It was really good to watch a movie with distinct Gothic elements to support the literature that we have been reading all semester. Instead of reading and allowing our minds to create the Gothic settings of the stories, we were able to see someone else's portrayal of a Gothic story.
Fight Club definitely revealed Gothic elements. Some of these include the large old house they lived in, most everything was taken place at night, feminism (in a sense where men were feeling oppressed), doppelgangers, insanity, and grotesque fighting.
It was really interesting to get to see the story played out in front of me rather than creating it in my own mind. There was no question if it was Gothic or not because it was clear through the setting, acting, etc.
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Yellow Wallpaper and A Jury of Her Peers
These two short stories, "The Yellow Wallpaper" and "A Jury of Her Peers" both are written by women. These women are crying out from a feminist standpoint from feeling oppressed by men in society.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a woman who is given "rest cure" to cure her from post natal depression. It is written from a first person perspective, so at times the reader does not know if they can trust her account of the situation, or if she is literally going crazy in her room by herself. She even sees women crying out for help in the yellow wallpaper of her room.
In "A Jury of Her Peers", Minnie Foster is accused of killing her husband. Essentially, the men and women of the town are the jury's of the trial. The women can relate and understand Minnie's situation where the men are just searching for evidence that she killed him. The women find out that she indeed did kill her husband, but it wasn't out of pure intentions, but instead, her husband led her to do it after years and years of being suppressed in her marriage. When he killed her bird, that was the last straw.
The women in both of these short stories are similarly living encased in their lives as if they were in jail. There is no way out because of the men in their lives who limit their opportunities.
In both of these short stories, the main Gothic element is feminism The term feminist is used to describe any group of people that are being oppressed. In this case it is women being oppressed by men.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a woman who is given "rest cure" to cure her from post natal depression. It is written from a first person perspective, so at times the reader does not know if they can trust her account of the situation, or if she is literally going crazy in her room by herself. She even sees women crying out for help in the yellow wallpaper of her room.
In "A Jury of Her Peers", Minnie Foster is accused of killing her husband. Essentially, the men and women of the town are the jury's of the trial. The women can relate and understand Minnie's situation where the men are just searching for evidence that she killed him. The women find out that she indeed did kill her husband, but it wasn't out of pure intentions, but instead, her husband led her to do it after years and years of being suppressed in her marriage. When he killed her bird, that was the last straw.
The women in both of these short stories are similarly living encased in their lives as if they were in jail. There is no way out because of the men in their lives who limit their opportunities.
In both of these short stories, the main Gothic element is feminism The term feminist is used to describe any group of people that are being oppressed. In this case it is women being oppressed by men.
A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Both of these short stories, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" deal with men and unsuspected murders. The stories are completely different but very similar in building suspense and foreshadowing to the death of innocent people. It definitely reveals Gothic Elements throughout the stories. In both of the stories there are innocent people who are suspected to be killed. In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" it is a family and grandmother driving to Florida, and in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"the innocent person who is suspected to be murdered is a fifteen year old named Connie.
In both of these stories, these people are isolated from society around them before they are killed. The family traveling to Florida turned down the wrong street and was stopped by their killer, also known as The Misfit. The whole family was taken into the woods to be killed except for the Grandma. Once the Grandma was alone, and heard her family get shot in the woods, The Misfit, shot her three times. Directly after shooting her he started cleaning his glasses, as if nothing was odd about that. Regarding Connie, she stayed at her house by herself as the rest of her family went to a family barbecue. An older man who was clearly stalking her came to her house and enticed her outside of her house to take a ride with him. The reader is suspected to believe that he takes her away from her house, rapes her, and kills her.
These aspects of isolation and murder reflect Gothic elements because it creates an eerie tone to the stories. The reader feels uncomfortable reading these stories because the short stories are very real to life and could essentially happen to anyone.
In both of these stories, these people are isolated from society around them before they are killed. The family traveling to Florida turned down the wrong street and was stopped by their killer, also known as The Misfit. The whole family was taken into the woods to be killed except for the Grandma. Once the Grandma was alone, and heard her family get shot in the woods, The Misfit, shot her three times. Directly after shooting her he started cleaning his glasses, as if nothing was odd about that. Regarding Connie, she stayed at her house by herself as the rest of her family went to a family barbecue. An older man who was clearly stalking her came to her house and enticed her outside of her house to take a ride with him. The reader is suspected to believe that he takes her away from her house, rapes her, and kills her.
These aspects of isolation and murder reflect Gothic elements because it creates an eerie tone to the stories. The reader feels uncomfortable reading these stories because the short stories are very real to life and could essentially happen to anyone.
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