Tag: gothic

Tales and Legends

Let’s Scare Children

rovallee
Image source

I hope you understood the irony in this statement! Of course, I am talking about the fact that what was supposed to be cute fairy tales are, in fact, scaring children. One example of this is Rapunzel from the Grimm brothers. The brothers are renowned for their gothic and gloomy fairy tales.

First, I will summarize you a little bit the essence of the brothers’ story. It is the story of a couple who are going to have a child. To make sure the mother does not die, the husband needs to pick up fruits that are on the other side of a wall, where an enchantress lives. In order for them to have access to the fruits, the woman will take their child as soon as the mom gives birth. When she takes the child away, she brings her in a tower where no one will be able to see her, ever. One day, the enchantress realizes that Rapunzel, the child, is helping a young man entering the tower to spend time with her. As soon as she realizes it, she cuts the hair of the child and plays a trick on the young man. When the man climbs on the hair the woman had let down, she pushes him down in the rose bushes, where he gets his eyes pierced. In the end, we read that the young man finds Rapunzel back with their two children and live happily ever after. A quite long and rough journey to be able to live happily ever after!

Some gothic motifs can be analyzed in this short tale. There is the monster, of course, that is represented by the enchantress. She is considered as a human monster because she takes the child away from her parents to only do bad to her, in addition, to almost killing the young man.

Image source

Another motif would be gloom, especially towards the end of the story. When the young man gets his eyes pierced, it is quite gloomy and disgusting for the target audience that is supposed to be children.

I suggest you read the brothers’ tale and after compare with the newest version by Disney, you will realize how it was changed and how it is more directed towards the young target audience.

Rosalie 😊

Movies

Pride, Arrogance, and Anger

rovallee

In Tom Harris’ novel The Silence of the Lambs, as well as in the movie adaptation, hubris is one of the most important motifs. The term hubris is a Greek word referring to the importance of pride, arrogance, and anger in one’s personality.

Image source

First, in this work, hubris is considered as a monster and as well as an ancestral curse. Since it blinds the mind of people who have hubris in their blood, it complicates and impairs the well-being of the society.

For instance, Jame Gumb is a great example to demonstrate how hubris leads to blindness. When Clarice enters in his house at the end of the story to catch him, he thinks that the only way to have control over her is to turn off the lights. Since he has night-vision goggles, he thinks that he would certainly be able to escape from Clarice without any consequences. Obviously, as ironic as it sounds, Jame is totally blinded by his hubris. Indeed, Clarice still has control over him and over the situation; that is, she is the only one who sees clearly.

This example accurately shows how hubris can affect someone’s view of a situation compared to what it really is.

Image source

Another example of a character that has to face his hubris is Hannibal, the main character. Throughout the entire novel and movie, Hannibal is trying to overcome his own hubris, as well as his desire to transcend the classification of scientists. All of this to say that hubris is clearly a gothic motif in Harris’ writings and that it is mostly defined by blurring certain characters’ vision, making them act without a proper consideration of the consequences beforehand.

Rosalie

Tales and Legends

Let’s Be Horrifyingly Emotional

delphinecote
Image Source

Does every fan of gothic literature, or only of the gothic genre, know Edgar Allan Poe? If not, you should definitely read some of his works. He mostly writes short stories, each more disturbing than the previous one. So, I figured I would do something very different than what I usually do here. I wrote a poem related to The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, written in 1843. If you do not know what it is, briefly, it is the story of a young man, killing a presumably blind old man for he has a pale blue eye that frustrates him. Of course, this is a very brief summary, but you may certainly want to read the short story before the following poem.

Like a Veiled Vulture Eye

Admit it. Too loud it is.

It beats. Again and again, louder and louder.

How could they know? They did.

They felt my agony, fear filled my fearful heart

Did they hear it too? Did EYE even?

Sure like vultures they smelled it, circled it.

They found it, and death it is.

The EYE was damned anyway.

Why keep lying? EYE was dead.

Horror went away with it, him, EYE. Old man kept it.

Brought it with its last breath in the dark depth of deep death.

Terror never left, how could it? The veil still is.

The I EYE was furious about. Not the old man. EYE swears. Not mad. EYE swear.

In the night, he went cold, paler and paler.

EYE cannot remember. Blue

Was it how it looked like? Was it?

Pale days and dark nights. Oh yes.

Blue it was.

But he did not know.

What interest was there in it if he knew? None EYE’d say.

EYE had secret that he ignored.

Ignorance killed him. EYE did not. Swear.

EYE lived for nothing. Out of all things nothing.

I loved the old man. I did and I do. It was only his EYE.

Truth is, EYE think, it haunted mEYEself.

Hunted. DAY. MIDNIGHT. SUNRISE.

Time never dies.

Like a vulture’s vexed veiled eye.

Image Source

DelphineC

Books

From Fear to Love

rovallee

In this post, I will provide you a little explanation of the evolution of the gothic genre through time with different examples of books that were really popular in this genre.

First of, I will describe how The Castle of Otranto set the standards for the future gothic pieces. This story was written by Horace Walpole in 1764. It was the first story that follow the gothic genre we know today. This story really set the standards for this genre and, even nowadays, some gothic pieces are inspired from it. At first, the gothic genre really focused on the aspect of setting. The setting of a story is really the base because it will decide whether or not the reader will be frightened by the piece or not. In The Castle of Otranto, the setting is, in my opinion, the most important elements of the story. Actually, the fact that it is set in strange places really far from anything else is what makes the reader afraid. On the contrary, if the story was set in the middle of the city in a beautiful house, the tension in the book would certainly be destroyed.

Following the same idea, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written in 1897, also put emphasis on the setting of the story. In this book, the fact that Count Dracula’s castle is far from the city makes the readers believe even more in the “evilness” of the character. Even in the story, the protagonist, Jonathan Harker, is afraid to go to the Count’s castle because it is set in a far and strange place and no one is really sure of what’s happening there. Once again, the tension found in the book is essentially created by the setting of the story.

On the other hand, more recent gothic pieces put emphasis on completely different motifs to create tension. For instance, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, published in 2005, created tension based on the archetype of the damsel in distress and forbidden love. The forbidden love situation is mainly represented in Bella and Edward’s relationship. The fact that he is a vampire and she is a human, makes it technically impossible for them to fall in love, even though this is exactly what happens. Adding to this situation, Bella, one of the main characters, is essentially represented as a damsel in distress. Meyer puts Bella in different situations that sometimes put her in danger, but mainly creates vulnerability. It is in those cases that the archetype of the damsel in distress will create tension for the readers because they will fear what will happen to the girl.

With this glimpse of information, I hope you understand a little better the evolution of the gothic motifs through time and that it makes you realize how the authors create the tension you like so much about gothic novels.

                                                                                      Rosalie                                                       

Movies

Keep Quiet!

rovallee

Don’t breathe or he’s gonna catch you! That’s the essential statement of Fede Álvarez’s movie called Don’t Breathe. Essentially, the movie is set in an old blind man’s house because three young adults try to steal the money the rumors say he is living with. Since the old man is blind, his earing is impeccable, which the three friends did not expect. The old man ears each and every single noise they make in the house. During their chase for the money, the young adults try to escape from the dangerous old man, but he actually is able to keep them locked into his house, which allows him to try to catch evildoers. While trying to escape, they realize that the old man is getting nearer to them and that they are more and more in danger. When they see the old man around, they try not to breathe to make sure the blind man doesn’t find them. That is the principal reason why the movie is titled that way, but I’ll let you discover whether or not the young adults were finally able to get out!

The American horror movie focused mainly on the aspect of terror. During then whole movie, the three offenders are really scared of what the old man could do because they didn’t know him, and they weren’t aware of what he could potentially do to them. The apprehension of the actions of the man was the aspect that frightened the most the delinquents. During their adventure in the blind man’s house, they finally discover what was the old man really hiding in his house, once again I’ll let you discover it by yourself, and the young adults reached a state of horror. The fact that they could see the old man as well as the scary things in his house let the delinquents change their feeling from terror to horror. The scenarist really focused on those two important gothic motifs to create suspense and tension in his movie, which makes it that good.

If you love horror movies, I really suggest you watch it. And if you’re more afraid of this kind of movies, I suggest you still watch it, but in daytime maybe! 😉

                                                                                                                                 Rosalie

Books

The Good Girl

rovallee

Not so long ago, I read a thriller that is so far, one of the best books I’ve ever read. It is called The Good Girl, written by Mary Kubica. This literary piece is a very high-intensity thriller because the actions you expect to happen are definitely not the ones that actually happen. This novel is mainly considered as a psychological thriller, but I still found some gothic elements in it and I wanted to demonstrate that it is possible to explore a specific literary genre while including some gothic elements in it.

First of, the archetype of the damsel in distress is the main element of gothic literature in this thriller. Mia, the main character of the book, is in complete distress after she’s been kidnapped by a certain guy named Colin. Even if she tries to escape, it is impossible to achieve it and waits for the help f the police and her family. On the other hand, Mia’s mother could also be considered as a damsel in distress. She constantly tries to find ways to find her daughter but, because she is depressed by the loss other daughter, she waits for the police to help her out. In that way, she qualifies as a damsel in distress.

 Colin Thatcher, Mia’s one-night stand, turn out to be a sociopath who kidnaps her. Here, the monster archetype found in gothic pieces is a human monster. Colin’s purpose to take Mia away from her family was simply to hurt her. The monster generally generates terror and horror to the victim, in this case Mia.

That is what leads me to explain you the aspects of terror and horror in this psychological thriller. On one hand, Mia is completely terrorised by Collin because she anticipates what he could do to her. Terror is defined as the anticipation of the scary, and that is exactly what Mia is doing and feeling. On the other hand, there’s horror. Horror is the realization of what is scary when seeing it in front of your eyes. In this case, Mia also feels it when she realizes that she had been kidnaped and that she’ll probably never see her family again.

Simply, I suggest you read this psychological thriller that can also enter in the gothic genre because it has a lot of suspense and you’ll have difficulty to stop reading it, I swear.

Have a good time reading it!!

Rosalie

Movies

Seize Your Moment

rovallee

Recently, I watched the new animation movie titled Coco. This gothic animation piece revolves around the theme of death, but especially the death of family members. I really appreciated this movie because, even through animation and humour, the producer was able to convey an important moral. This movie teaches the kids that they need to follow their dreams even if there are many obstacles that prevent them of doing so. Furthermore, the movie puts emphasis on the expression “seize your moment”, which teaches the kids to wait for the right moment, and when it comes to take advantage of it.

Also, through the adventures of Miguel, the main character of the movie, the author of the movie show the dilemma that some people might have concerning the realization of their dreams as opposed to the family values. For instance, at the beginning of the movie, Miguel wants to realize his dream and become a renowned musician; but because his entire family banned music from their lives, he cannot achieve it. During the whole film, we could see Miguel go through different obstacles that make him realize a lot of things, like the fact that he could both achieve his desire to become a musician as well as being good and helpful to his family.

The psychological evolution of the different characters involved in Miguel’s quest of music is an aspect that I really loved in this animation movie. In general, his whole family really changes psychologically during the course of the movie. At first, they are all “afraid” of music because they think it is the reason for the break up of their entire family, but then, they realize that music could have benefits for them. We could interpret this as a paradox because instead of being the source of all the problems of the family over multiple generations, music is actually what reconciliates the family.

Besides the moral and familial aspects of the film, I was able to observe some elements that correspond to gothic art and literature. First of all, the main theme is certainly death, which corresponds to one of the main gothic elements. Next, the elements of monster and terror are also found in this movie. For instance, I considered De la Cruz, the international singer, to be the monster in this story, since at the end, we learned that he was the cause of the family break up and that he had killed his own best friend. On the other hand, the aspect of horror is mostly represented when Miguel arrives in the afterlife and realizes that dead people are talking to him and that he is not in the real world anymore. Also, there are supernatural elements in this story, like the presence of different colorful animals with superpowers, like the giant panther with the wings. We generally don’t see this in our lives! 😉

For all these reasons, I think that the movie Coco is a surprisingly good movie. Even though it might seem only dedicated to a young audience, it also reaches an older audience. Even if it is meant to entertain the kids, this film still contains gothic elements that make it, in my opinion, a gothic animation movie. If you’ve never watched it, I sincerely suggest you do so.

P.S: I almost cried at the end of the movie. Another reason to take the time to watch it haha!

Rosalie

Books

The House of Night

delphinecote
The book series “The House of Night”
Image Source

Who does not like vampires? We must admit that they always are a good distraction; we pretty much never get tired of the stories or movies of which they are used as principal “creatures” to create some fear and suspense. However, there are two types of vampires; indeed, there is the terrifying one known as the one who sucks all the blood from human necks (in other words, the killer vampire), and there is the cheesy vampire known as the one who lives in harmony with humans. Which one do we prefer? Are we actually obligated to have a preference? I would say we do not, and that is the reason why I want to share this series of novels I discovered 3 years ago.

Written by Phyllis Christine Cast and Kristin Cast, the first volume of a series called the House of Night was published in March 2009 and was titled “Marked” (just so it is said, the last volume, “Lost” was published recently, in July 2018). The 18 volumes of this series (yes, indeed, 18 volumes!) contain all of what is necessary to entertain anyone who is interested in fantasy, love, magic, mystery, action and of course, vampires. I assure you, we can find them all in the same series! Isn’t it simply amazing?

You must wonder: Ok well, but what is this about? Overall, this is the story of Zoey Redbird, a 16-year old girl who is Marked to become a vampire and complete her Change, or die. The story mostly takes place in Tulsa, in the state of Oklahoma in the United States (yes, I know, another American fantasy, but I swear, it is a good one). The issue from which the story starts is that she does not have the same mark as other vampires do; indeed, she has been marked as special by the vampire Goddess Nyx and it is for you to discover why.

In brief, here are some reasons why you should take the time to read this series:

  1. There are some vampires (this reason by itself is enough to convince you, right?).

Well, if you need some more…

2. There is a love triangle (oh yes, you’ve read well!).

3. There is suspense (sometimes, you just won’t be able to stop reading, I can testify).

4. There is death.

An extra one for you: you do not need to wait for the next episode to be released (you know what I’m referring to, don’t you?), once you finished one tome, you can start the next one right away!

Good luck and have fun in the vampire world!

DelphineC