the cabin in the woods themes and subtext

In The cabin in the woods one of the themes raised in the film is teen punishment. The first piece of evidence for this is that the gamblers say "they don’t transgress" , "they can't be punished". This raises the idea that if the characters didn’t participate in: sex, alcohol, drugs or violence then they would be spared. However at the end it is shown that they would die regardless. The sub text to this is as they are teenagers they were going to die due the control of outside forces other than their own and considering the adults were in charge, that the adults should have been punished in the end. This is also shown when patience (the last redneck zombie) bypasses Dana on the staircase and instead kills the woman in charge of the sacrificial ritual to 'the old ones'. Another theme that is raised is gender and sexuality. In some parts of the film such as the beginning when Holden witnesses Dana changing outfits. instead of giving in and watching he warns her. However due to the gas used on Jules and Curt they are killed off first as they 'transgressed'. The semantics of this suggests that sex is not a sin it's an obligation which is why teenagers are pushed into it. This is also backed up by the use of synthetic 'lust' and the use of chemicals to alter Jules' reactions. The last theme used/raised is the use of phallic and yonic imagery mostly through weapons. The first instance of this is the knife through Jules hand, this shows phallic power as it is used to hold her down in one place – the subtexts indicates rape and hierarchical power over females. Another instance when this is used in reverse is when Marty is stabbed in the back with a trowel yet gets he upper hand and kills the zombie.