Sidney Presscott: Cursed or Chosen?

In this episode of The Breakthrough Reel, I breakdown Sidney Prescott's evolution across the Scream franchise- from a young woman just trying to survive, to someone who faces her trauma head on and chooses to keep moving forward

With so many people saying it's time to move on from her character, I had to ask the question: Is Sidney Prescott cursed... or is she choosing to fight? And in the end, I share what her journey means to me.

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What's up everybody? Thank you for pressing play on the breakthrough reel. I'm your host, James Lee. As always, thank you for joining me. So, as always, I always want to know what's everybody been watching lately, what's everybody been up to? Um, me myself, I've been watching a lot of creature features lately, and just how you know different those movies are and they're they're kind of their own genre. I've been enjoying it, and it really gave me kind of an idea for another episode, which I was going to record today, but today I really want to talk about one of our most iconic final girls, Sydney Prescott. So, why Sydney? I feel like Sydney is not just a final girl, I feel like she represents, you know, survival, what trauma is, and what rebuilding is after the trauma. And who can't be inspired by that? I mean, we're all living, we're all going through things in our life. So I feel like, you know, I love a superhero. And over the last 30 years, I feel like Sydney has become a superhero in a way. Like I said, more than a final girl. You know, somebody I look up to. She's super inspiring to me. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. Um, there's a lot of talk usually online about, you know, is Sydney cursed? Or is she just choosing to keep going? Again, how could you not be inspired by that in life? We're all human, we're all living, we're all going through things. So let's go through the evolution of Sydney Prescott. Okay, back in 1996, we meet Sydney Prescott. She's 17 in high school, and we're meeting her a year after she had just lost her mom to a murder and a rape, actually. Very daunting. Um, even back then, I saw Scream very early on, maybe a year after it came out, and I found something very relatable there. She wasn't like this super popular girl. She wasn't the cheerleader or anything like that. She was just more of this calm force, more mature than her friends, if you ask me. Very calm, very chill, as like a quiet strength, especially after what we saw her do in that movie. Um, her going through the trauma from losing her mom, and then all the chaos that starts happening around her and how she handled it at such a young age. And then, you know, that ending scene, you know, she took down two killers, you know. You would think that someone the way that Nev portrayed Sydney and those, that she was this I would never call Sydney meek, but she was just such a calm soul, you didn't think that she had that fighter in her. But I feel like that was the introduction of her. Not quite the fighter she's gonna become, but definitely, you know, she wasn't ready to die. And then we meet Sydney in Scream 2, two years after the Woodsboro murders. She's in college. Um, she you could tell she's guarded, but she's still strong. You know, her last boyfriend tried to fucking kill her. Her last boyfriend fucking killed her mom, but that did not stop her from finding love in Derek. And let's talk about Derek real quick, real fast. Jerry O'Connell in that movie is fucking gorgeous. Like those blue eyes. Oh my god. And just the way he was there for her, you know, just everything, everything to me. Um, we saw Sydney, you know, just grow as a character in that movie alone. More guarded, yet at the same time still going into the fight, you know, the way she, you know, Scream is all about the final scene, those final reveals, figuring out who the ghost face is. And, you know, our girl, when I'm seeing she's fighting, she's kicking ass. You know, she's punching, she's kicking, she's flipping, she's using weapons, you know. Sydney's one of those type of characters that anything in the room is a weapon, you know what I mean? Just incredible, you know. My favorite line from that movie when she was talking to Mickey, one of the ghost faces, and he's just in her face talking about Billy Loomis, and she goes, You're forgetting one thing about Billy Loomis. I fucking killed him. Fucking badass. How could you not love her? And then in Scream 3, this is where we see Sydney a little more damaged. How could you not be after two attacks on your life, stacked on top of your mom being murdered? She's in hiding in this, she's not even using her real name. We see her locked away in the woods somewhere, super secure, locking every door, security system everywhere, and this is the first time we see Sid. Like she owns a gun now. Because why wouldn't she? Even in screen three, as she's hiding away, she still made that decision to go towards the fight because she knew she couldn't hide no more. Because that fighter is in her. It showed in the first screen how, even though she didn't know what the fuck she was doing because she was not yet a fighter, she became one. In screen three, hidden away. You can tell she's kind of broken, but she still ran into that fight. One of the things that I love about screen three is that it shows, like, even when you're broken, you still sometimes have to make that decision to stand up, and you can't hide and run from your problems forever. And she won that one too, you know. Um, and this is one of the most brutal fights to me in the franchise. Um, once the ghost faces reveal, we find out, you know, it's her long-lost brother. And, you know, the way they're punching and kicking, she's she's breaking shit over his head, you know. Like, oh my god. Like, I get hype off of a Cindy Prescott fight, not gonna lie. Like, she she's an action star, you know what I mean? She's no, she's no different from Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Or, you know, you could just tell that she's grown. She's she's even shot what two or three times in this movie, but she's so fucking smart that before she left that police station to go into the fight, our girl pulled on a bulletproof vest. Come on now. The best. And now we go. Excuse my paper rattling to Scream 4. This is surprisingly Scream 4. I think I watch more than anything. It's one of my favorite ones, and I think it's because we see Sydney is no longer in hiding at all. She's accepting what's happened to her. She she even goes back to Woodsboro. And in the previous movie, she said she would never go back to that place. Too many bad memories. No reason to go back to Woodsboro. She's written a book in this one, she's on the news, she's telling her story. She writes that book, Outer Darkness, you know, which she was in previously. And I'm gonna go off on a tangent about character building. I am such a fan of it. I don't like a stagnant character. I know movies are for us to escape reality, but one thing about building a character, you cannot have them be stagnant. You have to see them grow, see them stagnate, see them change, because that's just what life is. And that's exactly what Sydney is doing in Scream 4. She is the evolution from one to four is astounding to me. Just well written and just well played. She's no longer running from danger, she runs towards it. That scene where they see Olivia being murdered in the house next door, and she doesn't pause. She runs right over there, no weapon in hand, just to go up there, and she still kicked Ghostface's ass in that moment. She's also almost killed in this. You remember she was stabbed in her stomach in ICU, by the way. We almost lost her girl. Um also one of my fave lines in this movie is don't fuck with the original. Because, hell no, you can't. She's sending you fucking prescott. Come on. Alright, and now we have screen five. Our girl is a mom, and she's also married. Again, didn't have to, but she she travels to be a part of the fight to stop this. Because she knows it all began with her, and it's still linked to her in some way. She didn't have to come and help Sam, who is the new lead in Scream 5. She didn't have to come, but she knew it was her duty. She knew it's still part of what she does. She came to be, you know, kind of a guide for Sam, even though Sam tried to deny that. And you could tell by the end of the movie, Sam appreciated her coming. Um, the kill uh my one of my favorite things in this is how it's just become a part of who she is. She's fearless, is what Sydney is showing in this movie. One of my favorite lines of this movie is the killer calls her, she answers, and she all she says is, Where'd you go? Um and she's walking around the house like just looking for the killer, looking for the killer. She's no longer running, y'all. She's got a gun in her hand, she's blasting it in closets, closed closets, then opening it. Because if you're in there, you're gonna fucking die. She's not there to fucking play at all. And the killer has her on the phone. He's trying to go over the whole rules thing again, and and all she goes, and she goes, I'm bored, and hangs up on him. And also one of my favorite lines in that movie is that um Dewey calls her and tells her, you know, all the bullshit's going down again. There's another killer out there with the ghost face mask on. And he asked her, Does she have a gun? And she says, I'm Sydney fucking Prescott Dewey. Of course I have a gun. Exactly. And then we have Scream 6. Our girl is not in that movie. She is mentioned, but to me, that still shows that what she's doing is she's making a choice. Gail told Sydney what was going on in New York with the murder starting up again, and Sydney said, no, I'm gonna sit this one out. I I'm not a part of this, no. And I just feel like that even shows her growth. She didn't want to be a part of it, she didn't want to risk her life again. She made a choice to not be a part of this fight this time, and I just think that's fucking awesome. How could you not fucking love her at all? Um, and then we have Scream 7. We have a fully developed woman now. She's married, she's raising a teenager with two small girls, she's married, she owns a coffee shop. And let's say that again, guys. Like, she started off in 1996 as a 17-year-old girl with all this trauma. Mom murdered, crazy boyfriend tried to fucking take her out, and all these people are dying around her constantly. She even thinks that she has to close herself off in part three because of what just happens around her. Everyone is dying around her. The character Olivia, um, who she tried to save when she ran next door to try to save her from being murdered by Ghostface, called her the angel of death because even she feels like everyone's dying to me, but she always survives. She's super protective of her past, especially with her oldest daughter. And what I love about her is that she's always 10 steps ahead. She even gets a call in there, and she back in 1996, when she'd get that hello, Sydney, you can still hear the fear in her voice. See the fear in her eyes, like, oh my god, it's starting again. In seven, she gets a call, and it's nothing to her. She's talking to it like, what the fuck now? What do I have to do to get you the fuck out of my life? What the fuck do I have to do to get this shit over with? She's, I don't want to say she's bored with it, but she's ready to face it. That's a fucking hero, man, if you ask me. And fucking credible. Um, after all she's been through, building a life, it shows how this character isn't letting what she's been through define her and stop her from living. At the end of the movie, you know I have always have a favorite line because Sydney just spews them constantly. And after she takes down the last ghost face, she goes, past my prime. Fuck you. And this also reads me into defending my girl with the online rhetoric about how it's time to move on from Sydney, how we need a new final girl. She's past her prime. Fuck you. Just like she said, like Sydney is scream. She how could you not understand that she's she's built this franchise? The movies are great because of her. You know what I mean? Um I'm more like, like, how about that? How do you watch that and still say she's done? That moment right there is exactly why Sydney still matters, and it's it's actually takes me back to something from Scream 2. Um, in Scream 2, Sydney is um in a play. She's an actress. I think she's majoring in drama. And this is why I don't agree when people say it's time to move on from Sydney Prescott. There's a moment in Scream 2 to me that says everything. She's talking to her theater teacher and she's struggling. The murders have started again, and she just like, I don't think I can do it. I don't think I can focus, I don't think I can get through this. She doesn't think she can do the play. She doesn't think she can step into the role. And he stops her. And he makes her say it. He makes her say, I'm a fighter. Not once, but until she actually believes it. And she says it with conviction. And the role she's playing is Cassandra. A woman who could see everything coming, the violence, the chaos, the destruction. She knew it was all going to happen. She knew she couldn't stop it. She knew she was cursed. And instead of running from it, she embraced it. And her teacher tells her, None of us can avoid our fate, but we can face it. And we can fight it. And I'm sitting here thinking, if that's not Sydney Prescott, then what is? Maybe she is cursed, but every single time she chooses to face it, she chooses to fight it, and every time she survives it. And I feel like that is the epitome of what the Scream movies are, and why she's the lead and why she is that bitch. Because curse versus choice, the curse, the trauma keeps finding her. The choice is she keeps rising above it, she keeps facing it. That's her power. She chooses to keep going. How can you not be inspired by a character like that? How can you not? That's the most amazing thing to me. I I have a podcast about you know loving strong women, and it's just hard not to. And Sydney's depending on that. A strong woman, a strong woman who never gives up. How can you I love inspiration? I love that kind of inspiration. It's the most amazing thing you can do is to face life. It's bullshit and keep going, you know. Um I feel like that's exactly who Sydney has become. This this is Sydney Prescott. Like I said, maybe she is cursed, but every time she chooses to face it, and she fucking wins every time. She is this franchise. So I say back the fuck up off this, it's time to move on thing. This is her story, you know? She is the opinion like of a final girl. But I feel like she's more than that. Sydney has become more than that. You can look at, you know, final girls like Jamie Lee Curtis, and I and Jamie Lee Curtis is on my list. And I always have this constant back and forth of who's my favorite final girl. Is it my number one final girl, rather? Is it Sydney or is it Lori Strode? But we all know Halloween that went through so many different iterations. Scream is one of the most consistent franchises. No matter how overboiled it gets, and how sometimes the the reveals can be like, eh, could have been better. You know what I mean? The constant in that is her character. Amazing. Um I I love final girls. I I grew up like I try not to make this a horror podcast, guys, but I love horror movies. And it's because I just I grew up watching them. And there's so many amazing final girls. You can choose, you know, a Lori Strode, who, you know, you can see in Halloween, you know, as this meek, very quiet girl, and then go to 2018's Lori Strode, who's a pistol packing mama. Then you have Aaron, and you're next. Unassuming as hell, but she's a fucking fighter, a survivalist that takes down every fucking killer in that house. And one of my favorite final girls, who I feel is overlooked, is Chris Higgins in Freddy 13th part three. She was so meek and so quiet. But guess who left Jason hanging in a barn at the end of that movie? Chris Higgins. Bad bitch. I love bad bitches. So, to me, Cindy Prescott has become a beacon of hope. A superhero in her own right. And you know, I love my superheroes. For almost 30 years, we've watched this woman girl through absolute hell. Watched her world fall apart over and over again. And yet every time we see her again, she's rebuilt. She's standing, she's living, she's found a way to move forward. And that hit me because I was once told that when things get hard or when things get too dark, I shut down. And maybe that was true back then, but life has tested me. Life has thrown things at me that scared me, that made me feel like I wasn't gonna bounce back at that time. But I did every single time. I did. And what I've learned is the only way to survive those dark moments is to believe somewhere deep down that something better has to be on the other side of it. And Sydney shows us that every single film. That the pain, the trauma, the chaos, it can destroy you, but only if you let it. But if you fight back, if you face it, if you rebuild yourself piece by piece, you don't just survive it, you become something stronger because of it. At this moment, in my life right now, I'm still rebuilding. But I'm still here and I'm doing everything I can to push myself for for a better future for myself. And that's what Sydney Prescott has taught me. And that's why I love her so much, and I never want her to leave this franchise. And I also want to talk about, you know, just the actress behind Sydney, Nev Campbell, who is pop culture icon, wild things to the craft, you know, the way she plays Sydney with this calm bravery. And 30 years later, she's not phoning in a performance. She's giving her all. The fear was real, the fight was real. Nev is still giving her all to this character. And Nev, girl, we gotta thank you because what would life be without a character like Sydney Prescott? And thank you for bringing her alive. Thank you for inspiring other actors to know. This is an actor's dream to do all Nev has done with Sydney. Sydney has just grown. She she's a part of our lives. Horror movie people don't play about Sydney Prescott. I I see the discourse about the back and forth of whether she should still be doing these movies or they should move on in a different direction. But more often than not, I see people fighting for Nev and I see people fighting for Sydney. And I'm one of those fucking people, and I will continue because I want Nev to show up in these movies as much as possible. So yeah. I just want to come on here and I had to shout out my girl. So who's your favorite final girl? What do they represent to you? You know? I just had to come on here because I just feel like movies, the reason I love movies is to be inspired, is to relate to them. No matter how far-fetched the storylines are. I feel like you can always find a little human peace in each movie and in each character that to relate to, no matter how crazy the movie is, fantastical the movie is. There is a human story in all that. So yeah. I just want to say thank you guys for listening, man. I really enjoy doing this. I enjoy reading all up about you know how everybody felt about Sydney coming back and scream 7 being a big success. And I'm looking forward to Scream 8. But we're gonna end it there, y'all. And I will see you guys again next Monday, where we will be talking about creature features, actually. So yeah. Thank you for Pice and Play. Thank you for joining me, and I will see you guys next time. Thank you so much.