Dress any broad in black, give her a pointed hat, and you've got a witch. Put an old lady on a broom with a black cat at the handle and you've got a witch. Take a woman whose kindly exterior harbors a fantastical ability for magic and you've got the modern witch.
Witches with two-faced lives is not an uncommon subject. That happens to be one of the bases for Harry Potter's entire mythology. Add that to the very idea of sweet and charming masking the dreadful and you've got more than the lion's share of similarities with other media. This is not a negative aspect of Aunt Maria, just another proud example of the contemporary wicked old witch. Interestingly enough, if you were to strip her of her powers and reset the story with her as say...an office executive, you could very well wind up with quite a similar story.
This brings us to the contemporary depiction of women with power, wether it be magical or otherwise. Storytelling adores this character archetype of the corrupt woman with power; a stone-cold bitch who takes no prisoners. We've seen it in The Devil Wears Prada, Harry Potter, and even 101 Dalmatians. You don't tend to find many Business MEN wanting to skin a bunch of puppies to make a coat. They have principles apparently.
Hell, while we're at it, strip her of her powers, make her attractive, give her a crown and a magic mirror. Maybe this isn't as restricted to contemporary literature as I thought...
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Weird: Old and New
For the New Weird, I took a plunge back into the world of one of my favorite authors, Clive Barker. His collection of short stories, The Books of Blood, is all time favorite. Upon reading through some of the stories, I was more aware of the strengths of Weird Fiction. The best kind of Weird Fiction tends to go out of it's way to subvert the horror genre rather than celebrate tropes and stereotypes, OR it will take tropes and stereotypes into new out of the box thinking. Weird Fiction is out of the box!
The Future for this genre tends to be on a constant gradual yet subtle rise. It is as if Lovecraft's manifestations of otherworldly and cosmic terrors opened the door to unfathomable horrors that we could neither identify or identify with. The future of the genre will no doubt get Weirder. There is no shortage of sexual taboos or scientific discoveries that provide the best fodder for these tales. As it has dominated storytelling, Weird Fiction will certainly increase it's presence in Cinema. Movies are getting bolder, and with good reason to combat streaming and television. In turn, streaming and television are also taking more risks with their programming to combat film. Who will outweird the other? It's hard to say, but it will be rewarding for us audiences who get to find out!
The Future for this genre tends to be on a constant gradual yet subtle rise. It is as if Lovecraft's manifestations of otherworldly and cosmic terrors opened the door to unfathomable horrors that we could neither identify or identify with. The future of the genre will no doubt get Weirder. There is no shortage of sexual taboos or scientific discoveries that provide the best fodder for these tales. As it has dominated storytelling, Weird Fiction will certainly increase it's presence in Cinema. Movies are getting bolder, and with good reason to combat streaming and television. In turn, streaming and television are also taking more risks with their programming to combat film. Who will outweird the other? It's hard to say, but it will be rewarding for us audiences who get to find out!
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Kiss and Don't Tell
The Kwaidan is a collection of many strange and beautiful stories, proving itself to be one of the definitive compendiums of Japanese mythology, plus some cool stuff about bugs because...bugs are cool. Amongst this collection is the story of the Yuki-onna. Yuki-onna is an ice spirit who posesses an inhuman beauty. She comes upon two woodcutters stranded in the forest, one whom she resigns to death, and another whom she spares if he promises to keep silence regarding the secret of her existence. When spared, he meets a beautiful young woman who becomes his wife and mother of his children. Lo, and behold, he spills the beans to her about the spirit only for her to be revealed as the spirit herself. Despite the threat from before, she does spare his life so that he may take care of the children they have borne.
This, being one of the more famous fables from the collection, was eventually re-adapted for american audiences in Tales From The Darkside: The Movie, an anthology horror film based on the cult TV series. The setting is modern-day america wherein the woodcutter has become an artist, and the ghostly creature now a demonic gargoyle. The story plays out nearly the same until the very end in which the Gargoyle murders her husband while she and the children are resigned to a perpetual state of stone.
Studying the two presents some interesting contrasts and comparisons. This is most apparent in the ending of the two. The Japanese version suggests that the spirit is not without compassion. Having already borne life into the world, she returns to her spiritual state and mournfully leaves her husband. Here the tragedy seems to be heightened since the father must raise the children on his own while loosing the woman whom he has loved. The spirit too, for reasons never fully explained, is forced to return to her spiritual form having lost the life she had become accustomed to, never again to revel in the pleasures of humanity. It is a saddening tale that unconsciously pulls the curtain back upon what is traditionally played upon in american stories and culture as something of pure malice.
The American version treats its tragedy far more differently. Rather than the father and mother experiencing tragedy, the entire family unit is punished. What lessens the blow of this finale is that the shock of his death and the creature effects seem to outdo the characters. It feels more like a "Gotcha" twist rather than a study of a tragic monster.
Im starting to notice a pattern here.
This, being one of the more famous fables from the collection, was eventually re-adapted for american audiences in Tales From The Darkside: The Movie, an anthology horror film based on the cult TV series. The setting is modern-day america wherein the woodcutter has become an artist, and the ghostly creature now a demonic gargoyle. The story plays out nearly the same until the very end in which the Gargoyle murders her husband while she and the children are resigned to a perpetual state of stone.
Studying the two presents some interesting contrasts and comparisons. This is most apparent in the ending of the two. The Japanese version suggests that the spirit is not without compassion. Having already borne life into the world, she returns to her spiritual state and mournfully leaves her husband. Here the tragedy seems to be heightened since the father must raise the children on his own while loosing the woman whom he has loved. The spirit too, for reasons never fully explained, is forced to return to her spiritual form having lost the life she had become accustomed to, never again to revel in the pleasures of humanity. It is a saddening tale that unconsciously pulls the curtain back upon what is traditionally played upon in american stories and culture as something of pure malice.
The American version treats its tragedy far more differently. Rather than the father and mother experiencing tragedy, the entire family unit is punished. What lessens the blow of this finale is that the shock of his death and the creature effects seem to outdo the characters. It feels more like a "Gotcha" twist rather than a study of a tragic monster.
Im starting to notice a pattern here.
Why can't we be Friends?
Immortality sounds all well and good until you realize...oh yeah, I'm gonna live forever. Shame nobody else will. This is the sad truth that Anne Rice has tackled in her famous Vampire Chronicles. Traditionally symbols of repressed eroticism, the Vampires of Anne Rice's imagination are rather lost souls coping with loneliness in their own separate ways.
Lets take her star Bloodsucker, Lestat DeLioncourt. Lestat was forcefully transformed into an vampire, only to be abandoned by the one who had turned him. Having his mortality violated, he had been thrust into the world, frightened and abused. What is one of the first tasks he accomplishes? Finding a companion. He finds one in his mother, whom he transforms. The two engage in a new kind of relationship, not simply mother and son, but equal companions. Once their relationship is compromised he is back where he started. Alone. He had found acquaintances in other vampires, but found a close partner once more in Louis, whose story is recorded in Interview with the Vampire.
Homoetrotic overtones galore, the two try to get by as New Orleans ages before them. Despite the coupling, loneliness is still hovering amongst the two. The two come from different worlds. Lestat has learned to embrace his animalistic qualities and find splendor in being the beast. Louis still suffers from the aches and pains of his former life, primarily the death of his brother. One would think he would've found a brother in Lestat, but due to Lestat's nature, the relationship steadily grows toxic. Even when their "adopted" daughter, Claudia, is thrust into the mix.
Loneliness is what created many of these monsters, and has even destroyed them. The incomprehensible need for companionship is something that fiction has explored many times over, but none more explicitly than Rice. An author primarily known for erotic fiction, and 1st person Jesus novels, tears apart these ideas of loneliness in a great many of her Vampiric stories. Loneliness happens to be just like a vampire; soul-sucking and seemingly invincible.
Lets take her star Bloodsucker, Lestat DeLioncourt. Lestat was forcefully transformed into an vampire, only to be abandoned by the one who had turned him. Having his mortality violated, he had been thrust into the world, frightened and abused. What is one of the first tasks he accomplishes? Finding a companion. He finds one in his mother, whom he transforms. The two engage in a new kind of relationship, not simply mother and son, but equal companions. Once their relationship is compromised he is back where he started. Alone. He had found acquaintances in other vampires, but found a close partner once more in Louis, whose story is recorded in Interview with the Vampire.
Homoetrotic overtones galore, the two try to get by as New Orleans ages before them. Despite the coupling, loneliness is still hovering amongst the two. The two come from different worlds. Lestat has learned to embrace his animalistic qualities and find splendor in being the beast. Louis still suffers from the aches and pains of his former life, primarily the death of his brother. One would think he would've found a brother in Lestat, but due to Lestat's nature, the relationship steadily grows toxic. Even when their "adopted" daughter, Claudia, is thrust into the mix.
Loneliness is what created many of these monsters, and has even destroyed them. The incomprehensible need for companionship is something that fiction has explored many times over, but none more explicitly than Rice. An author primarily known for erotic fiction, and 1st person Jesus novels, tears apart these ideas of loneliness in a great many of her Vampiric stories. Loneliness happens to be just like a vampire; soul-sucking and seemingly invincible.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Frankenstein: Man and Monster
For the History of Horror, SciFi, and Fantasy Literature class (if I fail this class, there might as well be no hope for me) I had the pleasure of once again diving into an old favorite. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The novel, popularized by the 1931 Boris Karloff masterpiece, has ingrained itself within pop culture. The creature is as popular today as he ever was, perpetuated by the publics fascination with tales of the undead. Often do we find parodies or loving jabs at an undead behemoth with a phobia of fire, an on/off affiliation with angry mobs, and a vocabulary learnt by the same rosetta stone program Tarzan must’ve gotten a hold of.
It is rare however to see pop culture recognize the original fallen angel of Mary Shelly’s novel. The creature within the novel is more Man than Monster, more misunderstood than malevolent. You won’t find green flesh and bolted necks here. Instead, Shelly’s creature is one of pale white skin, pearly teeth, and yellow eyes. The collapsed skull of famous imagery, here a full head of long ebony hair. His speech is pure eloquence. This is a creature who’s brain is not abnormal, but innocent. He is born into the world instantly abandoned by his creator. It is at this moment, the creature enters the world as a baby does, completely unaware of its workings.
Right off the bat, he is attacked by townspeople, simply for the way he looks. After this brutal attack he survives off the forest, to satisfy the very human pangs of hunger. Finding a hovel, adjacent to a small cottage, he lives vicariously through it’s inhabitants. It is by observing these gentle beings that he learns speech, forms ideas and concepts, enlightens his mind with the exploits of history. The bliss of growing into humanity is short lived as he reveals his existence, and is shunned. Once more he is reviled by the world and shortly there after burns the cottage. He commits an act of destruction as justified by the histories of Plutarch’s Lives.
Interesting how many have gotten this poor man all wrong.
Most commonly, he has been referred to as Frankenstein’s Monster. Shelly is quite careful to avoid “monster” yet dons him “creature.” This entitles him simply as non-human, not inherently malevolent. The Creature’s malevolence is borne from his learnings. He has learned the art of murder and destruction by filling his mind with the histories of others. Shelly’s not so subtle accusations on mankind are furthered when The Creature bargains with his creator for a bride. The Creature tells his creator that once he is betrothed, he shall run away with his soul-mate to South America and live amongst the wilds of the amazon, far from humanity. The Creature seeks solace from us.
For the longest the time the monster has had the mistake of being called Frankenstein. Ironically, at the end of the day, maybe this isn’t such a mistake after all.
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