Week 4: New Weird

What is “weird”? Before reading From Hell, I had anticipated a historical fiction graphic novel that simply focused around the story of Jack the Ripper. The only previous knowledge I had of it was the film adaptation that I had watched many years ago. Upon reading, I quickly learned how loosely adapted it was.

   In From Hell, Prince Albert Victor weds and fathers a child with a girl from London’s East End known as Annie. To cover up this scandal, Queen Victoria separates Annie from Albert and has her sentenced to a mental institute, where her royal physician, Dr. Gull, impairs Annie’s sanity. A group of prostitutes discover the secrets of this scandal and attempt to use it as blackmail against the crown. Dr. Gull then begins to kill off these prostitutes, not only to suppress an illuminati threat, but also to ensure male dominance through mystical ritual.

     This historical fiction story reels in a more science fiction element, bringing out it’s “weird” quality, playing with the idea of time. Visions and prophecies are constantly recurring throughout the narrative, in the prologue, Lees tells Abberline how all his visions were false, yet they still came true.

    “What is the fourth dimension?”.  

   As Dr. Gull murders his last victim, he has visions of the future, where the art takes us away from Victorian London to a more modern setting of skyscrapers and businessmen on their computers. As he dies, his soul transcends through the past and future, inspiring other serial killers and visiting those that escaped him and aided him of his murders.  Dr. Gull is portrayed as an extremely misogynist character that believes women had ruled over men for some time:

   “Women had power once: Back in the caves, life hinged on childbirth’s mystery, and we served mother goddesses, not father gods, ‘twas thus for several million years. Then men rebelled, perhaps a few at first, a small conspiracy.. who, by some act of social magic, politics, or force, cast woman down that man might rule. Time passed, and kingdoms passed from father unto son. The matriarchy was forgotten.”

   During his vision on his death, Dr. Gull believes to have become God and has ensured male dominance throughout the twentieth century.  

       “And this perplexing vision is the last thing that I see as I become God.”

Week 3: Asian Horror

   Reading Kwaidan introduced me to the Asian horror genre, that I was originally unfamiliar with, besides a very few films I might have seen over my lifespan. Asian literature is much more new to me, especially the structure of their culture and take on morality, whereas Western culture is almost on a completely different spectrum. Rather than just viewing good and evil as black and white, their idea of morality covers the grey. 

   In the one of the short stories found in Kwaidan, Jikininki, a priest named Muso was travelling alone in the mountains and lost his way. Along his path he comes across a hermitage where an aged priest lives. When Muso begged for lodging, the priest refused him, but redirected him to a nearby village where he may obtain food and lodging. At the village, he encounters a funeral and decides to perform the service for this death to express his gratitude for hosts' generous hospitality. Overnight, as he performs the service, he encounters a flesh eating monster that consumes the deceased body. After this event, Muso learns from his host that the priest he encountered earlier does not actually exist. He then returned o the hermitage and found the priest once more and discovers that he is actually a jikininki -- an eater of human flesh. Due to his greed and selfishness during his life as a priest he was reborn this way and cursed to feed off all the deceased of that district. He then seeks Muso's pity to pray for him and release him from this state, which Muso does.

   This short story is a good example to demonstrate the difference between Asian horror and Western horror. Here, the jikininki is a pitiful monster that isn't truly evil yet also not truly good. He only feasts upon the deceased and when Muso first asked for shelter, rather than killing (or eating) him, he kindly redirects him to where he may find lodging and food. He even begs for Muso to free him from his state, his only sin is that he was greedy and selfish. In the end, it is suggested that he finds peace thanks to Muso's services. In a more Western take, the jikininki would have leaned much more towards evil on the morality scale and appear less pitiful and more grotesque, especially since our sense of morality is highly influenced by Christianity, which is more strict in those rules.

Week Two: Vampires

 

Considering I haven't read Interview with the Vampire in years and have had no time to spare to reread it, I'll be focusing on the relationships in Byzantium for this week. I have had Byzantium sitting on my "to-watch" list for months now, so to finally be able to watch it was FANTASTIC. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and scold myself for not watching it sooner.
  What really drew my attention to Byzantium was the relationship between Clara and Eleanor. At the beginning of the film, the two pass themselves off as sisters, subtle hints reveal that there is more to their relationship than simply being siblings. Through flashbacks and writing, Eleanor reveals that Clara is actually her mother. It is also revealed how these two became vampires, and considering they are two female leads in the story, it becomes even more interesting to me. Whereas most vampire stories I am familiar with focus on male vampires and their relationships with mortal females, this film turns the table on that aspect.
    Clara and Eleanor rely on each other to survive in the modern world by maintaining a living, with Eleanor relying more on Clara. Clara typically uses men as bait for her feasting and her schemes, whereas Eleanor prefers the old and sick. One of the men that Clara uses is Noel, who provides the two girls a place to stay and a brothel to build. At the end of the film, our two leads split ways to live their own individual lives. Clara leaves with Darvell, who is also a vampire and the reason Clara was able to become one initially. Eleanor leaves with Frank (her love interest), a sickly mortal boy who, with Eleanor's help, becomes a vampire at the end. Both ladies are either in mutual respect for their partner or above them in power, which is a nice difference to see in comparison to other vampire stories that tend to show the opposite.
 

Week One: Gothic in Contemporary Culture (Game of Thrones)

   The elements of the gothic have continued to transcend throughout our contemporary culture; scattered among film, television, fashion, and of course literature. To this day, it still brings intrigue to society as it did centuries ago. Many elements of the gothic can be found in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, or more popularly known as Game of Thrones. I'll be discussing the book series rather than the show, and considering the book is structured by multiple plot lines through character point-of-view chapters, I'll be focusing on Sansa Stark's storyline as it oozes "gothicness". Her arc emphasizes the deconstruction of gothic romanticism, which is demonstrated more so in the novels rather than the television show. Sansa Stark has a much more popular fanbase among readers rather than viewers of the show, especially among the female crowd.

  At the beginning of the series, Sansa is a young yet extremely naive girl who believes firmly in songs and stories of her world; that the gallant knight sweeps the young maiden off her feet to their happily ever after. She resembles the typical pure and innocent female protagonist of gothic novels, such as Catherine Morland from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. As her story progresses, she learns that life is not a song. She is confronted with the grotesque and brutal Sandor Clegane, whose face is half burnt and soul is filled with rage. He is one of the few characters that show any sympathy towards Sansa after her father is executed, she becomes almost an idea of purity and kindness to him, though he still reprimands her for her naivety. Their dynamic is reminiscent of a beauty and the beast trope, often found in the gothic. Though, whether they develop romantic feelings for one another is left to personal opinion and speculation. As Sansa faces many hardships, she begins to lose faith in all that she had believed in initially.

  In the third book of the series, she is stolen away from King's Landing by Petyr Baelish (also referred to as Littlefinger) and taken to his holdings on the Fingers. The Fingers hold a very similar gloomy, dark, confined by nature setting seen in the gothic; always raining and windy, a peninsula surrounded by crashing waves and treacherous rocks. Just as religion and mythology took held an important role in gothic literature, religious and mythological symbolism is constantly alluded to in her story, especially during her arc with Lord Baelish. During their time in the Fingers, he offers to share half a pomegranate with Sansa, alluding to the rape of Persephone. After their time confined in the Fingers, they travel to the Eyrie, which is almost quite literally a castle in the sky. A castle isolated from all others and inhabited by little, continuing the lonely and isolated feeling used in the gothic. Lord Baelish is one of the darkest characters in the series, constantly manipulating and manifesting chaos behind the scenes, never showing remorse for his cruel actions. He forms a mentor/protege relationship with Sansa, as he uses her title and power for his own means, he teaches her the art of deceit and manipulation in turn. Sansa describes Petyr as to having two identities, two different personalities yet all the while the same person (like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde):

Littlefinger never lifted so much as his little finger for her. Except to get me out. He did that for me. I thought it was Ser Dontos, my poor old drunken Florian, but it was Petyr all the while. Littlefinger was only a mask he had to wear. Only sometimes Sansa found it hard to tell where the man ended and the mask began. Littlefinger and Lord Petyr looked so very much alike. She would have fled them both, perhaps, but there was nowhere for her to go.

Slowly, Petyr has tried to corrupt Sansa, carving her into a replica of himself. Their dynamic is similar to that of Dracula's and Mina's from Bram Stoker's Dracula. Sansa is constantly conflicted with her emotions, on morality, and survival. George R.R. Martin is well known for creating mystery and suspense in this novel, bringing in that gothic factor even more so. He kills off characters in the blink of an eye, and just as Petyr Baelish, showing no remorse. Sansa, being a young girl living in one of the most cruel and brutal worlds, is put against hardship and rather gruesome settings and people. Considering the book series is still ongoing, Sansa's fate remains only on speculation at this point.