon, Halloween Ends, is someone who has dealt with fear and trauma and overcoming the odds her entire life. If you change Michael Myers into the various challenges in your own life and how you have fought through health challenges, financial challenges, emotional challenges, seeing Laura Strode come out the other side stronger and still fighting is relatable and inspiring.

Michael Myers

While Freddy represents our dreams and deeper psychological fears and Jason Voorhees represents the unexpected trials inflicted upon us by others, symbolically, Michael Myers provides an analogy not for our fears but trials of daily life that hinder us, harm us, and which we overcome. Michael is Laurie's brother, they are family, and drawing him in that closely makes him even more representative of daily life. Surviving, overcoming, thriving against Michael Myers or in spite of Michael Myers creates a link between him and our sense of self and our life that the other horror icons don't quite capture.

Michael's inscrutability, his unyielding drive is representative of the difficulty of getting out of bed everyday concerned about what life may throw at us. Put the gore and the violence aside, think of it on a purely symbolic level, the reason Michael Myers never dies is because we haven't died. While we're alive, he's alive, just as while we're alive the trials of life, money, health, family, relationships, remain as long as we do. Overcoming the challenges, finding ways to relieve ourselves of the challenges, surviving and escaping our personal Michael Myers', that's life. It may not be an undead serial killer menacing us constantly, but life's challenges can feel unending and unyielding, a fight for survival, and Michael Myers makes for an interesting, if somewhat strained analogy.

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