Themes and Sub-texts in 'The Cabin in the woods'

The Cabin in the woods uses commonly recurring themes and sub-texts of the horror genre to poke fun at / parody the typical formulas / concepts related to the horror genre and it's respective sub-genres. For example, The concept of teen punishment is explored in this movie through exaggerating the traits / characteristics of protagonists such as Jules, who is presented as your stereotypical whore / dumb blonde character. she is sexualised through events such as the truth or dare game where she is dared to make out with a wolf head, as she is fairly willing to do it. Sex before marriage is looked down upon as a sin in religions such as christianity, presenting Jules as a sinful character. she is the film's first victim as a punishment for her sinful lifestyle choices, a typical order for films of the horror genre.

This may lead to the audience expecting your traditional order of deaths, leaving only the pure, final girl (who, in the case of 'The Cabin in the woods' is dana.) for the mostpart, the film follows this formulaic order, but presents us with a unique twist near the end, when we find out that marty is in fact, still alive due to his use of drugs allowing him to become immune to the effects of mind control which the other characters have to face.

The Cabin in the woods also uses conventional iconography such as the use of phallic imagery. Marty uses his long, Coffee mug bong as a weapon, which has a phallic appearance, potentially symbolising masculinity.

The main subtext of the film in general is it's unique way of breaking the fourth wall. both the audience, production team and the characters play a role in the story. 'The Organisation as an antagonistic group are a in-text representation of a film studio, and the cabin in the woods is used as a real life horror movie used as entertainment for their visitors. similar to moviegoers, this audience shows little reaction to the gore / suffering of these 'real world individuals' presenting them as psychopathic.

The film's main twist is when the character's world and producers worlds collide through dana and Maty's discovery of their underground elevator, and they are told directly that they are just characters in a piece of entertainment.