her back on him in the end counters against her character trait of facing things. In a 2011 thesis, writer Kyle Christensen wrote that Nancy is one of the more strong representations of feminism in cinema. He cites her interactions with several male characters, noting she is not submissive to any of them and is, therefore, self-reliant and in control of her sexuality, unlike many other popular heroines within the genre. Professor Carol J. Clover, the creator of the "final girl" theory, describes Nancy as the "grittiest of the Final Girls" in her 1992 non-fiction book Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Clover's inclusion of Nancy in this theory, however, has been both agreed with and challenged. Writer Shannon Keating states she surpasses the stereotypes of this trope coined by Clover and refers to Nancy as Freddy's equal in audience popularity. Similarly, writer Don Sumner dismisses Nancy's association to this trope, analyzing her as an antithesis to it despite following the chaste aspects of it. Sumner states the victimization of women in horror films does not apply to Nancy due to her proactive nature. Sumner states that because of this character trait, she broke the mold for horror heroines. Psychologist Kelly Bulkeley compares Nancy to Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz in that they both find their inner strength within their dreams to conquer what's troubling them in the real world. Author Barbara Creed highlights the dysfunctional relationship that Nancy has with her parents and how her intense yearning for parental love leads to her demise in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. Film critic James Berardinelli writes that A Nightmare on Elm Street is Nancy's story rather than Freddy's and attests similarities to Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in Alien (1979) due to her resourcefulness. Notes References Further reading External links A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise) characters Characters created by Wes Craven Fictional characters from Ohio Fictional diarists Fictional insomniacs Fictional parapsychologists Fictional waiting staff Fictional victims of child sexual abuse Film characters introduced in 1984 Final girls Teenage characters in film