Film: Fight Club

Fight Club is one of my favorite movies and I was really excited to get to watch it in class. I never thought of it as “gothic” but after learning about what the gothic genre includes I can see that it is. The setting of the old house looks as if it belongs on a southern plantation and at night it feels deserted and almost eerie. I also never thought of Tyler as a doppelganger for the narrator before but now I can see it.  Now that I see the movie as a southern gothic piece it makes me like it even more. It almost seems as if anything can made into or seen as gothic.

The Yellow Wallpaper and a Jury of Her Peers

 Both The Yellow Wallpaper and a Jury of Her Peers are about women who could be seen as crazy. In The Yellow Wallpaper Perkins-Gilman uses her experience with rest cure to show how ludicrous the idea of it really is. The author of the journal is recovering from giving birth and is put on rest cure by her doctor husband; however instead of getting better she seems to be getting worse. She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper and the woman/ women that live inside of it and this obsession begins to consumer her every waking moment and lead her the brink in insanity. When you really look at the story you wonder if she is really on vacation with her husband or if she is a patient in an asylum. Little things like the bolted down bed, the gardens, and the way the doctor and his sister treat her make you wonder what’s really going on. It’s hard to tell if she’s really crazy or if she’s right.

A Jury of Her Peers you know almost from the beginning that Minnie is guilty of killing her husband; the thing you don’t know is why.  Unlike most murder mysteries the ones who end up figuring out what happened are the women. They understand Minnie in ways that the men can’t and they also begin to see what drove her to kill her husband. Little things that the men don’t think matter are what show Minnie’s mental state before she killed him, the stitching of the quilt, half the sugar in the jar and half in a bag, and the table only being half wiped down. They also find the evidence the men aren’t able to, her motive; the dead canary is the reason Minnie snapped and the women know it, they just don’t seem to know what to do with that information.The sheriff’s wife sympathizes with Minnie for she has been in a similar position. The women decide that even though Minnie is guilty it’s not her fault and she shouldn’t be punished for the crime. They hide the dead canary, tying up all the loose ends and allow Minnie to have a chance of getting off the hook.  

Where are You Going, Where Have You Been? And A Good Man is Hard to Find

A  Good Man is Hard to Find  and  Where are you Going, Where Have you Been both use gothic elements in a way that makes the reader feel scared because what happens in the stories could happen in real life. In a good man, the family is taking a detour on the while on vacation and after a car accident run into an escaped convict, “the Misfit”. When the grandmother recognizes him and calls him out on his identity he knows that they cannot live because they might give up his location. It bothered me that the mother, father, and children went willingly to their deaths and didn’t try to fight it while the grandmother tried to say anything that might save her. In where are you going,  Arnold Friend is every woman and parent’s worst nightmare, a smooth talking guy that could entrap you or your daughter. From the beginning you can see that there is something off about him but to Connie, like most teenage girls danger isn’t scary (at least initially) but fun. It is only after she realizes that this interaction isn’t the innocent flirting like it is at the drive-in but could end in her getting hurt. The part where she goes for the phone and is interrupted by the piercing sound in her ears you know that she’s in serious trouble. When the story ends and she leaves with Arnold, you know exactly what’s going to happen but it still makes you wonder, is there a chance that she’ll live? Both have a clear villain which adds to the gothic feel. Adding a face to some worldly evil makes it safer and scarier at the same time; in both cases you know what the evil is. Both are deeply psychological, in where are you going you the author almost makes it seem like Connie could be hallucinating from too much sun and heat and in a good man the author uses religion and intervention from a higher power to save the life of the grandmother, which ultimately doesn’t work. Both are also major fears that people have; the idea of not feeling safe in your own home, rape, and abduction in where are you going and convicts and murder in a good man.

Film: A Streecar Named Desire

I’m a huge fan of classic movies, but I had never seen “A Streetcar Named Desire”. I thought that cinematically speaking the film was amazing, the way that they used shadows to add to the drama of a scene and the way that music played every time Blanche remembered her dead husband. I also liked that they used all of the same actors (except Vivien Leigh) who were in the original play production of Streetcar. Tennessee Williams’ work is great and modern for its time. Streetcar is no exception; it tackles many issues of the day while putting a modern gothic spin on things. Overall I liked that the movie was gothic without being so much so. It kept the plot moving but used gothic such as the ratty apartment to supplement the film and only add to it.   

A Rose for Emily and Old Gardiston

A Rose for Emily was the perfect Southern Gothic story. It perfectly combined elements of gothic such as the old house, and the dead lover’s corpse with the old versus new south conflict that makes southern gothic. I like how the author jumps around in time and does not keep everything in sequence. I also liked how there were elements of the then modern time mixed in to time periods that were inappropriate. The story did a great job showing the new and old south battle using the old spinster as the main focal point. It makes the story relatable because almost everyone knows a crazy old lady like Miss Emily and suspects (even if they don’t say it) that they have must have a skeleton or two in the closet, or in this case, bedroom.

Old Gardiston is yet another southern gothic story, and while the lead character is a woman, she’s not the crazy old spinster that this genre is known for. Gardis is the traditional southern belle who like Emily has trouble with the north coming in to change the ways of the south. While Gardis is able to make the transition into the new south and a new way of life, the house is not. Gardis’ marriage to the northern officer seems to set the fire and like every other southern gothic story, the old (house) perishes due to its inability to adapt.    

Behind a Mask Part Two, The Goophered Grapevine, The Sheriff’s Children, and Jean-ah Poquelin

Behind a Mask is still by far the best book we read all semester (with Northanger Abbey coming in a close second) I did not expect the story to progress exactly the way it did. I really thought that Jean would marry Ned and then when she rejected him, Gerald.  The twists in the plot keep you on your toes and the ending really threw me for a loop. Between marrying Sir John and burning all the “evidence” you really see past her mask.  Jean was right when she said “is not the last scene better than the first?”

The Goophered Grapevine was a good story once you deciphered the dialect. I liked that the author tried to be true to the people he was writing about by keeping the language authentic and the story teller’s character believable. The whole story reminds me of an urban legend that is passed down to scare people and keep them in line. I like how the elements are gothic but not creepy and the underlying north versus south struggle that takes place. As with most southern gothic stories the north ruins a good thing for the south and in the end the north triumphs and the south learns to deal with it.

To me The Sheriff’s Children was the least gothic thing that we’ve read. While I understand that it falls into the southern gothic category, I did not see anything else that made it gothic. The southern aspect of owner and slave relationships speaks to the pre-Civil War ways of the south and the freeing of the slaves plays a large role in that.  The new versus old south battle is seen here in full force with the sheriff being confronted by his illegitimate half- black son. The inability for the sheriff to make things right with his son is symbolic for the new south not being able to make peace with its past.

Jean-ah Poquelin was a bit hard to understand. I liked the main plot but had problems getting past the French.  The way that the story was set up was interesting and the plight of Jean makes you want to sympathize with him. I also liked the twist of the brother, I would never in a million year have expected him to have leprosy but the fact that Jean takes care of him makes me like him more. The ending of the story was sad and it shows that the old south just can’t win against the new south and that if you can't progress and change with the times, you die.  

The Fall of the House of Usher and Behind a Mask

Fall of the House of Usher is such a deep story. There are a lot of hypotheticals that make the reader suspect that things aren’t quite what they seem to be in the Usher house. , “…the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of the descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain.” When first reading this it seems that all in order and they are just the only ones left in a dying family but when adding the gothic element of incest, the interpretation is changed. The family comes from a single line which seems to suggest that all the Ushers are inbred. There are no other lines of the family other than the remaining branch which one could interpret as meaning that since there were incestuous relationships taking place no other branches could grow and prosper. Also mentioned is the lack of variation which could be taken to mean that for the most part the members of the Usher family don’t marry or have children with those outside the family. While there is no solid evidence to prove an incestuous relationship, it is only hinted at, but many scholars and Poe experts do agree that there is some sort of inappropriate relationship going on between the Usher twins.

Behind a Mask also lends itself to the idea that things aren’t quite what they seem. Jean is an interesting character with something different about her. The first part of the book ends with her revealing her true self. She is an older woman pretending to be a twenty year old. She is missing a tooth and looks aged; it’s hard to imagine that she could pass for twenty without the family knowing what was really going on. It also makes you wonder what will happen in the rest of the book; what is Jean Muir really up to? I really like that Alcott, who is known for sweet girly works has this dark side to her. She is really good at showing the dual nature of people (such as with Jean Muir) and how that while it seems crazy and creepy, it can also happen in real life.

Young Goodman Brown and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

This week I liked how you could really see the progression of the genre as it crosses “the pond”. In Young Goodman Brown Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his heritage and the setting of Puritan New England in most of his works of writing and this is no exception. Unlike some of the readings we’ve had this semester; Hawthorne drops you right in the middle of the action. The story is short, sweet, and to the point but he manages to pack a lot into the short story. The idea of the devil looking as if he could be related to Brown seems to suggest that he is Brown’s doppelganger; the evil opposite of Brown’s good side. Also the multiple meanings of his wife’s name Faith. The phrase “Faith kept me back” talks about his wife wanting him to stay with her and also speaks to his hesitation in betraying his faith in God for a pact with the devil. Since this is set in Puritan times religion is major so that fact that both religious faith and his actual wife Faith could have betrayed him speaks volumes against the religion and its “faithful” In the end it seems as if faith betrayed him but you never know as the story never really makes it clear; the story just as in real life leaves the belief in faith up to the reader.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is not what I pictured it would be. In my mind it would be similar to the movie with more action and suspense; not just a lot of descriptors of people and places with all the action taking place at the very end. I enjoyed the novella but wished that there would have been a bit more action in the beginning and middle of the book instead of all at the end. This novella can be tied to Young Goodman Brown because it also plays on the idea of faith or belief in something that may or may not exist. Ichabod is constantly looking over his shoulder for things that may or may not exist (witches, the horseman, etc.) This belief in the unknown starts to scare him as he makes his way home from Katrina’s and leads him to his run in with the horseman, or does it? Carver just like Hawthorne leaves it open for you to decide. Both make it seem as though you can’t take everything at face value.   

The Mortal Immortal and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This week our readings were The Mortal Immortal and  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Two of the main themes that were present in both were the ideas of life and death, and good and evil. In Mortal Immortal you see the idea of good and evil being played out through Winzy who works for a famous alchemist that in real life, some viewed to be doing the work of the devil. You also see the struggle between good and evil being played out with Winzy deciding to drink the potion or follow the alchemist’s instructions and leave it alone. The life and death struggle in this story is extremely easy to see. Because of his choice to drink the potion, Winzy becomes immortal putting out of reach of life and death but not his wife. While he cannot die he has to look death in the face every day as he watches his wife age and eventually die.

 In Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the good and evil struggle is clearly seen as you find out that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are one in the same struggling for control over one body. Mr. Hyde is a vile, evil man and Dr. Jekyll can be seen as a good man whose interest in science caused an unintentional consequence. Because of this good and evil struggle over one body Dr. Jekyll decides that death is the better choice than being Hyde permanently so he ultimately makes the choice to end his life and the life and death struggle.