Dr. B's Media World

Changing the world, one student at a time. 

[nomadicnoesis]

Honors Attribute Essay: Demons and Feminism

The impact of second wave feminism in the 1960’s and ‘70s wasn’t present in just politics or the workforce, but was an all-encompassing revolution that dominated the culture of the era. One of the last places people may think to look for the impacts of the sexual revolution and female liberation that marked second wave feminism is the horror genre of the film industry, but it is this exact space where the subsequent culture war that broke out amid the feminist movement got worked out within American society.

 A deeper analysis of the 1973 film The Exorcist reveals just how influential second wave feminism and its clash with American tradition and religion had on the horror movie industry of the era. While the film portrays a family’s battle to rid the demon from within their daughter it also portrays the battle between the new age feminist and traditional American values, and just like the fight with the demon it is a struggle until the very end of the film to see who will come out victorious in the culture war. The start of the film opens up with the introduction of the mother, Chris, who is an actress starring in a movie that appears to be about the Vietnam War protests. Right away it becomes clear that Chris is the provider in her family that is considerably well off and that her daughter, Regan’s, father is not in the picture. At this point, Chris’ portrayal as a “new woman” who has broken away from the traditional family unit could be seen as a win for second wave feminism and how it is viewed in popular culture, but over the course of the film, just as Regan begins to change so does The Exorcist’s view of female liberation and the sexual revolution.

Regan’s possession became the vessel through which females, especially teenage girls, were sexualized and demonized during the culture war. Regan is introduced to the audience as the average twelve year old girl, whose main interests involved asking her mother for a pony. But once the demon in their house enters her she transforms into society’s worst nightmare: a hyper-sexual teen. As W. Scott Poole states in Haunted Houses, “The Exorcist used the emerging sexuality of a teenage girl as a metaphor for diabolical evil” (pg. 170). Regan’s possession causes her to act overtly sexual and profane, which leaves her mother, Chris, scrambling to find the best doctors and specialists money can buy to help cure her daughter. But as the film proves, all of Chris’ self earned money cannot save her daughter from the evil residing inside her. While The Exorcist uses demons and possession to scare its audiences the real fear it’s hinting at is the ‘60s and ‘70s cultural anxiety toward sexualized teens and liberated women. 

 Chris’ failure to cure Regan’s affliction becomes the film’s stance towards second wave feminism. A the start of the film she is a successful, well put together woman, but as Regan’s condition worsens she becomes more and more hysterical and desperate. She is then portrayed as needy and helpless and it isn’t until the introduction of Father Damien and religion that Regan has a chance at being saved. There is a point in the movie where Chris states that she isn’t religious, which is really a warning to the audience that if they aren’t religious and don’t adhere to the traditional family unit and values America had before second wave feminism then there’s no way they can protect their children, especially their teenage daughters, from diabolical evil. What appeared to be a win for second wave feminism and its showcase on the big screen ultimately reinforced the conservative counter- movement to the sexual revolution and women’s liberation. Through the character Damien Karras, The Exorcist suppresses America’s anxieties with its support of religion and a male figure in every home. When Chris, the new age feminist, realizes there is nothing she can do to help Regan she turns to the church who of course have a way to end Regan’s possession. By bringing a male presence into the home the film solidifies its stance on having a traditional family unit with a man as the head of the house. As Brian Riley discusses in his analysis of the film,“By positing the possessed Regan’s rebellion against ‘normality’ as ‘evil’—a rebellion that includes the release of sexuality as well as challenges to traditional authority figures—the text rather simplistically reaffirms the ‘rightness’ of the church, the conventional family, and patriarchy” (2013). Chris is viewed as incapable of helping her rebellious daughter and it takes the presence of the patriarchy to return their house to normal.

While the 1973 film The Exorcist showcases elements of the second wave feminism movement of the era by portraying the main character Chris as a single mother with a successful career it is actually an attempt to suppress the sexual revolution and female liberation by reaffirming the need of religion and a traditional family unit in every home. When Father Damien sacrifices his life for Regan and defeats the demon possessing her, it is the film proving that Chris, as a woman, could not have saved her daughter on her own. It is the film saying that no matter how successful Chris becomes on her own she is a failure because she cannot raise and protect her teenage daughter as a feminist. The backlash to second wave feminism in the 1960s and ‘70s was a conservative counter- revolution that reaffirmed America’s anxieties towards female liberation and sexual freedom, and horror films like The Exorcist were a space in popular culture that attempted to work these fears out, but ultimately supported tradition and the patriarchy. 

Works Cited

Riley, Brian. “Revisiting The Exorcist: The Forbidden Pleasures of Resistant Reading.” Response: The Digital Journal of Popular Culture Scholarship, Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, 2013,

Poole, W. Scott. Monsters In America : Our Historical Obsessions with the Hideous and the Haunting. Waco, Tex. :Baylor University Press, 2011. Print.

[drbattista-blog]

An exemplary analysis of the relationship between gender and horror!

[bradywade55]

Blog Post 6: The Exorcist

Beginning in the 60’s and extending through the 70’s, an “Anti- Natality” Movement was in effect, in which the world, or at least the society within it, appeared to be waging war on the female body. Media constantly challenged the roles females played in organized society, playing on various stereotypes commonly attached to women. You might witness emphasis on the responsibility roles females began filling in the work force, in the household, and even in the government or military. There were a lot of general anxieties circulating around the concept of women gaining elevated hierarchical power in society. These anxieties were poured into film as we see a rapid influx of horror movies during this time, many of which are framed around female antagonists and/or protagonists.

In the Movie The Exorcist, directed by William Peter Blatty, we witness some of these very same stereotypes personified in multiple female leads. Blatty actually wrote a Novel titled The Exorcist that was so successful, he decided to adapt the very same concept into a film. The film then released in 1973 went on to secure its spot as one of these most shockingly controversial movies to be released in America since the film Freaks had been released in 1932. The Exorcist features a story about a retired actress trying to pave her foundations as a single mother living in Washington D.C. The Main character, Chris MacNeil is a widowed house wife who has since been focusing on providing the most quintessential life for her teenage daughter, Regan. When Regan becomes mysteriously “possessed by a demon” with little to no explanation, this poor mother is forced into a situation where she is essentially battling for her daughter’s life. This harder this young mother battles for control of her daughter’s soul, the more power the so- called demon appears to gain on the adolescent. Mrs. MacNeil reaches out to several medical professionals, psychologists, and eventually even pleads her case to the church. Despite her efforts, she only digs deeper and deeper until it appears she is out of options. This struggling mother is faced with the reality that she is no longer in control and there is nothing she can do to protect her daughter’s innocent life.

Left upstream without a paddle, the poor single mother is hurled into what seems like complete hysteria. She starts pondering hopelessly, babbling to others about her possessed daughter, demons, and what have you. Everything seems to be taking a convenient turn for the worse right after Mrs. MacNeil was dipping her toes into the pond of un-equivocal power…that is until a prominent male lead steps in to save the day. Right as Chris MacNeil is ready to exhaust her options of combatting the inevitable, two male priests take charge and decide to attempt an “Exorcism”. According to the film, this ritual had been long abandoned by members of the church and deemed inhumane and unethical. However, if anyone could successfully pull off a since forgotten practice of such biblical proportions, it was going to be a man right. None the less, these two hero’s attempt this ancient ritual and are successful in saving the day, right? Not quite! Some spectators will argue that the priests never actually complete the ceremony. In fact, the world renown Rabbi that lead the exorcism died suddenly of what we can only assume was a heart attack. Or maybe it was the demon stealing away his soul. Regardless of the circumstances, shortly after, the other priest who was previously skeptical to the supernatural, hurls himself out a window as a heroic attempt to seize the malevolent spirit from the grasp of the young girl’s innocent soul. It would appear that the priest had saved the day although no one is quite sure, as the audience is left in pure shock and horror.

It would make sense that the male lead secures the role of the “Hero” at the end of this film, much like the climax to the majority of other misogynistic films previous released onto the public. The ending does however leave the audience questioning the director’s motives. Why did he set up his film like this? Why did he choose to portray these disturbing concepts using female leads as the major protagonists, especially during this time? Much like I eluded to earlier in this passage, it all boils down to revolutionary influence women had during this time period. During this era, there began a movement in which women began defining their socio-economic potential in a society already geared towards maintaining basic gender norms. With social stereotypes already dictating the boundaries of mobility for females interested in personal exploration, anxieties began to arise as word spread of powerful and influential women taking stands in America. Men struggled with the concepts of women adapting into roles of higher authority, almost as if it was foreign to them. Films began entering the multi-media market, depicting women as irresponsible, naive, and un-sophisticated. Exercising their precocious nature, women fought back by filing initiatives and flooding into roles allowing them more power. In The film, the Exorcist, we notice that the main character is a formerly popular actress, almost exhibiting narcissistic behaviors when confronted about her triumphs in the business. It doesn’t come as a surprise when the plot starts to take a turn and the female lead loses all of her confidence and sense of power. Influential women in positions of power intimidated mean and created an uncomfortable situation between the balance of the sexes. Eventually, anxieties began to ease surrounding the women’s rights movement, and we witness film beginning to support women in positions of authority opposed to mocking them. However, still to this day, we take a good step backwards and look at much of the media releases at this time. When we do so, we are eagerly reminded that inequality between the sexes transparently effected our media during this period. In fact, social equality is a never ending battle for nations all over the world. The only relieving fact lying in the matter is present when we look back and look at the social injustices we have already overcome both national and globally.  

[drbattista-blog]

Outstanding analysis of The Exorcist and the larger connections to anxieties over the female body and second wave feminism!

[rachelhowieewrites]

Essay Two: The Unknown Vampire

Vampire lore has changed immensely from its origins in the 1700s. The monster, once used to explain seemingly supernatural events and unknown causes of death, has diverted from its beginnings and began exploring uncharted territory. Many contemporary vampires hardly exemplify the original tales of the monster. In this essay, we will be discussing the history and originations of the vampire, what the vampire could symbolize, the fears and anxieties represented by the vampire, and we will be comparing the contemporary to the original.

Vampires were a way for people in pre-industrial societies to explain and understand the phenomena associated with death, which included disease and the decomposition of the body (Barber). They have been all over the world throughout history, they were thought to be: “dead people who, having died before their time, not only refuse to remain dead but return to bring death to their friends and neighbors” (Barber). Very often in these societies, someone thought to be a vampire would be exhumed and studied.

Often, there would be religious affiliates at the exhumation of the vampire. The corpse was seen with “symptoms” of vampiric behavior which included: a corpse would have fresh blood in its mouth, the body would be bloated (which was often mistaken for being erect), and there was very slight evidence of decomposition. After the body was exhumed the vampire would be killed, its heart ripped out and burned, to assure it would not hurt anyone else.

Not that we have a brief history of the vampire, we can begin to understand what the vampire represents. Vampires are myths told in times of hardships, including times of disease, death, or in the case of illegitimate offspring. There were many theories to how a vampire was created, some believed you had to be bitten, while others believed that an illegitimate child or a child born with deformities would become a vampire. Although vampires can represent times of hardship, they especially represent times of disease, specifically Pellegra.

In 1735 Pellegra, a dietary deficiency of niacin and tryptophan, which was a lingering disease that was thought to have a supernatural cause (Hampl & Hampl). Pellegra can be identified by four symptoms, which can be obviously recognized as origins of the vampire myth. The first was dermatitis, which results in a sensitivity to sunlight, a known trait of the original vampires was that they hunted at night, sleeping during the day to avoid the sunlight. During this phase the skin becomes scaly and paper thin, much like how a corpse would look. This fueled the idea that vampires were the walking dead.

The second was dementia, which causes insomnia, anxiety, aggression, and depression. Early vampires tales often show the vampires sulking, awake for hours after dusk, with aggressive personalities made for killing. Next would be diarrhea, and although the vampire cannot fully relate to this, we can see how they represent this phase. Vampires are very skinny; they look like they have not eaten for a long time. They also have a disgust for food, which is very often a symptom of Pellgra. Lastly, death. The vampire was thought to be an undead creature who was stemmed from communities that had many unexplainable deaths (Hampl & Hampl).

More compelling evidence that the vampire myth originated out of this once deadly disease is that vampire attacks during this time were not always killings. Often, towns that were plagued by the presence of vampires would be repeatedly attacked, like a disease that kills slowly, much like Pellegra. Much of the time these repeated attacks would occur before spring, right before the crops were ready for harvest. We know now that Pellegra comes from corn, so having these attacks come just before the corn was ready for harvest seems like a good symbolization for the myth of the vampire.

Now that we know what the vampire represents, which is disease and other times of unexplainable death in pre-industrial societies, it’s time to look at the anxieties that are revealed by the concept of the vampire. There are many anxieties throughout history that would be later explained by the haunting of a vampire. Because the vampire is often seen in the gothic realm, we must take a close look at what the gothic represents to understand the fears and anxieties that lead to the creation of the vampire. The gothic blurs the boundaries between the Heimlich and the unheimlich. It is concerned with the hidden operations and the subjection of the person, the aspect of the psyche that disturbs the social order (Battista).

The vampire is seen as a threat to the societal norms and hierarchies, which is what it craves to overpower: “Culture can become threatened by the secrets it holds. Cultures own most cherished features can be used to defy its dictates” (Haggerty). The power of the vampire masters the power of humans, it shows up as it pleases and cannot be found until daylight when it returns to the grave. Many monsters come from a fear of the unknown, and the vampire is no different: “The vampire lore proves to be an elaborate folk-hypotheses designed to account for seemingly inexplicable events associated with death and decomposition” (Barber). Here we see not only a threat of power but also a threat of death and disease. Things that could not be understood during the time, like the way a body decomposes or why people were seemingly dying inexplicably would be understood through the myth of vampires.

But these are not the only anxieties that allow the creation of vampires. Anne Rice designed a completely new type of vampire, one based on human sexuality. As stated, for centuries humans have been explaining the unknown with new types of monsters. Anne Rice created a sexualized vampire, that was of free will and open in their sexuality, to express a new societal anxiety that was previously undenounced. Rice created a vampire using the imagery of gay life which assumed that vampires have a naturalized homoerotic origin. In this way, Rice’s vampires would express not only a desire for, but also a fear of the gay man (Haggerty). There is the idea that, “the homosexual is a symptom for this cultural situation because he reflects cultures deepest desires and therefore bear the burnt of its systematic hatred in the form of homophobia” (Haggerty). In this way the vampire is not just a fear of the unknown, but also a fear of disease, death, and in Anne Rice’s stories, homosexuality.

Lastly, we will be comparing and contrasting the historical vampire with the contemporary vampire, seeing how true the contemporary stays to the original. Historically the vampire was not the sexualized being that modern culture knows and loves. They were not sexual creatures that struggled to hurt a human, “often people who ‘became’ vampires were difficult, contentious people while alive” (Barber).

The vampire has substantially changed from its origins in the 1700s. The vampire started out as an undead being whose stench would repulse anyone nearby. The idea that vampires smelled terrible stemmed directly from the plague, as many lingering diseases at the time were thought to have a supernatural cause (Barber). However, this idea has changed immensely, looking at one of the most popular vampire series Twilight, we see that Stephenie Meyer’s vampires are beautiful and sexy, meant to draw humans in. At one point they dive into this new idea, stating that even the smell of these modern vampires is meant to bring humans to them, which goes directly against the origin of the vampire.

The sexual nature of the vampire, while nothing new, is a problematic stereotype because it does not stay true to the origin of the myth. Although there are many problematic stigmas we can see develop and retreat throughout the years. One of the many derivations from the origin of the vampire is that they can turn into a bat. Although the readings were primarily historical analyses and they did not touch on the contemporary vampire, the idea of turning into a flying creature is an interesting thought. Potentially, it could stem from the idea that deformed children were more likely to turn into a vampire than someone born healthy and into a legitimate family (Barber). The shapeshifting could symbolize deformation of the body, which connects to the origin of the myth.

Another myth of the vampire is the mass killings they induce, particularly in vampire films created after 2005. They cause chaos and mass destruction, leaving only death behind. Whereas the original vampire did not mercilessly kill but would attack slowly. The slow and grueling attack is some of the best evidence that the vampire stemmed from disease. Disease was misunderstood, so these communities used tales to explain these seemingly supernatural events (Hampl & Hampl). The modern vampire is not a slow attack, but a mass one. A few contemporary vampires have more power than hundreds of humans. Diverting farther and farther from the origins of the myth.

Overall, the vampire myths origins have been nearly forgotten. Although the idea of vampires originated in communities where death and decomposition were misunderstood, the modern vampire has completely disregarded these origins. Nowadays the vampire has taken on the twist of romance and sexuality. Vampires are no longer people who had unfinished business during their untimely death, so they have risen to terrorize their friends and families. That role has been taken on by ghosts and poltergeists. Instead, famous authors and Hollywood directors have changed the vampire into a sexual being who holds a lot of power but is at odds with themselves. They overpower any human but are now interested by them. Vampires now have a sense of control but not long ago they were portrayed as ravenous creatures who would kill off an entire city in one night. The myths and legends that surround vampires are far more interesting than the contemporary monster they have become.

Works Cited:

Barber, Paul. Vampires, Burial, and Death. United States of America, Yale University, 1988.

Battista, Christine. 1 Apr. 2019. Lecture.

Haggerty, George E. “Anne Rice and the Queering of Culture.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction. Duke

University Press, Vol. 32, 1998.

Hampl, Jeffery & Hampl, William. “Pellegra and the Origin of the Myth: Evidence from European

Literature and Folklore.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Vol. 90, November 1997.

[drbattista-blog]

Engaging, rigorous, and sophisticated analysis of the vampire throughout history and culture!

[kianaheber-blog]

Essay 2: Werewolves

Over the years we have grown to become a colonized nation and therefore the lifestyle for humanity has become restricted by the choices and freedoms we have been given as individuals. Meaning, while we have discovered the greater depths of the world, due to the curiosities of our own, there have been consequences to follow our efforts in exploring the world and ourselves. Through these explorations, we uncover what truly lies beneath our flesh. All of the repressed ideas we withhold, our deepest desires, our weaknesses that we wish for no one to know, our instinctual feelings, and the shortcomings we have endured. As these “flaws” surface our primal instincts take charge to defend our inner beast, who shows his face in the form of the monster we have created as a society through many generations, the Werewolf. 

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, introduced what we know today as being the four Jungian Archetypes. These archetypes were used to help label the behaviors, personalities, and models of people. Out of these four archetypes the Werewolf is considered to be classified as the “shadow”. The “shadow” is known to exist as part of the unconscious mind; it is composed of the repressed ideas, weaknesses, desire, instincts, and shortcomings we possess as humans. The “shadow” is the darker side of the psyche that represents wildness, chaos, and the unknown. The “shadow” forms out of our attempts to adapt to cultural norms and expectations. The “shadow” is not just a label for all of the characteristics the Werewolf detains but is a label for the human species as well. 

As we dive further into our society’s interpretation of the Werewolf, we can see the distinct line that clarifies the correlation between the beast and humanity.  Throughout generations, society has used such monstrous figures to depict what unnerves us most, as well as the flaws and sins within our world and ourselves; we may have created one who has not strayed too far from our point of origin. 

Back when the Werewolf came about in history, the world was approaching major alterations in the way it would function from that point in time and beyond. Science and religion were at a war with one another and soon society would have to choose which they would look to for answers and to guiding our world into the future. Eventually, the collision of these two various worlds raised the published question by Abbe Pierre Pouche of whether or not this so-called Werewolf was a beast who acted as an agent of the divine will.

At this same time in history, the Age of Enlightenment: Age of Superstition and Imagination, much of society assumed to believe that even the deformities bred within humankind symbolized their sins. This idea coincided with the concept behind the monsters we had imagined: from Zombies to Vampires, and Werewolves. While our superstitions of the world flowed into our imaginations, our actions became a result of this and led to scientists and the rest of humanity tinkering with God’s creations through experimentation and the process of developing hybrids. 

Some of these hybrids were depicted in various images of man mixed with an animal species, such as a fish. This one became quite popular. Pictures like these foreshadowed the transformation taking place within the world and within the human body. Yet this representation was meant not to reflect the natural change occurring but rather the artificial developments the world had made. At this point, humankind was growing by taking matters into their own hands and out of the hands of the creator of it all, God. A revolutionary transformation was taking place and the Werewolf was attesting for such change. 

Fast forward to the present time, you will notice that we see less of this bestial figure we call “Werewolf”. Unlike many other monsters of this day and age, the Werewolf seems to have digressed to the bottom of our food chain of monsters. But why is this so? Doesn’t it seem strange that the one monster who resembles the inner self of humankind receives the least attraction from humankind itself? 

Maybe, just maybe, that is the very reason why we pay too little attention to the Werewolf. 

For we have found flaws within us, which all have been enveloped in the development of a character. Through this character, we have been received to the world as being deformed and sinful and it shows by them being worn on our skin. The fur grows thick and dark from the deepest darkest thoughts that are born within the crevices of our psyches and of our souls. The muscles and bones are dense and strong from the battles we face between the world’s structure and our strong desires and instinctual feelings. The teeth and claws are sharp to tear away at what in the world makes us feel our shortcomings as humans. You see, the Werewolf is the embodiment of what humanity continually tries to hide. He is only a monster in our eyes because he wears what we are all insecure about on the outside for all to see. This is what drives his prey away. This is what drives what we know away. And if all that we know disappears we are only left to be surrounded by the unknown, one of our biggest fears of all.   

We are uncertain of who we have become. We fear who we are becoming. We are scared of our very own breed. 

Cherry, Kendra. “The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes.” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/what-are-jungs-4-major-archetypes-2795439.

“Pitlane Magazine.” Pitlane Magazine RSS, www.pitlanemagazine.com/cultures/the-symbolism-of-the-werewolf.html.

Smith, Jay M. Monsters of the Gévaudan: the Making of a Beast. Harvard Univ. Press, 2011.

[drbattista-blog]

Engaging, thoughtful, and complex analysis between the representation of bestiality, the shadow self, and the cultural representation of the werewolf!

[nomadicnoesis]

Essay 2: The Werewolf in the Shadow

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that within all humans resides a shadow self, our subconscious representing all of our repressed instincts and desires. Our shadow self contains everything about us that is unacceptable to society and even unacceptable to our own personal morals. From aggression to envy to hate we trap those feelings deep within our shadow. In folklore throughout the world there are tales of humans with an animal hiding within them. Many times this animal was seen as a wolf. What if the shadow first proposed by Carl Jung and the wolf from ancient folklore are one in the same inside all of us, past and present?

After listening to the Lore podcast titled “The Beast Within” the sixteenth century German tale of Peter Stumpp becomes a prime example of connecting the wolf to the human shadow self. In the tale, a small German village is held hostage by violent “wolf” attacks happening outside the town walls. From livestock to young women and children no one was safe from these seemingly random and monstrous attacks. When a hunting party of men and dogs go out into the forest to track the beast down everyone is shocked to discover not a wolf but a man. The man, Peter Stumpp, was a well known farmer from the village and when he confesses to the grisly attacks it is unbelievable. How could a seemingly normal man commit these beastly acts? For everyone in the village there was only one reasonable explanation and it was the one Peter Stumpp himself offered: that because of a pact he entered into with the Devil when he was twelve he had the ability to turn into a wolf to indulge in his blood thirsty desires. As a result of his crimes Peter Stumpp was sentenced to death in a most gruesome manner; his skin was peeled off with hot pincers before his arms and legs were broken and then finally when the townspeople decided to end the torture his head was chopped off. This small German village had become the site of one of the first trials of a wolf man and helped create the legend of what we now know as the modern werewolf.

The tale of Peter Stumpp exemplifies the cultural fears and anxieties of sixteenth century Europe, but also represents fears of the collective human consciousness as told by Carl Jung’s archetype. The citizens of this German village couldn’t begin to fathom that a normal man could commit these atrocities, but Peter Stumpp did and they needed a way to explain it. Instead of admitting that a man everyone knew and loved could be so beastly the werewolf became an explanation that everyone could more easily stomach. A giant unknown monster hiding in the woods was less scary than the unassuming neighbor living next door. While there is irony in the way the villagers gruesomely executed the accused, ultimately the story of Peter Stumpp and the werewolf represent the human fear of an animalistic side and a shadow self. The werewolf was a scapegoat used to explain the horror instead of admitting to the reality that humans have a darker side within them that when released is absolutely beastly.

But how could humans so readily accept the existence of a monstrous beast with no scientific evidence? As Jay Smith discusses in Monsters of the Gevaudan: The Making of a Beast, “The anxieties that attended this set of transformations… distilled the curiosities, fears, and hopes of a wide cross section of the French population, creating an atmosphere in which many- the elite and the lowly, the learned and the unlearned- could accept and even expect, the presence of a monster” (pg. 5). While Smith is focused on a different beastly wolf in a different European country in a different century the essence of his quote holds true for the tale of Peter Stumpp and all instances of werewolf stories. The cultural climate and environment of a region and a people directly affects their willingness to accept the unknown. The real anxieties of the time, aside from the constant fear of our shadow self, become exemplified in the werewolf. In the case of the Beast of Gevaudan the presence of a monstrous wolf helped the French population work through their repressed fears and anxieties in the age of Enlightenment and in the wake of the Seven Years’ War. As it was easier to fear an unknown beast in the woods of Germany so it was easier to fear a beast in the mountains of France, or else face the reality of political unrest and national vulnerability.

The tale of Peter Stumpp and the legend of the werewolf bring to the surface a collective fear of the human subconscious and what exists within the darkest parts of our shadows. As time goes by and cultural anxieties change so to does the presence of the werewolf, but what remains the same is the constant fear of the Jungian archetype, the Shadow. From sixteenth century Europe to 1940s Hollywood the werewolf exemplifies humans’ fear of the Shadow. Using the 1941 film The Wolf Man as a more modern example of the werewolf it is easy to see the continued fear of inner man. In the film, the main character Larry has been turned into a werewolf, but no one wants to believe that he’s changed. Even when Larry tells his father of the animalistic instincts that have surfaced from within him because of his bite from a werewolf, his father refuses to believe him and thinks it’s all in his head. For the characters around Larry there’s no way this normal guy could have these beastly urges that lead him to attack other people. The werewolf has come to symbolize mankind’s refusal of our own inner darkness.

The existence of the werewolf was born out of ancient folklore and continues to live on through popular culture. But why do we keep the werewolf archetype around when it represents everything we don’t want to be as a society? Perhaps the werewolf has lived on through the centuries to serve as a reminder that hiding within all of us is a darkness more terrifying than any beast lurking in the shadows.

Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. “The 4 Major Jungian Archetypes.” Verywell Mind, 2 Apr. 2019,www.verywellmind.com/what-are-jungs-4-major-archetypes-2795439.

Mahnke, Aaron, host. “Episode 3: The Beast Within.” Lore, Lore Podcast, 6 April 2015. https://www.lorepodcast.com/episodes/3

Smith, Jay M. “Introduction: The Beast and Its World.” Monsters of the Gevaudan: The Making of a Beast, EBSCOhost, 2011, pp. 1–6.

[drbattista-blog]

Thoughtful, engaging, and rigorous examination of the shadow self, bestiality, and culture representations of the werewolf!

[justforthespooks]

Blog Post 4: Zombies

An analysis of the roots of the “zombie” begins with the origins of the word itself. The contemporary term can be traced to West African languages; “ndzumbi means ‘corpse’ in the Mitsogo language of Gabon, and nzambi means the ‘spirit of a dead person’ in the Kongo language”(Luckhurst). The problematic representations of Vodou in American culture also finds its origins in these West African countries as a direct consequence of European slavers forcibly removing people from their homelands and transporting them across the Atlantic to work in the sugar cane plantations of the West Indies (countries located in the Caribbean basin.)

Despite the animosity, these people continued to practice the religions of their motherlands until French law required slaves to convert to the dominant religion: Catholicism. Instead of creating a homogenized belief system this spurred the formulation of Vodou or Voodoo in Haiti, Obeah in Jamaica, Santeria in Cuba; composed from the mixing of elements of different West African traditions. By the time the concept of the zombie settled in Haiti, tales of “witch-doctors” having the ability to sedate a person into an ambulatory state with the purpose of having them do their biding through the use of magic, hypnosis, and potions began to circulate. 

This version of the zombie arrived to America via its occupation of Haiti in the early 20th century. Produced a few years before the troops left Haiti, the film, White Zombie (1932), was greater America’s first cinematic encounter with the zombie. The film itself draws from “The Magic Island” by William Seabrook- who went to Haiti in 1927. According to Luckhurst, “ Seabrook was a self-proclaimed ‘negrophile’ – a man who embraced ‘primitivism’ as an ecstatic escape from his privileged, white Southern origins. He had danced with whirling dervishes in Arabia and tried to join a cannibal cult in West Africa. In Haiti, he was soon initiated into Voodoo ceremonies and claimed to have been possessed by the gods. Then in one chapter called Dead Men Working in Cane Fields, the mention of zombies prompts a local to take Seabrook to the plantation of the Haitian-American Sugar Corporation and introduce him to the zombies who work the fields at night. “They were plodding like brutes, like automatons. The eyes were the worst. They were in truth like the eyes of a dead man, not blind, but staring, unfocused, unseeing.” Seabrook panics, momentarily, that all the superstitions he had heard are true, before plucking for a rational explanation: they were “nothing but poor ordinary demented human beings, idiots, forced to toil in the fields.”

White Zombie goes on to represent the zombie as being an emblem of a slave: without will, without an identity, and trapped in submission- the zombies in the film fittingly work in a sugar mill. But the film does not use the black body as the vessel for this message, instead it focuses on the intrusion of a white woman’s body. Since then, the zombie myth- like many other cultural tropes- has been rampantly appropriated by American pop culture, whitewashing its origins through gory Hollywood portrayals, turning the undead into a platform for escapist fantasy.  

Contemporary uses of the zombie-as portrayed in TV shows like The Walking Dead/ Fear the Walking Dead- shamefully embody the appropriation of suffering caused on black bodies. These shows dilute the emblem of the zombie to facilitate fantasies of mankind facing survival, rooted in a fear of nature. This is problematic because for Haitian slaves, the invention of the zombie was proof that the abuse they suffered transcended their life on earth; they had imagined their carnal slavery to transpire into death.

Luckhurst, Roger. “Culture - Where Do Zombies Come from?” BBC, BBC, 31 Aug. 2015, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150828-where-do-zombies-come-from.

[drbattista-blog]

Exceptional analysis!

[bradywade55]

Blog Post 4: “Zombie” or “Zombi”?. The little “e” that makes a BIG Difference.

As many know, the Zombie, or should I say “Zombi” archetype developed around the 18th century during the amalgamation of the Haitian and American cultures. I use the phrase “Haitian Culture” lightly as this was truthfully a mix of culture from the African and Caribbean immigrants that were forcefully moved to the island. Although the state religion of Haiti is Catholicism, the majority of the island inhabitants were known to practice a religion known as Vodou. Somewhere along the way, this beautiful religion was translated into a very ignorant “Americanized” practice of this religion known as “Voodoo”. With the religious injustice that is American Voodoo, there are several myths and lore’s attached to such. One of the greatest of which is demonstrated when the “Zombie” is created. The first image of a zombie we see is introduced in 1932 through the Film, “White Zombie” produced and directed by Edward and Victor Halperin. In this film, the very famous Bela Lugosi plays the Character of a mysterious Zombie master who controls a hoard or Zombies through Voodoo practices. In this movie, we observe many classic stereotypes regarding the Zombie archetype as it existed at this time. Bela Lugosi’s Character reflects the “Voodoo Witch Doctor” archetype in which was believed to steal corpse’s from their resting places and re-animate them to provide as servants. This entire concept appears almost as a perfect metaphor for the events that actually perspired during this time. People. Originally indigenous to Various parts of Africa and many of the Caribbean Island were inadvertently “Stolen”, for a lack of better words, from their home. From there, there are forced on a journey to America where they would be made to work as “Indentured Servants” for the white Europeans who had brought them there. To make matters worse, the concept of indentured servitude slowly slips away as any promise of freedom for the new slaves are completely encapsulated. The voyage for the slaves that ended up on the Haitian Island was no shy of Brutal. Slaves were packed into ships, placed in unsanitary conditions, and treated no greater than basic cargo. In fact, the individuals who proved too weak for these harsh conditions were often discarded over the ship as if purely expendable. Those that did make it to the island were left exhausted and dehumanized. It is possible that the first appearance of slaves on the island gave off the impression of “Zombies” as they were marched on land, most likely barebones and lifeless. It is no shock that this archetype found its debut during this period. It would serve as the perfect gimmick in which the people of the NEW WORLD would hide their ugly OLD PAST. My only question is…what proves more monstrous; the zombie archetype or the truth behind its origin?

[drbattista-blog]

Thoughtful and engaging analysis!

[gloominaticonfirmed]

Lauryn Hill - Every Ghetto, Every City [lyrics]

Lauryn Hill's song Every Ghetto, Every City with lyrics.

[drbattista-blog]

Excellent analysis of the relationship between space, voice, and rap. 

[kianaheber-blog]

Blog Post #3

The fabrication of the vampire has truly made what once was a disease into an infamous monster. Over a span of centuries, traveling all the way back to the early 1700s in Europe up until present day, a great interest has developed for this European folklore. By nature, we as humans fear the act of death and the decaying of our bodies. We see this societal angst within the characterization of this monster we so label “Vampire”: an after death body remained with decomposed hair, skin, and nails continually willing to grow and fresh blood flowing from the mouth. In the early days of life, fresh blood flowing from the mouth was a sign of lung disease, which happened to kill off many at this time creating a historical plague. The vampire was symbolic to this tragic form of death. As time went on, the world became very sensitive to those who were born “different” from the world; for those with any deformities were sought to grow up and die as a vampire. Today, we view this monster as a representation of social epidemics surrounding gender inequality, race, and sexuality. The movie, Queen of the Damned clearly exemplifies this idea through the relationship between Lastat and Akasha, queen of the vampires. While all vampires in the movie come equipped with a look that is trending with modern times, we see feminine power taking its reign through Akasha when she is awakened by her soon to be king, Lastat. As their power leads them to a romantic relationship, we then begin to see the topic of race take the stage. Not only has the vampire manifested into becoming a woman as opposed to a man, but now by placing a woman of color into the main role of power we see the underlying message of the transition between racial and gender roles in the real world. Not only has the European folklore challenged these world views but so has American gothic. The American gothic has been known to frame the discarded elements in life, the dark moments we try to forget, and plays them out through dark landscapes and settings as well as violence and horror. The Vampire has grown to become a platform for the American gothic to play upon; for the Vampire must be kept a secret as the movie Queen of the Damned frequently announces, “dead to the world and never to be known”, and this is the very action we ask of our dark moments in life to take as well, to “be kept a secret.” From the dawn of time, humanity has dreamt up characters to withhold our deepest and darkest secrets as a society and use them as a protective mechanism to stand between all dimensions of reality that do not bring us pleasure and security. The vampire has become one of these so-called characters. 

[drbattista-blog]

thoughtful, engaging, and provocative post!

[connected2nature]

Blog post #3: Vampire Culture

While watching the Queen of the Damned I can’t help but see the stark difference between vampires of the 18th century and this modern portrayal. The vampires of old were shown as bestial sickly peasantry whose sinful natures turned them into savage undead men who prey upon women. I believe this corresponds to the burgeoning of intellectual high society whose “Godly” religion and renaissance reasoning separated them from the masses in occupied Eastern Europe. Therefore, the church and elite used diseases such as pellagra to twist folklore beliefs for their own purposes. 

In our modern interpretation of the vampire myth things are much different, especially in Anne Rice’s case. Todays vampire is no longer an animalistic slave to the bourgeoise. They are strong, powerful, and glamourous creatures that operate independently of society. Something that is and was the dream of the lower classes. The irony in Queen of the Damned is that Lestat, one of the main characters, used to be a French nobleman before becoming a vampire. These themes are seen throughout other modern vampire iterations, but Anne Rice adds more layers that really sets her apart. Her main story line involves a repressed and hidden history of all vampires coming from a godlike creature who is a powerful African-American woman. I find it interesting that a white man supposedly from the 4th century is involved in keeping Akasha asleep and subdued. I believe that this not only unearths our history of racial and sexist oppression, but also connects to the beginning of religious suppression of pagans and other tribal religions. If that weren’t enough there is another. This movie was released in the early 2000’s which just happens to coincide with the new historically significant discovery about humanities origins in Africa. Something that our western centric ideologies have had issues digesting.  This story uses the gothic style at its best to illuminate so many contemporary issues. Anne Rice expertly reinvents the vampire myth to achieve just that.

[drbattista-blog]

excellent and thoughtful analysis on vampires, culture, horror, and myth!

[bradywade55]

Essay 1: Option 1- Myrtles Plantation & The Tunica Burial Grounds

         Whether haunted by a ghost or haunted by a bad fashion choice, almost everyone can say they have experienced a haunting at one point of their life or another. When many people hear of a “Haunting” they almost immediately begin to associate it with things such ghosts, demons, devilish spirits, haunted house, or other things of that nature. My interpretation of a haunting is far different from this. I associate a haunting with nothing more than a persistent memory, or even better yet, the energy associated with such a memory. By energy, I am referring to the manifestation of emotions and/or actions through the memory of a person, event, or even a place. The energy that resulting from “hauntings” is strong and is typically experienced through various negative emotions such as sorrow, fear, misery, anger or even hysteria. I believe that positive emotions can also manifest themselves in similar ways, although they are not generally associated with hauntings. Hauntings usually encase the worst of the worst emotions. They are associated with people, places and objects thought to be ungodly, cursed, or personally stained by a misfortunate past. “There’s nowhere in this nation that wasn’t already inhabited before Europeans arrived, and there’s no town, no house, that doesn’t sit atop someone else’s former home. More often than not, we’ve chosen to deal with this fact through the language of ghosts.” (Dickey, Pg. 38) This quote form Colin Dickey’s novel, Ghostland, perfectly describes the concept Americans have adopted that no matter where you stand, someone, something, or someplace stood there before. We justify this and better yet commemorate the past by dedicating ghost stories to such. Hauntings seem to occur almost anywhere, in fact, one can say everywhere is pretty much haunted by one spirit or another. What truly determines the magnitude of a haunting is merely the stories that stand to be told.

         Located just south of Louisiana State route 61, in St. Francisville, LA, there stands a fairly famous property by the name of Myrtles Plantation. For the past 200 years, stories have continued to generate about Myrtles Plantation in respect to various haunted activity and unexplained occurrences that have been reported on the grounds. Stories range from sightings of the apparition of a young mulatto slave girl to that of the ghosts of Tunica Native Americans who might have inhabited the land prior to the settlers who built the plantation. These tales have helped to drive the popularity of this historical site and have even inspired more stories that have been developed from the experiences of past visitors and staff members on the grounds. This former antebellum plantation was first erected in 1796 by General David Bradford. Bradford, also known as “Whisky Dave”, led the whisky rebellion from 1791 to 1794. Shortly after, Bradford fled the U.S. in attempt to avoid imprisonment, then leaving his home to his son in law, Judge Clarke Woodruff. The Mansion within the plantation was then remodeled by Judge Woodruff. Fourteen years later, after being sold again, the mansion was remodeled one last time. Since then, the plantation has been claimed by new owners who have opened up the plantation to visitors. Guests can now explore the property with the opportunity for tours, dinners, and other exciting activities.(MyrtlesPlantation.com; History)

       The lore that surrounds the Myrtle Plantation stems from the properties dark past. There are many popular stories that have embedded themselves within the Plantations history; the most popular of which being that about a slave girl named Chloe. Chloe was supposedly a young slave, roughly thirteen or fourteen years of age, who had taken up residence on the plantation while it was owned and managed by Judge Clark Woodruff. Chloe held a special place on the plantation as it was rumored that she was temporarily granted extra freedom by the plantation owner as she served as his mistress for a short time. After a misunderstanding, Woodruff had punished Chloe for eavesdropping on him. In chapter two of the book Ghostland written by Colin Dickey, there is a short story titled Shifting Ground, in which the author describes this incidence regarding Chloe and Woodruff. One passage states, “As punishment, Woodruff cut off Chloe’s ear—from then on, she wore a green turban to hide her deformity” (Dickey, Pg. 39). It was then said that she was made to work in the kitchen where she began to plot an opportunity for redemption. According to the book, Chloe attempted to jeopardize a meal served to the family of the plantation owner. She supplemented oleander into their food in hopes to cause sickness but instead accidently murders the whole family with exception of the plantation owner. Soon after discovering the cause of his family’s death, Woodruff then sentenced the other slaves to violently murder Chloe. The slaves obeyed the orders, disposing of Chloe’s remains in a nearby river and therefor denying her a proper burial (Dickey, Pg. 40). It is legend that Chloe’s spirit still haunts the ground of the planation to this very day. While I believe this to be true, I wouldn’t go as far to say that Chloe haunts the plantation in a physical sense. Instead, I believe that the plantation is haunted by Chloe’s story and the history it unearths. I didn’t go into brutal detail about Chloe’s story, but had I done so, it would have demonstrated some of the conditions in which Chloe and her fellow slave’s endured. Chloe’s story has many underlying details that unveil the ugly truths about slave run plantations such as Myrtles. As Chloe’s story is continually told through the passing years, Chloe’s ghost will continue to wander the grounds as an eerie reminder of the gruesome past regarding the slaves who were bound there.

         Another Theory surrounding Myrtles Plantation is that Chloe simply did not exist. A passage from Colin Dickey’s book reads “None of the records of the plantation have turned up a slave named Chloe. This is unsurprising” (Dickey, Pg. 41) I agree with the author that it does not come as a shock when no records of Chloe are found. There is a great probability that the story of Chloe was an elaborate hoax cleverly created by one of the previous owners of the plantation. As explained in Dickeys novel, Chloe’s ghost pays homage to several female stereotypes familiar in American folklore. Dickey identified two stereotypes in his text as he mentions “the Jezebel figure, a sexually precocious slave who disturbs the natural order of the nuclear household….” and “the “mammy” figure, a motherly slave who earns her spot in a white household…”. While I can relate both of these stereotypes to the persona of Chloe, I more strongly support the following claims Dickey makes in saying “The lack of clear details or historical substantiation means that the legend of Chloe is adaptable: each person who tells her story can borrow from the various stereotypes as needed, emphasizing different aspects over others to suit the telling.” (Dickey, Pg. 41) I believe that Chloe’s story isn’t that of a person but that of a collection of people. As people develop their own interpretations and emotions regarding the history of the plantation, keeping in mind their own experiences, they begin to impose their own influence on the story making it their own.

       Myrtles Plantation is but one example of a haunted location. Given any specific location, there could be hundreds of haunted properties. Much like Myrtles Plantations, different places can hold some seriously obscure tale and lore, leading people to believe those places are haunted by kindred spirits. Given the ability for any individual to impose their own influence on the lore attached to a given location, tales can grow quite fast and can take several different turns. It is common for stories of strange phenomena and unexplained events to develop, creating the sense of various emotions. As more people choose to elaborate on these tales, the more obscure they become. Soon, the tales become so twisted and unorthodox that the only way to explain them are by deeming them “unexplainable”. If we take a moment and evaluate some of the reported paranormal activity associated with various haunted places, we able to see past the facade and identify the truth behind the history. However, in some cases, the stories remain so twisted and distorted, the truth remains a mystery. Truthfully, the reality surrounding the tales of hauntings, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder. It is up to the viewer whether they want to get down to brass tax or if they want to just keep chasing ghosts.

                                                       Sources Cited:

 Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, by Colin Dickey. New York: Penguin, 2016

 History of Myrtles Plantation. MyrtlesPlantation.com. (March 23, 2019). https://www.myrtlesplantation.com/history-and-hauntings/history-of-myrtles-plantation

[drbattista-blog]

excellent and outstanding analysis.

[nomadicnoesis]

Essay 1: Option 1- What Really Haunts Shockoe Bottom?

In Ghostland by Colin Dickey, the chapter “A Devilish Place” looks at the dark history of the seemingly unassuming community of Shockoe Bottom in Richmond, Virginia. As one of the oldest European settlements in the country the land where Shockoe Bottom in Richmond now sits has a storied history dating back to the early seventeenth century with prominent figures such as Pocahontas and John Smith living in the area around Powhatan’s River (now known as the James River). From the Powhatans’ battles with European settlers to the Revolutionary War to the slave trade and Civil War, the land where the neighborhood of Shockoe Bottom lies is bound to be haunted by its bloody past. But who and what truly haunts the old buildings and the collective conscious of Shockoe Bottom? Looking deeper into the haunted history of Shockoe Bottom reveals an overwhelming report of ghost stories, but ultimately they are ghost stories that repress and bury the the true gruesome nature of the community’s racist past.

As Dickey asks at the beginning of the chapter, “Why, then, in a place that should be so haunted by the legacy of such a terrible injustice, the scene of countless deaths, should there be nothing but white ghosts?” (pg. 104). An online search for haunted spaces in Shockoe Bottom in Richmond brings up a “Twelve Most Haunted Buildings” list that ranges from theatres built in the 1920s to the oldest building in the area to even a plantation from the mid 1700s, but not a single mention of the Devil’s Half Acre or Lumpkin’s Jail. As Dickey discusses in Ghostland these two spaces were home to massive amounts of tragedy and should be home to thousands of lost souls, yet the spaces and ghosts mentioned in the article bear no mention of Shockoe Bottom’s days as the second largest slave trade market in America. The ghosts in the article range from little blonde children to Edgar Allan Poe, but even in the section about the plantation there is no impression given that any space in Shockoe Bottom is haunted by the ghosts of African slaves.

And why should it? As Dickey states, “the forced migration of enslaved people, facilitated by the massive slave markets in places like Shockoe Bottom and New Orleans, stripped people of their humanity so as to maximize their profit potential” (pg. 111). Memory is a part of humanity and slavery was built on forgetting who these people were. Slaves were never meant to be remembered so it’s no surprise that they are erased from present day Shockoe Bottom’s ghost stories and their collective consciousness. The lack of African slaves in the space’s haunted tales are an attempt to forget the community’s gruesome past, which also serves as a continuation of the racist system that only succeeded when it was able to entirely remove the enslaved person’s humanity.

“A Devilish Place” proves that the living decide who from the dead come back to haunt us. The ghost stories made popular in Shockoe Bottom are a problematic narrative that look to erase an ugly truth from the community’s past. By removing the ghosts of African slaves from ghost stories, a form of oral history, the memory of their existence is removed from the collective consciousness, which is an attempt to remove them from the space’s history all together. By  whitewashing Shockoe Bottom’s haunted tales, so too is the history of the neighborhood whitewashed, refusing to face the real ghosts hiding in its shadows.

Refusing to acknowledge what is really haunting Shockoe Bottom gives the area an uncanny feeling, a knowing that the blonde haired ghosts haunting the theatres and pubs are not the real threat. The real threat and real fear comes from the unknown, the buried bones and stories of African slaves, now paved over by a new highway. Like the slave owners and traders who feared a revolt, modern day Shockoe Bottom fears an uprising of its ugly past. The ghost stories from the supposedly haunted buildings found in articles like the “Twelve Most Haunted Buildings” list are just a distraction from the true fear in the back of everyone’s mind. Shockoe Bottom’s horrific history and its role in the North American slave trade will always strike a bigger fear in the heart of its citizens than any white ghost ever could. The repression of African slaves in Shockoe Bottom’s ghost stories is an attempt by the community to repress what truly haunts them: their own brutal and racist past.

Works Cited

Dickey, Colin. Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. New York: 

Penguin, 2016

Pascal, Danasia. “Richmond’s Most Haunted Buildings.” 12 About Town, 18 Oct. 2018,

www.12abouttown.com/richmonds-most-haunted-buildings/.

[drbattista-blog]

outstanding analysis between horror, hauntings, and buried racism. 

[bradywade55]

Blog Post # 2- Amityville Horror (1979)

I think that the Film Amityville Horror (1979 version) speaks volumes, however people might not truly be paying as close of attention to this movie as they should. This movie was directed by Stuart Rosenberg and written in collaboration by Sandor Stern and Jay Anson. The film follows an allegedly true story about a family of 5 who move into a fairly large Dutch Colonial style house located in the suburban town of Amityville, Long Island. This family led by newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz unsuspectingly occupy their new home without knowing the sinister history behind it. Before the Lutz family purchased the house, it had previously belonged to a man by the name of Ronald J. Defeo Jr. What the Lutz family were unaware of was that Defeo had murdered his two parents and four siblings in that house barely 13 months before the Lutz had moved in. The film covers the story of the Lutz family and their relative encounters for their brief stay in this house in which lasted just shy of a 28 days. 

The film depicts many seemingly unexplainable occurrences that unfolded in the house, many of which were centered around George Lutz, the “Man of the Household”. Although the film takes on a supernatural/paranormal theme, I have a particular suspicion that the story holds true to some very real themes. A specific theme I feel to have a strong influence on this story is the “American Dream”. 

The introduction of the film portrays a newly web couple who externally appear to be happy and healthy. As it would appear, the couple is in pursuit of their first home to use as foundation to build the perfect American Dream for their selves and their three children. As the couple soon discovered, their coveted American Dream begins quickly taking a turn towards an American Nightmare. If we take a look at societies recipe for the American Dream, we can instantaneously begin to make connections to the storyline of Amityville Horror.

As society would have it, the American Dream would begin with a happy husband and a happy wife, both living a happy life. In the beginning of the film, George and Kathy Lutz both appear to fit the script, however as the story pans out, we begin to see this couple’s true colors through a series of brief yet very illustrated arguments. At one point, one of the arguments even escalates until it gets physical when George slaps his wife Kathy across her face. Other relevant events in this film would lead you to believe that George Lutz temper is a result of some possession or influence caused by his stay in the house but could this be his true character manifesting itself in a state of anger. There are many pieces of evidence that contribute to an alternative theory that maybe there were some underlying issues with this couple that the audience may not be aware of.

The next step in approaching the perfect American Dream would be to complete your happy family with one and a half happy children and maybe even a family pet. In the Lutz case, they have three kids, or even two and a half, considering one kid is spaced out half the time and talking to her “imaginary friend”. The children even have their own dog, Harry. Something to note is that the three children actually belong to Kathy Lutz, as George simply married into the family. We are not entirely sure what happened to the father(s) of the children or even if the kids had their father(s) in the picture at all. This could have caused some discrepancy with the church and could be why the film portrays the churches negligence to help the family when they seemed to be in need. The only individual of the church that seemed empathetic towards the family happened to be a family friend, therefore making him somewhat partial towards the family.

The only thing really left to complete this families American Dream is that perfect house and car. The family seems pretty comfortable with their giant souped up van so we got that out of the way. This house would seem to be the only thing standing in the way of this family achieving its bliss. So why did it seem like this house did the opposite for this family. As soon as they moved in, they more or less began to fall apart. Surely the house had to of been haunted. How else can you explain a household becoming subatomic in such a short period of time. My best guess is that this family had a lot of hidden dark history that they wanted to keep secret from the public. Every family has secrets, even some more than others. It’s possible that this family had high hopes for their future but as things began to unfold rapidly, they shifted their negative energy towards the house instead of each other. 

I am not saying that ghosts and hauntings aren’t real; In fact, I’m proposing the opposite. I think that the paranormal is far more real than anyone gives it proper credit for. I believe that what some think is irrational is really just rational thoughts and events portraying themselves in unfamiliar ways. I strongly believe that this family did experience a haunting however they weren’t haunted by spirits from the past but nearly spirits of the present. As bizarre as it sounds, I feel that they were haunted by themselves. I guess that only

[drbattista-blog]

Love this post, Brady!! Great job!

[notoriousrbg]

Happy 86th birthday to a woman who never stops fighting for what’s right, proving the haters wrong, and amazing us with her grit, tenacity, and grace. To many, many more years of “notoriety” ahead. 🙌👑🎉❤️🙏 (📷: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvB27nXgAbU/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1rq7ejdlmghij

[majstaybreezy16]

Black Mirror ‘Nosedive’ Midterm

Nosedive. The name of the episode wasn’t clear to me until the very end. The title signified the so called ranking or score that Lacie Pound, the main character; was so fascinated with. Lacie is a middle aged woman who still lives with her brother Ryan as she is trying to become one of the elite citizens in her world. Within trying to become one of the elite citizens, she loses herself until an encounter with a woman who claimed Lacie reminded her of herself when she was younger, as she was crazy over the scoring system too. This encounter changes Lacie almost for the better at the end of the episode.  

Class: On Nosedive, the ranking given or “earned” by the people determines if they are accepted in society or if they are treated as an outcast. Every time you have an encounter with someone you are able to see their score by their head. Not only are you able to see their score, but you are able to see their score, but you are able to rate them at the end of each encounter. Sounds like Uber right? In our society today, we have the credit score that has to do with just our finances and whether we can purchase houses or cars or not, but it is not something that is socially put on display like the scores in this episode of “Black Mirror”.

As Lacie Pound manages to get her score above a 4.0, she randomly gets a call from a childhood friend by the name of Naomi. Naomi’s social class is impeccable. She brags about not falling below a 4.7 in the last 8 months and how everyone at her wedding will be above a 4.0. They were friends as children but after a turn of events on mentioned as hair pulling and Naomi  having intercourse with what seems to be an old boyfriend of Lacie’s, they are barely associates. So surprisingly, purpose of the call was for Naomi to ask Lacie to be her maid of honor in her wedding. Throughout the whole phone call scene, I was just as disgusted by it as her Lacie’s brother Ryan. It seemed as though everything was the furthest thing away from genuine and the phone call wasn’t even the half of what gave me those vibes. There were many other sequences in the episode. There was the woman in the elevator, the guy who gave the entire office shakes, and the overall courtesy of everyone in this episode while her score is on the rise. Later in the show though, we see that the score means everything in life. It determines if you have  connections, can get a up to date rental, buy a charge which in our world is gas, and just be treated right. After all of the shenanigans in the airport, Lacie ended up in a truck with a female who insisted that Lacie reminded her of the woman when she was younger. She pours out her heart and story to Lacie as things take an interesting turn in the story to make Lacie see the world in her own way and not like others. *Dialogue from the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive” *

Truck Driver: Eight years ago, Tom, my husband, got cancer. It was pancreatic, a real bitch. The symptoms showed up late.

Lacie: I’m so sorry.

Truck Driver: You don’t know me, so you’re not really sorry. You’re just mainly awkward ‘cause I have sprung some cancer talk at you.

This entire show reminded me of race and class because it was like only the people with the low or bad scores had a real genuine taste of reality. After this encounter, it was like she took a nosedive into reality. Of course Naomi and her husband checked Lacie’s new and improved, well diminished score and decide to not let her come to the wedding as it would ruin their reputation. Seeing everyone else enjoying their scores didn’t feel too well to me but knowing how sane I am to be able to speak my mind without thinking about a score is great. Once Lacie stopped worrying about her score, she was able to keep it real with others but most of all herself.

Economics: So the economic side of the show in my view, reminded me of our economic blog post question during week five. The question stated, “Blog Post 5: After reading “The Economics of the Media Industry” what are your thoughts? Specifically, can you think of a solution to the ‘fake news’ problem, and the censorship problem? Now, I will not be touching on the fake news portion (or maybe I will), but my main focus will be on censorship. During the episode of “Black Mirror”  we get Lacie who is such a nice person outside in the world but it’s probably because of the fascination she had with obtaining a high score. Back home though, the way she communicated with her brother was something we perceive as a normal brother and sister relationship in television. They were usually at each other’s throats going at it and cussing each other out. Once Lacie begins to be discriminated by others though, she just couldn’t handle keeping her real emotions hidden. This is where the big censorship aspect of the story comes into play. In our society, we currently cuss or use words that can be said among our peers that we usually don’t use near our elders. On this episode, peers or not, no profanity or swears are permitted. We see censorship during the airport scene when Lacie begins to turn up on the airport cashier and starts to use swears. Not only is she docked points by pretty much all of the people surrounding her, but she is also kicked out of the airport. Throughout the whole scene you hear gasps and see frowning faces as her language and behavior take the wrong turn. What does this have to do with censorship? Well, think about our society and how this would affect our daily lives. A lot of us talk loosely and sometimes curse while being goofy or joking around. If this system of no cursing was implemented into our system, that would eliminate the whole free speech aspect of our lives. This show reminded me of the book that is mentioned almost every class, “1984” by George Orwell. This reminds me of “1984” because in the book the people aren’t allowed to express themselves let alone have feelings. Throughout the show, I was disgusted by how fake yet similar everyone was just to make sure their score was well maintained. It also reminds me of the part of the book where it talks about if feelings are detected, they will be killed. Lacie wasn’t killed in the show but she kind of was. After the dispute in the airport, she was practically on the verge of losing everything. She wouldn’t be able to enter her job as a 3.1, she couldn’t buy a charge (gas) for the rental car, and many other privileges she once had weren’t there for her to use anymore.

Side Note: Also, the social class and scores were put on full display as Lacie is eager to move out of the home she shares with her brother. She is so eager and so far gone that it also seems as if she is abandoning him because of his low score. He questions her sanity and her questionable moves she’s making in this exchange where he criticizes the place she is trying to move into. It also shows how aware and woke her brother is and makes you really wonder what it’s like living in her desired living space as he refers to it as a prison.

Lacie: Don’t shit on me for aiming higher.

Ryan: Pelican Cove higher?

Lacie:What’s wrong with Pelican Cove? They’re great apartments!

Ryan:They are fake-smile jail cells!

This also plays into economics too though, as throughout the whole show, the 4.5’s aren’t out hanging with people below 4’s because that socially ruins their score. They aren’t befriending or marrying them either. This shows how much social class means to Lacie as she is willing to start a “new” life and not be associated with her own brother anymore since he’s in his 3’s (Ironic she ends up being in the same category of social class he’s in later in the episode). We saw how lethal these people could be when Lacie didn’t let her coworker into their workplace because everyone else in the office didn’t like him. It showed peer pressure and also being so numb to the point where she doesn’t have a mind of her own.  

“The people will not revolt. They will not look up from their screens long enough to notice what’s happening” - George Orwell

Sources Cited

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin, 1949. Print

IMBD Black Mirror “Nosedive” episode quotes 

[drbattista-blog]

Excellent examination and comparative analysis, Samaj! Well-done. And great connection back to Orwell. 

[gloominaticonfirmed]

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[drbattista-blog]

exemplary analysis, Ryan. 

[gloominaticonfirmed]

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