...Comp 1 McGough 3/12/2015 The Gothic Novel In the late eighteenth, early nineteenth century, gothic fiction arose as a new genre in the literary field. Functioning as cult literature gothic literature compels readers to think, and really consider the immense emotion writers could stimulate. Often overly dramatic with its supernatural, horrific, and suspenseful material, this melancholy form of literature prompted the use of darkness and mystery in order to spawn feelings of obscurity, secrecy, and trepidation. Gothic literature operates as a pulp genre that was often seen as an intense type of romance with its stylized, non-realistic, idealized or emblematic tales presented in the form of an adventure through the use of a discovery quest. Yet its evocative powers of horror and terror explore the gratification and titillations of shockingly perverse. Before being applied to the context of a literary form the term gothic originally referred to an ancient Germanic tribe that derived from what is now known as southern Sweden, before migrating to the shores of the Baltic Sea known as the Goths. This tribe eventually split into two factions that would be known as the Visigoths or West Goths and the Ostrogoths or East Goths. Centuries would pass before the term gothic would once again emerge this time with a different meaning. Sometime during the renaissance Greco-Roman culture was rediscovered by Europeans. In this rediscovery the term “gothic” now referred to certain types of...
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...Gothic Horror is a term used to depict fictitious work that has incorporated a lot of horror scenes as well as elements of the unreal world, exploring the conflict between good and evil and dealing with the supernatural in some sort of way. The episodic novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker in 1897 and the movie Blade by Stephen Norrington created in 1998 bring to the fore many conventions relating to the Gothic Horror genre despite their vastly different contexts. Gothic elements of imprisonment, death and blood are clearly represented through each of the texts. Stoker and Norrington present these conventions through a variety of literary and film techniques, paying particular attention to character and setting to explore the elements of the genre. Through these interactions, the audience can feel a sense of Gothic Horror in which the composers of the two texts aim to convey. The setting is a prominent aspect of Stoker’s novel, as it creates the mood and atmosphere and affects the characters of the novel. The castle in Dracula is the main setting that the reader is introduced to and sets the journey on a mysterious, evil and suspenseful road. Jonathan believes that “the castle is a veritable prison” and he is the prisoner. Dracula’s castle is situated in a rural location, said to be the superstitious west were all the mythical creatures from vampires, ghosts, witches and wolves are found. To reinforce the concept of imprisonment, all the doors in the castle are locked and Jonathan...
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...A famous scene from one of the first notable horror films, Nosferatu (1922) Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Horror films often feature scenes that startle the viewer; the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Thus they may overlap with the fantasy, supernatural, and thriller genres.[1] Horror films often deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include ghosts, aliens, vampires, werewolves, curses, satanism, demons, gore, torture, vicious animals, monsters, zombies, cannibals, and serial killers. Conversely, movies about the supernatural are not necessarily always horrific.[2] Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 1890s–1920s 1.2 1930s–1940s 1.3 1950s–1960s 1.4 1970s–1980s 1.5 1990s 1.6 2000s 2 Sub-genres 3 Influences 3.1 Influences on society 3.2 Influences internationally 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links [edit]History [edit]1890s–1920s See also: List of horror films of the 1890s, List of horror films of the 1900s, List of horror films of the 1910s, and List of horror films of the 1920s Lon Chaney, Sr. in The Phantom of the Opera The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts...
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...The Boogeyman In Stephen King’s short story ‘The Boogeyman’ we are introduced to Lester Billings, a young man, who is visiting a psychiatrist for the simple reason of telling the story of how he killed his three kids. Lester Billings explains that he didn’t kill them himself, but that he was responsible. His story begins with the marriage between his wife Rita and himself. He describes their marriage as happy, but there is many examples indicating the contrary. The relationship between Lester and Rita is very unequal and Rita is being quite repressed by Lester. He doesn’t think she has a right to decide things, because she is a woman and he describes himself as ‘brighter’ than her. He also explains how he got ‘the last word’, whenever she fought for an opinion contrary to his own. Lester is a very old fashion, homophobic, patriotic American with a bit of hatred towards Vietnam, niggers and maybe, women. He sees himself as superior to his wife and he ought to be aggressive and violent if she provokes him in any way. This violent nature of his can also be seen in his upbringing of his children. For example he states that: “If he didn’t stop crying I’d give him a whack”. He also tells the psychiatrist how he sometimes felt like killing both his wife and his children, because they drove him crazy. Lester is a very obstinate man controlled by pride and honor. He wanted to protect the child by bringing him into their bedroom, but his honor forbade him to do it, because then he...
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...Gothic fiction combines the emotion of love, despair and horror. The genre continues to be a very successful genre of literature today and is widely used today for both entertainment and education purposes. For two centuries, G has gripped and frightens readers of different ages. During the eighteenth century England, Gothic had become synonymous with the Middle Ages. It was a period perceived as chaotic, unenlightened and superstitious. “Renaissance critics erroneously believed that Gothic architecture was created by Germanic tribes and regarded it as ugly and barbaric. This erroneous attribution continued through the eighteenth century.” (http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/gothic.html) Horace Walpole first introduced...
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...Surely, when I think of great novelist I do think of Anne as a Gothic Novelist. However, there is another side to Rice; a side that was briefly mentioned earlier, yet did not elaborate on. Rice wrote erotic novels. “Horror and sensuality have always been linked… and it is no accident that, under two pseudonyms, she had an alter ego as a pornographer. Rice crosses Gothic horror with erotic romance” (Badley, 4.) While Rice is celebrated for her influence in the Gothic horror genre, yet, she has been overlooked for the role she played as an erotica novel. With today’s Fifty Shades Trilogy could easily be considered the modern day erotica or as it is currently called provocative romance novels. Although, E.L James credits the Twilight Saga as the influences behind her Fifty Shades Trilogy, we will never really know if Rice’s work could have played a part in that inspiration as she wrote these novels under a pseudonym. However, the guilty pleasures of erotica novels have been around for years, as Rice clearly have shown us. I think E. L. James gave us something to no longer feel guilty about. Nevertheless, Rice’s influence in her other work is evident in other areas in the art of Gothic / Horror genre today. In my opinion, there isn’t a...
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...Marek Hullinger Mike Fiscel English W132 26 September 2013 From Tribes to Literature The word Goth derives from a German tribe referred to as the Goths. The term Gothic was later used during medieval times for the construction of buildings with pointed arches and vaults (Lad). In my essay, I chose to discuss two pieces of Gothic fiction. The first piece of Gothic fiction I decided to discuss is, “The Cask of Amontillado.” It was published in 1846 by the famous short-story writer and poet, Edgar Allan Poe. The second piece of Gothic fiction I chose to discuss is, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” It was published in 1966 by Joyce Carol Oates. In Gothic literature there any many characteristics to its writing and famous short-stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” contain many of those Gothic fiction characteristics. Summary “The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. Montresor is the main character of the story and also acts as the narrator. The story begins by him vowing his vengeance towards Fortunato for insulting him. Montresor hides his animosity towards Fortunato so he does not expect anything. He maintains a deceiving presence towards Fortunato and plots to exploit Fortunato’s weakness for luxurious wines. Carnival season came upon the city and Montresor finds Fortunato at the carnival. He invites him to try some of his sherry at his home. Montresor doubts Fortunato’s skill with...
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...What Aspects Of Your Chosen Horror Film Make It Horrific? In the following essay I will focus on the horror genre as well as horror aspects from the film, "An American Werewolf In London," (D. John Landis 1981). Whilst "An American Werewolf..." isn't one of the most horrific films made, and is at heart a black comedy, it still includes a lot of codes and conventions of the horror genre which makes it not only a horrific film, but one of the most memorable werewolf films in movie history. Using special effects and filled with bloody gore, "An American Werewolf" still looks as horrifyingly real as it did 27 years ago. Opening on the eerie Yorkshire moors, "An American Werewolf" centers around two American backpackers who are attacked by a werewolf after leaving a small village in the middle of nowhere. Having been warned by mysterious locals not to leave the road or go onto the moors, the two ignore the warnings and pay for it when one of them is killed and the other bitten by the wolf. In these opening fifteen minutes, the follows many codes and conventions used throughout the horror/monster genre. The first convention is the gothic setting of the opening that is the yorkshire moors. Typically of the horror genre, the setting is shown to be damp, cold, dark and full of mist. Preying on the audience's fears of being alone in the middle of the wilderness the film displays the truly horrific nature of isolation. Like any typical horror film, the setting for the...
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...How does the authors create suspense and mystery in two stories from the genre ‘19th’ century gothic horror? “The monkey’s paw” by W.W Jacobs and the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe are two short gothic horror stories written in the late ‘19th’ century. “The tell-tale heart” was written during the Victorian era and is based upon the conventions of the gothic horror. It’s a story about a servant who determined to get rid of an old man’s eye. “The monkeys paw” is also written in a gothic style this means that tension, mystery and suspense is very important factors. “The monkeys paw” is about a friend who has control over a curse of a shriveled monkey paw that grants three wishes to each man that gets hold of it. In both the stories the real names of the characters were not given. They were either initials like Mr. White or the characters were just simply referred to the old man or the man or I. This is the way that gothic fiction is created, by just giving initials or simple reference builds up more suspense. There are only two characters in “the tell tale heart” a old man who is murdered at the end of the story and another character who we don’t know anything about except that he is a killer, and he’s mad. The names may not be given to indicate that this may happen to anyone in the ‘19th’ century. One of the most well known techniques used in both stories is the way the author creates suspense and mystery. The use of repetition is used a lot by Edgar Allan Poe in the tell...
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...To Kill a Mockingbird and the southern gothic genre In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, the author Harper Lee utilizes the genre of southern gothic. The southern gothic genre is the best choice for the story that author Harper Lee wanted to tell. The reason why is because this genre allows the story to have an eerie mood fitting with the narrator, Scout who is a child and sees certain places or people as uncomfortably creepy or as jarring. It also allows the issue of unjust racism in the most inappropriate places, in this novel, it is a court of law which should be the most just and fair place, but is not. This story takes place in the early 1930’s and follows Scout Finch when her father, Atticus begins to defend a black man accused of rape. This man's name is Tom Robinson and this case shows Scout and her brother Jem how atrocious the racist ways of thinking happen and how they affect people in their lives. Southern gothic is a genre of writing found only in American Literature. It...
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...structure of the text, Rebecca Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca is structured in a circular form, which is effective in displaying elements of the gothic genre and producing a sense of mystery and ambiguity. The fact that details are revealed gradually creates tension, and a desire to know, so that by the end of the novel the audience is satisfied with the complete story, despite the horrific truth regarding Rebecca’s murder. The text virtually revolves around a murder By using a BAB form, with a reference to the ending at the beginning of the novel, a sense of confusion and abstruseness is evoked among readers. The first chapter, in which the narrator supernaturally returns to Manderley, relives her experiences and mourns for the loss of such an exquisite property, is perplexing for the reader as the scene, characters and setting have not been established. This causes the audience to disregard the first chapter, as the second chapter begins with an entirely different setting and mood. Upon reaching the end of the novel, the reader grasps the meaning of the dream sequence, and the forgotten abstruseness is resolved. The audience is left content with all details of the story revealed, but, like most gothic tales, also chilled and unsettled with the shocking conclusion. Rebecca shows elements of the horror genre through the structure, in which the details are revealed throughout the story, by being analogous to many crime shows of today. In television programs such as...
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...The Woman in White – Chosen extract Elyssia Leeman 6.2 20th November 2014 In this particular section Collins uses the theme of crime and criminals and this is associated with the sensational genre and the theme of criminality. Throughout this extract there is a specific word choice based around crime and the theme of gothic horror. The theme of secrets also fits in well with this section as the by being the reader we can question the language used by Collins in Walters perspective. Collins in this extract shows Walters devout love for Laura from his perspective. Collins shows how much Walter is hurting and missing Laura. ‘My heart turns faint’ which enhances the theme of romance however this theme suddenly changes to a gothic horror theme ‘My mind sinks in darkness and confusion’ the choice of language here shows different meanings of the chosen words, ‘sinks’ becoming death and the death of Laura, and his ‘confusion’ of where she is. Walter knows Laura is alive and he is confused to how he is going to catch out Fosco and Glyde. ‘Darkness’ has an effect of gothic horror and a negative sense to it and it is used to make us feel the dark place where Walter is and Collins wants the reader to feel Walter’s heart break and how his dark place is taking him in. Collins uses the theme of secrets when in the first opening line in Walters narrative ‘I advance my narrative by one week’ this makes us question where Walter...
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...Gothic Literature Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. The effect of Gothic fiction feeds on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at the time of Walpole's novel. Melodrama and parody (including self-parody) were other long-standing features of the Gothic initiated by Walpole. Gothic literature is intimately associated with the Gothic Revival architecture of the same era. In a way similar to the gothic revivalists' rejection of the clarity and rationalism of the neoclassical style of the Enlightened Establishment, the literary Gothic embodies an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion, the thrills of fearfulness and awe inherent in the sublime, and a quest for atmosphere. The ruins of gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations—thus the urge to add fake ruins as eye catchers in English landscape parks. English Gothic writers often associated medieval buildings with what they saw as a dark and terrifying period, characterized by harsh laws enforced by torture, and with mysterious, fantastic, and superstitious rituals. In literature such Anti-Catholicism had a European dimension featuring Roman Catholic excesses such as the Inquisition (in southern...
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...Cinema Review: Director Tim Burton Tim Burton is one of the most unique visionary directors in Hollywood, defining a new genre of film with his twisted imagination. Besides the similarity of having been made by the same director, there are also many other similarities between his films. For example, his film style is able to be seen clearly throughout the films, Edward Scissorhands (1991), Corpse Bride (2005) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). All three of these movies showing Burton’s easily identifiable film style. The characteristics that are similar across these films are the flashbacks, the actors and actresses, the characters, the use of costume, makeup and lighting. Similarities can also be seen through the themes and genres including, German Expression and fantasy. Burton incorporates characters in his films that no one would encounter in real life, such as you would never find a ghost who wants to marry a human in real life or someone who is able to chop hedges with his scissorhands. His films are characteristically quirky and unusual, however somehow making it relatable and identifiable which make them so popular with the audience. One style that Tim Burton’s films are strongly influenced is the German Expressionism codes and conventions. This foreign film style is an artistic genre that originated in Europe in the 1920s and is broadly defined as the rejection of Western conventions (Darsa, 2013). The artist’s impression of reality...
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...GENRE: HORROR A genre is used in order to categorize a media text along with those others which share the same elements, components or ideology. With the help of genre people can easily put a label and identify the kind of product they need. The genre that I have chosen to carry out my research on is ‘Horror’. The reason behind my selection being that I find movies and programs that come under this genre quite interesting than those of other genres. These texts hold suspense, thrill and curiosity in the mind of the viewers that makes it different. These movies are mostly based on stories from the past which help captivate the viewers. Though it is presented in a terrifying way; it still manages to entertain the viewers with its element of mystery, fantasy and curiosity that it creates. Horror films go back as far as the onset of films themselves, over a 100 years ago. From our earliest days, we use our vivid imaginations to see ghosts in shadowy shapes, to be emotionally connected to the unknown and to fear things that are improbable. The earliest horror films were Gothic in style i.e. the meaning that they were usually set in spooky old mansions, castles, or fog-shrouded, dark and shadowy locales. Their main characters have included "unknown," human, supernatural or grotesque creatures, ranging from vampires, demented madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists etc. Horror film today also carry almost the same characters that haunt the innocent. Taking...
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