Why Dream Warriors’ Kristen Is A Better Rival To Freddy Krueger Than Nancy

Why Dream Warriors’ Kristen Is A Better Rival To Freddy Krueger Than Nancy

Nancy Thompson is often hailed as the best protagonist of the Nightmare franchise, but it could be argued that Kristen is a better final girl.

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Why Dream Warriors’ Kristen Is A Better Rival To Freddy Krueger Than Nancy

Kristen Parker, a character who appeared in two installments of the A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, is overall a better final girl than Nancy Thompson. Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) was the original protagonist of the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie, which was directed by Wes Craven and released in 1984. Nancy also appeared in the third installment, A Nightmare On Elm Street: Dream Warriors, and Rooney Mara played the character in the 2010 remake. Kristen, meanwhile, first appeared in Dream Warriors, played by Patricia Arquette in her film debut. Kristen also appeared in that movie’s sequel, The Dream Master, but had a smaller role and was portrayed by a different actress, Tuesday Knight.

Nancy, the original Nightmare protagonist, has become a beloved character in the horror genre over the decades. After all, she was the first to fight and defeat Freddy Krueger. Her battles against Freddy also aided future Springwood children in beating him. Still, Nancy died in Dream Warriors, leaving a group of scared teenagers to fend off Freddy by themselves.

There have been other notable final girls other than Nancy and Kristen throughout the Nightmare franchise. Among them are Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox), Tracy Swan (Lezlie Deane), and Lori Campbell (Monica Keena). However, while most consider Nancy to be the best final girl in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, there’s certainly an argument to be made that Nancy wasn’t the ultimate match for Freddy Krueger—Kristen was.

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Overall, Kristen is a more relatable character than Nancy, and ends up being more active in fending off and finishing off the franchise’s wise-cracking villain Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). Nancy, who in her first appearance is somewhat of a girl next door type of character, ends up falling into the Mary Sue movie trope. She’s so competent that her perfection is unrealistic, even in a fictional setting. While Nancy indeed fought hard to get Freddy out of her dreams, her return in Dream Warriors proves that Freddy has consumed her life.

Initially, Kristen is a quiet, mellow character, and when Freddy first attacks her she’s initially helpless. Audiences can relate to her when she experiences panic about her scary situation. As Kristen grows stronger, viewers get to watch and experience her character arc and growth as she becomes a Dream Warrior. She actually interacts closely with Nancy in Dream Warriors, learning from her while also pulling her own traits into the battle against Freddy. Kristen has extraordinary abilities that Nancy doesn’t possess; she can pull people into and out of her dreams. And, in her dreams, she has the skills of a professional gymnast.

In Dream Warriors, Kristen must take on the role of a leader when Nancy is killed by Freddy and dies in Kristen’s arms. In Dream Master, though, Kristen is also killed by Freddy. They have a final battle, in which Kristen attempts to save the new protagonist, Alice, from Freddy’s clutches. Freddy throws Kristen into a furnace, but before she dies—in a deus ex machina moment—she passes her power to pull people in and out of dreams to Alice. Her gymnastics abilities are also passed to Alice. So, her last act was a generous attempt to help other teenagers finish off Freddy in future A Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/nightmare-elm-street-kristen-better-final-girl-nancy/

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