Posts

Showing posts from September, 2018

The New Weird

The word weird can be easily looked up in any dictionary yet when it is used as a story element it can be used in a whole different way rather than just as a description as something that is odd or strange. The weird in horror literature is a term that refers to something that is supernatural yet supernatural is is only part of what makes the new weird so bizarre. The weird isn't anything we as humans can really perceive in all honesty, its like trying to explain quantum mechanics to a very small child really, by that i mean its not meant to be understood. Its not something our minds can really truly perceive and yet we can take it in all the same as we do the normal. We can dissect it we can summarize it and we can read it and take it in all the same as the normal but with the weird more often than not people will have a different reaction to it and come up with their own conclusions as to what just happened or what a certain thing is. In Borne, its a very strange and weird book i

The difference of the western and eastern horror

There are many differences between the eastern and western cultures in terms of literature and art. The horror genre is definitely no exception. In many Japanese horror stories, this example being A Wild Sheep Chase, they often blend in magical realism and some mystery giving the reader a sense of anticipation and anxiety. In more western horror stories we are often introduced not to a specifically magical realism, but the idea of an afterlife and more often the idea of the undead. Western horror, although thrillers are a sub-genre of horror, do not always give the reader the same anxiety that an eastern horror story would. I personally believe that the reason for this is because you get a sensation of a calm dread in the characters of eastern horror and in most western horror stories the characters are usually always active and alert. This doesn't create the same type of anxiety as in eastern horror since the reader is already at the same energy level the characters in the story a

Interview with a Vampire

In the story  Interview with a Vampire , we see the relationship between two adult vampires and one child whom they bit. There are three relationships portrayed in those three characters, one between Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat, Lestat and Claudia, and Louis and Claudia. The relationship between Louis and Lestat is complex in that Lestat is the reason why Louis is a vampire so Louis feels some animosity towards him and at the same time he was dependent on him as he did not know how to be a vampire in the beginning of the book. And yet the reason why Louis was bitten was because Lestat wanted his company. This was also the reason he had to turn the little girl, Claudia, into a vampire. It was to prevent Louis from leaving his company since now they had a sort of "daughter" together. Lestat's relationship with Claudia is that of a mentor more than a father figure which is the opposite of the relationship between Claudia and Louis as he tries to be more of a father fig

Frankenstein as Gothic

When dealing with horror and gothic stories there are always at least two things that instantly pop into people's head, those are usually Dracula and Frankenstein, more specifically Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein, the book written by Mary Shelley, is one of the most recognized gothic book to date. Yet, what exactly defines this book as gothic. The genre of gothic stories usually have to deal with the supernatural or the realm of science fiction. It often has to deal with death, horror, and even sometimes romance. So how does Frankenstein fit into this genre? To start, the entire premiss of the story is science fiction and horror; the act of playing God and resurrecting the dead and at the same time creating a monster that was never meant to exist. Death is one of the core elements in the tale since it is about how Dr. Frankenstein tries to reverse it and create life. But he creates a monster in the end and death follows the monster and the doctor alike as throughout the b