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Essay 3: House on Haunted Hill (1959 and 1999)

Throughout this class, we have watched many movies from the 1930s to 1980s and so on. We have analyzed every aspect to hauntings and horror. We have observed culturally and current event during the time period to see what other hidden meanings that are lurking in the shadows. The original House on Haunted Hill that is a straightforward film. The film immediately starts with Frederick Loren explaining what is going to happen in the house and why there were strangers invited to the party. In the remark version, they start off with a back story of what happened in the asylum with a complete vivid reenactment shown. It takes about a good 15 to 20 minutes before getting to the house/asylum. Movies nowadays take a while before getting to the actual storyline, they always want to build up to the story and scary us viewers along the with before getting to the good part.  I have notice scary movies either save to the scary parts towards the end of the movie or they will scary us along the way. I guess traditional scary movies save the scary parts to the end but I have seen it both ways throughout our movie madness for the past two weeks.

While watching both the 1959 version and the remark in 1999, there are a few similarities but it was mostly a lot of differences. Both the films had 4 guys and 3 ladies, the guest being lead together by cars to house on haunted hill, something for the ceiling falling down, the mini coffins with the guns, a woman shooting the host, the wife of the host getting murdered the first time, all of the invited guest needing money, and all been connected for the wife’s death. Although the similarities are relatively the same the storyline is still different. The remark of the film, the “house” seems more of an asylum than a house, the names of the characters are all different. There is a connection between all the guest that was invited to the house besides wanting money, it was that each person had a family member that worked at the asylum. In the remake version, they weren’t invited by Mr Price they were invited by the house/asylum. The house was a major symbol in the remake. We studied that the house represents the American Dream. The American Dream is to one day have a house to call your own, it is something that you worked hard for and it is a symbol to show that your hard work paid off. However, in this film (1999 version) the house is after the people. I think the house is not pleased with what it has come to and it is taking revenge on those that have defiled it. In class, we have read that in the past asylum weren’t good places for people that actually needed help. Often people were left alone in their own suffering and untreated. (Dickey) But in this film, patients were tortured and cut open without anaesthesia. It remains me of the story about Josef Mengele, a German Nazis scientist/doctor that was experimenting with twins and other deformities without anaesthesia. He was a cruel man that didn’t understand that he was monster, the doctor that performed the unnecessary act in the film was also a monster and died for it.  

Both the film, have 4 men and 3 women. They also share a women shooting the host of the party because of hysteria. Both the films drive the women to madness and shooting the first person they see acting out of order to death. By as such picking a woman that is scared easily and fragile. In the remake, Sara seems to be a successful independent woman but liars about her position and easily gets discovered first and is targeted. Why does it always has to be a woman who is scared of hysteria and not a man? It is because man is supposed to be the heroes and the providers for the family but this is old fashion. It is more common nowadays to be married, or divorced and single. Films have to be current and up to date on the latest trends through society and major events. For example, when movies have the president shown they have to be as close as possible to look like the current president to show how realistic that this could be happening right now. Nevertheless, many movies still want to show that men are the superior race to women and that women are no good but getting in the way and being helpless in dangerous situations. However, films now are getting better at showing that women are powerful too like Resident Evil, Carrie, and Poltergeist. They all had men partners at one point but they still showed them as strong women that would do anything for the ones they loved or for themselves. Men and women should be seen as equals and not be defined by gender roles.

Marriage is never perfect. Every couple argues gets into fights and yells and screams at each other somethings. In the films, the couples seem like they no longer have love for each other. In 1959 film, they talk about how the wife poisons the husband just to get his money. In the 1999 film, they also talk about poisoning the husband but also mentions that the wife has had many affairs with other men. If she was ever caught the money that she once had would be gone forever. Both women hate their husband and are willing to do anything to get from underneath them and start over. Both the women plot to have their husbands killed and frame them for it. They have their lovers involved in the scheme, in the 1959 film, the lover hangs the wife to death. In the 1999 film, the lover electroshocks the wife to death and later revives her. However, in the newer version, the wife kills her lover to prove that her husband was the murder. The wife seems more ruthless, fearless, and murderous than the older film. The 1959 version played the wife as more tamed and patient. But why are the women the victims and murders in these films? Maybe they are trying to tell us something else? Besides them being greedy money obsessed individuals. As we all know there is always two side to one story.

“It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is morbidity unchained, our most base instincts let free, our nastiest fantasies realized . . . and it all happens, fittingly enough, in the dark.” (King) Some people like to watch scary movies other do not. Scary movies can be seen as a way to escape the pressure of everyday life or scary movies are exciting, thrilling, and daring.  Some people hold scary movies to a hold different meaning. Some people get crazy ideas from watching scary movies and sometimes they act on those hidden desires. However scary movies could keep someone in check, like having the movie act of hurting or murdering people instead of themselves.  

“Uncanny is what one calls everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden and has come into the open.” (Freud) this quote is great for the remake of House on Haunted Hill (1999). It is no secret that there was a mass murder in the asylum/house but it was a mystery of who invited the people to the house. It was later revealed that the house was the one who invited them.  Another example would be that the wives from both films had a secret of their own. They both had a lover and they plotted to kill their husbands. Another secret was that their husband knows of their plots and they were both suspicious enough to have their own plans set in motion too along with their wives. In the original film it was revealed that the wife and doctor were lovers but in the remake, it wasn’t revealed.  

Both the film reveal anxieties about when the movies were made. In 1959s version, they show similarities of been at war. In the scene when they hand out the guns, they show and tell them how to use it just like when you are in the military. During the 50s, people were technology obsessed but in the film, the only technology show was when Mr Loren was controlling the skeleton with a remote control and the hidden doorway though out the house. In the 1999 film, technology has grown within the last 40 years. The graphics were pretty vivid, if I was in the movie I would of definitely believe it was really happening. They showed cell phones with their cores, rollercoasters and tv cameras. During 1999 it was believed that the world was going to end and the ending of the newer film, it seemed like all hope was about to end for Eddie but at the last second the spirit of Watson lets out Eddie to safety. 1999 to 2000 was scary to some people because they didn’t know if 1999 was the end or not, just like Eddie not knowing if he was going to die or not.    

Dickey, C. (2016). Ghostland: An American history in Haunted Places. New York: Viking.

Freud, S. (2003). The Uncanny. London: Penguin Books.

Stephen King, “Why We Crave Horror”

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Blog Post 18: Poltergist

The definition of poltergeist from the website Live Science defines as, “a poltergeist is perhaps the best-known, and most feared, type of ghost. It is a spirit that is said to harass and torment its victims. This harassment typically includes minor but mysterious and disturbing events such as loud sounds, moving furniture, sheets and covers being pulled off beds, small objects inexplicably falling off shelves, stones rising off the ground and being hurled at people, and so on”. In the film there are objects moving around by their selves with no explanation. I didn’t know before watching this movie that poltergeist had a meaning behind the word, I just thought it was a movie title. The film, Poltergeist, is about a family who lives in a house that is on top of a cemetery, but they don’t know that until the end. The father’s boss takes him to a up and coming neighborhood and sees that there is a cemetery nearby but the boss tells the father that they are going to pay to move the bodies, but while the house is popping up dead bodies the father relates that they never did move the bodies and built houses on top of them. However, after watching the movie I realize if that was the case why were the other houses in the same neighborhood experiencing the same thing? The movie captures the stereotype of how someone should life, a house with two parents and kids. During 1980s, it was still about the American Dream.

In this film, Poltergeist, the mom sacrifices herself to save her daughter from the portal instead of the father. The gender roles are switched this time for once. It doesn’t mean the father didn’t want to, he did but it would have been easier if the mom went instead of the dad. Another observation was the family stick together instead of someone leaving because they didn’t believe them, the family all saw what was going on so they all stick together though it all.  Women were considered spiritual mediums probably tying it back to witches. Women are more excepting of supernatural things than men are. Also kids can see imagery creatures as well because they are innocent and their minds are not corrupted yet and that is why Carol Anne is influenced by “the beast” and “tv people”.

Sacred Native American burial grounds are more spiritual than a cemetery in my opinion. However, they are both places meant for the dead to rest peacefully for the rest of their days. Disturbing either one of them will bring hauntings upon you and your family until you right the wrongs and bring back peace.

Radford, Benjamin. “Poltergeist: Noisy Spirits.” LiveScience, 17 July 2013,   www.livescience.com/38223-poltergeists.html.

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Blog Post 17: Carrie

The American dream was to have a house and a household of four people, two parents, two kids. In the film, Carrie, that is not the case. Carrie just lives with her mom, it’s just the two of them. Their house it old compared to the other houses in their neighbour. Carrie isn’t raised like the rest of her fellow classmates.  Her mother is a crazy religious nut case they are taking out her own sins on her daughter. Carrie doesn’t understand why her mother is punishing her for the little things. Something much of happened to Carrie’s mom in order for her mom to act that way.  

The color red is a symbol in the film, Carrie. Red is constantly shown throughout the movie. It is the power of past association, violence, anger, danger, and fear. Carrie’s mom takes out her own past mistakes on Carrie. Carrie is afraid of making mistakes or else her mom will punish her. Carrie is endangered when she goes to the senior prom. She gets angry and violent when the pig's blood is split on her during prom and people laugh at her while she is in pain. All of these examples are no coincidence. Stephen King is the King of Horror and that is how he wanted it in his books.  

Women’s power as we all know that during the 1970s it was stainable for just one parent to provide for the family. Women had to work as well however, that would apply if you had a partner. Single households still had to work because there was no other option. Carrie’s mom might over been crazy but she still provided to her daughter Carrie. Carrie, on the other hand, depends on her mom at the beginning of the film, but throughout the film, she slowly gains her on independents from her mother and everyone else. Unfortunately, Carrie wasn’t popular and she was picked on for being different. In the end, it teaches us a life lesson to not pick on someone that it different then you are. Treat everyone the same way you would want to be treated. 

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Blog 16: House on Haunted Hill

The film House on Haunted Hill, starts with Frederick Loren and Annabelle Loren they rent out a house for a party but, there is more to the party. He invites four men and three women, oddly enough there is a history of the house, it was involved in seven murders with four men and three women also. The seven people are not enough just to go to the party they are invited to each gets $10,000 if they survive the night. They all seem like they are from the upper class except for Nora, she works for Mr Loren the host. The call has one thing in common which is they all need money. It was interesting that there wasn’t another connection between the contestants like the scary movies nowadays. For example, the Saw movies, all the victims killed someone and pinned it on someone else and they are why they are punished. However, in this film, they are random strangers being used in a game. Nora is driven to the point of hysteria after being frightened so many times. This also involves gender roles, they never make a man for his life its always the women. However, you have to look at the time period the movie was made during 1959 where it was the men taking care of the women.

The technology in the film seems quite corny to us now watching it today but remember back then they didn’t have technology like we do now. The still figuring that act like a ghost and the skeleton hanging from the ceiling being controlled by someone. That was their technology back then but remember this was after World War II, we were still recovering. In the film, the contestants came in funeral cars but I guess that was supposed to be a side joke of them potentially dying. Another observation was there were guns in mini coffins. They resemble as if you were going into the army during WWII and they give you a gun and they ask you if you know had to use it.

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Blog 15: Freaks

In the film Freaks, the people who are featured in the movie are not fake, they are real people. Before my class started watching the movie we were educated on the fact that most of the unique characters in the film, weren’t paid. Well, I think that is just wrong. Probably the “normal people” were paid. Also, it might seem like a random group of people that joined the circus but you never know what their situation was like. Maybe they couldn’t fit in, maybe the circus is there home but most definitely it is their family. You don’t mess with someone’s family and get away with it. Just like Cleopatra, she marries Hans for all the wrong reason, just because he has an inheritance. After they get married, she immediately starts poisoning him just to get his money and run away with her lover, Hercules. During the reception, the circus family wants to make Cleopatra “one of them (us)” but she immediately refuses.  It just shows that she was never really one of them in the first place. But I wondered why did she ever join the circus, to begin with? I know it is just a movie but still. It shows us that people will do anything to get money. 

I believe people were afraid of the reality that could have happened to their child or to themselves. It is part of the unknown factor. People are afraid of what they do not know or understand. 

The think the movie was created to show awareness that yes there are people out there that don’t look the same as everyone else but still don’t treat them differently just because they are different. It should matter how people look, they should see everyone as a person with feeling. We should learn a listen from this film, Freaks everyone should be treated fair and equal regardless of what they look like. Judge no one. They have felt just like the rest of us. We are all the same, human.

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Blog 14: Magic

His article by Professor Wells, address magic and who were the people who were highly influenced by it. It isn’t just about your typical magic like pulling a bunny through a hat but also power. “Magick. Def: “Action at a distance”. The “k” was added to separate it from stage performance. This includes both “natural” magick (fairies and spirits), and hermeticism, which incorporates ritual magick, alchemy, astrology, and other forms of occult practice.” (Wells) So from my understanding of the definition of Magick is that it covers all kinds of forms of magic from “stage performance to occult practice.” I never knew astrology and occult practices as magic.

“Hermeticism. Def: Occult practice based in the Corpus Hermetica, a group of magickal texts supposedly authored by Hermes Trismegestus (“Thrice-Blessed Hermes”), and which are said to contain the secrets of alchemy (“Al-Khemy”, or “Egyptian Science”), including the transformation of lead into gold. Hermeticists believed that magick could be used to gain political power, and they spent their lives attempting to uncover its secrets. The most renowned post-Elizabethan era alchemist was Sir Isaac Newton.” (Wells) Sir Isaac Newton was a scientist, it is interesting to think that Sir Isaac Newton is associated with magic instead of science. I understand back then they didn’t understand the difference, however, they should have thought it was different. The only association Newton has to any gold is he helping British currency go from silver to gold to help the problem with counterfeits being punished. ("Isaac Newton.") I wonder why Sir Isaac Newton was mentioned as an alchemist? He was well-known as a physicist who is famous for his law of gravitation. ("Isaac Newton.") 

It basically talks about 11 different men and their relationship either to magic, alchemist, occult practices and etc. It was interesting to think that Egyptian hieroglyphics not as a “written language but as a series of occult ideographs that, when manipulated properly by the wise ruler, would give them to the ancient kings. (Wells) Personally, I have always been interested in Egyptian culture especially the hieroglyphics. I couldn’t imagine that it would have meant something else other than a language. It is festinating to think of it as a hinted found of power.  

"Isaac Newton." Biography.com. August 02, 2017.

Wells, Professor Samuel. Important Western Occult Figures and Concepts from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. PDF.

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Essay 2: Vampires

The history of vampires goes back hundreds of years but no one knows for sure who was the first vampire? There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of different books on vampires but they are more on fiction novels. We all know vampires don’t exist but did anyone ever think about what would happen if they did exist? Would it be like the tv show True Blood, going about our normal lives but once in a while become someone meal and maybe if they were nice enough they would let you go? What about Twilight, make a vampire fall in love with you, you get married, have a baby while your still human, and you live happily ever after as one big happy family? Maybe not. As we have read in class, Pellagra and the origin of myth by William and Jeffrey Hampi and Daughters of decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian fin de siècle by Greg Buzwell and many other authors, they didn’t have a clear understanding of what vampires were, perhaps we may never know.

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word vampire? Blood, fangs, and immortality? I think about Vlad the Impaler, Lilith, the New Women, and Pellagra, we have used these topics to talk about vampires. The article with Pellagra tells us back in 18thand 19thcentury that people who had the Pellagra diseases were vampires. (Hampl, J. S., & Hampl, W. S. 1997) The new women article teaches us if we don’t act like “normal” women should act then they will be punished and become vampires as a form of punishment. (Buzwell 2014) As an example, I am referring to women who only desire one man and who don’t propose to men. (Senf 1982) Vampires represent the unattainable, like becoming your true desires. (Buzwell 2014) Immortality is a good example, we would all like to live forever but we all eventually die in the end. A quote by Dr. Battista describes another representation of vampires, “vampires represent the wild, erratic, untamable, lustful, animalistic, components of our shadow selves.” This quote helps to explain what I meant by becoming your true desires. It is like acting out on your dark side, what you really want to do.  

Nevertheless, vampires have a negative connotation association throughout our culture. In the article “Dracula”: Stocker’s Response To The New Women, it talked about two different women, Lucy who just wants to marry all three men who proposed to her and Mina is a pure woman, she waits until marriage and plays the good wife. (Senf 1982) As reading suggests that they are two different ways women act yet, there is only one right way to act which is being the good wife. The article Daughters of decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian fin de siècle by Greg Buzwell, also references from the article, women are not supposed to desire other things like sex and being independent women. (Buzwell 2014) When the article was written, it talked about women who wanted to be independent women who could get a job and be by themselves. I think that men were scared of losing women to this idea and therefore was the reason someone (a man) to write this. (Buzwell 2014) I feel that if more women were open to this idea then women wouldn’t need a man. The man is supposed to be the one to provide for the family and make the man but if women take away their role than what would you need a man for? I guess only to have a baby with right? Men make the women into bad guys for wanting to do something for themselves. Women who desire to be with other women or be with multiple partners are being victimized for wanting something out of the norm.

Vampire are part of the unknown, they are scary and eerie because we think as a society that vampires have fangs and crave blood. Vampires are associated with death and horrors. Vampires can only go out in the dark or else they will be burned in the sunlight. This represents death and life, darkness is evil, black and bad things. Life is white, happy and purity. They are immortals who don’t have a soul. They are being punished for not being died or alive, they are both which is not how we were designed by God. We are either dead or alive, not both. Going back to Vlad the Impaler, Vlad killed thousands of people when he was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. (Lallanilla 2017) Blood was spelt but Vlad didn’t want the same fate for his son and so on, so Vlad decided to get power from the other world. (Lallanilla 2017) This was an act against our God, it’s like sure I can grate you this power but I will have to punish you for it. It a repercussion for people to be yourself, for asking for something beyond your control. The idea is to be yourself and no one else.

Vampires are mean, cruel and died. Vampires drink human blood so you can see why people would be afraid of them. They show us that we can be invisible and powerful. Sadly vampires are dead and no one wants to die, especially not on their terms. This creates an uneasiness feeling for people and the vampires. Being killed because I’m food for a vampire doesn’t seem like a good way to go now, does it? Another thought is immortality, it could be awesome for some people but it could also be a curse. Living forever sounds nice but living past your loved one and seeing them die is another form of torture.  

Males vampire are seen as men praying on the female characters especially in Twilight and True Blood. They are seen as men who get obsessed with their female characters like stalkers. (Morris 2010)They watch them when they sleep and when they leave the house. They can’t live without them or else they are going to die, very over dramatic I would say.Edward fromTwilight knows that he will end up with Bella and that she is met to be with him forever but he doesn’t realize the obstacles he would have to face first before he can be around her. After he could handle himself than he could be with her, fall in love and be together forever.On the other hand, Bill from True Blood, he was hired by the vampire queen to find Sookie but he disobeyed the order and falls in love with Sookie and he protects Sookie from other vampires along the way. Unfortunately, the females characters are far worse than the men, directors or people who write parts for female actress are made to be hypersexualized characters. The women play nice southern girls at first but then when a man comes to their seductive roles come into play. Men only think of one thing and that is sex. Women can never just be independent, they have to play multiple characters so producers can keep viewers interested or to sell movies. Just like the saying goes sex sells.

Buzwell, Greg. “Daughters of Decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian Fin      De Siècle.” The British Library, The British, 17 Apr. 2014.  

Hampl, J. S., & Hampl, W. S. (1997). Pellagra and the origin of a myth: evidence from European Literature and folklore. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 90(11), 636-639.

Lallanilla, Marc. (2017). “The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler.” LiveScience.

Morris, Tom. “Interview With a Philosopher: On The Vampire.” The Huffington Post,TheHuffingtonPost.com, 8 June 2010.

Senf, C. (1982). “Dracula”: Stoker’s Response to the New Woman. Victorian Studies, 26(1), 33-49.              

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Blog 13: Radical Faeries and the Growth of Men’s Spirituality

In chapter 12 of Radical Faeries and the Growth of Men’s Spirituality, I thought it was going to talk about how men witches came to be but unfortunately, I was mistaken. It starts off telling us that the men spiritual movement started in the late 1970s because women’s spirituality was “springing up all over the place and men wanted something of their own too. (Adler p.355) The movement was supposed to be for gay and straight men. Maybe the men were afraid and they wanted to get their power back so they created something for men too or maybe they felt left out? Then they started talking about the “traditions of Wicca” and I was thinking to myself, yes they are finally going to talk about men witches now but nope think again. They address a group called the Radical Faeries which began around 1970s. It was a group for gay men to figure out what they wanted for themselves but also learning to work with each other to get to their goals. (Adler p.355, 357) Throughout this chapter, the male witches thing kind of went out the window. Basically, they talk about forming groups that are just for men at first and then throughout the years' other groups broaden their horizon by making other groups that include, gays, lesbians, transgenders and even children.

While I was reading this I thought about Ancient Greece and Roman culture how men and women were married but they had other partners along the way. That men and men would be together and reverse for women and how we frown upon it then and in the 1970 and 1980s. It’s pretty ironic how they talk about it then and yet it took us until 2016 for LBGT Rights to be legalized in all 50 states. Yet there are still people out there that have a problem with it. Thinking about the time period it was during the hippy days, it was about sex, drugs, and other stuff. It was inevitable eventually. They mention back during the 1980s that they had this festival where people would dress up in “crazy lingerie, dancing weirdly that is would have never happened five years ago.” (Adler p. 364) It is interesting five years ago according to that event it was 1980 or 1982. What makings it different from then and now? I guess people weren’t as open to the idea when it first was starting out. Another topic was about how they wanted their sexuality to be ignored and to be treated like middle’ class Americans. (Adler p.361) In the end, they just wanted to be a part of a family. (Adler p.360) They form this groups to escape, have a safe place to go, and be their selves without being judged or ashamed.  

Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon. Penguin Group, 1979.

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Blog 12: Pagans and Witches

As we all grow up we learn about scary stories involving witches, vampires and all sorts of creates. Especially during Halloween when people dress up as witches and other creates but we never thought about what witches really were nowadays? Witches today are not the stereotyped just women figures but there are also men who are witches. They don’t make magic potions and put spells on people, they are just normal ordinary people who believe in “a god and goddess,”(Adler p.6). “For the most part, I got that Witches worship two beings a god and goddess and they call themselves priests and priestesses of the Earth-Mother.” Witches don’t believe in the supernatural version of magic, they see magic as it “is simply the act of getting results.” I thought that was interesting, they don’t believe in spells or portion. They believe in hard work and doing something themselves to achieve a goal. I never quite understood what Pagans were but by reading this book by Margot Adler, I understand now. Pagans are “most Neo-Pagans sense an aliveness and “presence” in nature, (Adler p.2). It seems to me they just want to be one with nature. In the book, they refer Pagans as a “country dweller, and there is also the Pagan and heathens the word Pagan as a term of insult, meaning “hick,””(Adler p.8). Pagans and Witches both perform rituals and they both can detach themselves from the world and go back to their ways of life. I wasn’t expecting for Pagans and Witches to have so many similarities but they do. “Neo-Pagans and Witches supported high technologies, scientific inquiry, and space exploration.” This high technology is referred to energy power like “solar and wind” natural energy from the earth. Some people think people join groups like this because of, “self-mastery, in the sense of practical knowledge of psychology and the workings of the psyche so they can function better in the world,” (Adler p.20).This is not the case, some people join because they want to escape the pressure of the real world and life the way they want to live. However, there are “six primary reasons that Pagans and Witches join these groups because of Beauty, Vision, Imagination, Intellectual Satisfaction, Growth, Feminism, Environmental Response, and lastly, Freedom,”(Adler p.20-21). It might not be all six reason but it is at least one of this reasons.

Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon. Penguin Group, 1979. 

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Blog Post 11: Night of the Living Dead

The film, Night of the Living Dead, it was a groundbreaking movie for the fellow African American, however during the time period it was released it still had issues with race and gender. Even though the movie started in African American it was still problematic. Women during the late 1960s and early 1970s they had problems for women too. Women being treated unequally and always obeying their husband. Although, it was the first ever “zombie” movie and it did star the first African American male ever during this time but after the movie was over and it was released, blacks still had a problem facing whites out in the world. They still called them names, spit on him, and called them the “N” word. During that time it seemed like it would never change. In the article by Barbara Bruce’s “Guess Who’s Going to be Dinner,” she mentions a guy named Donald Bogle who talks about how in “all his movies” that blacks are represented as “intelligent and educated,” and how they are well “tamed” and they act accordingly leaving their “African culture” behind to fit in our white society. How can someone one minute says that they are respecting blacks and turn around and say the complete opposite of what they really mean? Blacks weren’t acting “white”  they were acting properly just like any educated person would normally act around other people. It just shows that some people weren’t ready for change during that time but they eventually had to in the end.

Barbara character (the leading lady) in the movie, was very painful to watch. I honestly hated her. Barbara’s action was as if she had PTSD. She couldn’t say anything because she was traumatized by her brother and also what was happening out in the world. She was a total damsel in distress and she was pictured pretty pathetic, very useless. Unfortunately, during the film, they showed Ben punch or slap Barbara demonstrating that men want women to shut up. It also signifies that African Americas were violent human beings. Ben the African American male leader, is stereotyped that black people are supposed to save the white people. However, it would have been more appropriate if Ben didn’t die but it wasn’t just up to the director decided to make that call. It would have given blacks an opportunity to see a happy ending that didn’t involve a black person getting killed in the end. During the Vietnam War, who would see tanks and soldiers on the roads and the movie definitely shows that. When the zombie hunting/killing people came to rescue Ben, they showed the men all lined up side by side and the tanks were behind them. It just reminded me what we were talking about in class about what was happening during the Vietnam War. After the end of the film, there are two men who look in the house and did not realize that Ben was alive. But instead of checking to see if he was a zombie or not they just shot him anyway. They also used claws to get his body, they didn’t want to touch the body, probably to not caught the disease/radiation from the body. I don’t know if anyone noticed but they don’t call the zombies that we know today “zombies” in the film. They called them “growls.” 

Bruce, Barbara S. “Guess Who’s Going to Be Dinner: Sidney Poitier, Black Militancy, and the Ambivalence of Race in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.” 

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Blog Post 10: Zombies

In the introduction by Cory James Rushton and Christopher Moreman, they talk about zombies. The origin of zombie comes from the Caribbean’s and the Haitian people. Some say it comes from their African culture before the slave trades. Zombie is further associated with Haiti religion called Voodoo. The Western people are fearful of what they do not think. So they associate Voodoo with “devil-worshipping and black magic.” If you don’t understand something why don’t to get off your high horse and learn about it instead of being ignorant about it. You never know you might learn something or like it. Zombies in African tradition means “a wide range of monsters.” Bratty children are “sometimes called zombies.” They mean their children are acting like monsters. In some African cultures Catholicism has been successfully amalgamated but in Haiti, it was rejected. However, someone went as far to say zombies are “beings” that are a cross between life and death creatures. In 1985, the chemical compound, viruses, and outbreaks became a way for zombies to be created. It is just another clever way to make a zombie. Even the Resident Evil movie series created different zombies, they created a giant zombie that could be controlled and told what to do.

They were a lot of theory mentioned like zombies were intelligent and they could be trained like pets. They could have memories of their former life. (Never heard of this myth or theory before.) The mention of zombies remembering their former past reminded me of a movie I saw called, Warm Bodies. It’s about a zombie guy who falls in love with a human girl and is slowly relearning how to be a human. When the zombie guy eats a human brain, he gets to see the memories from the human. We know every zombie movie wants to be different in their own way but going as far to make zombie want to be human is a little far-fetched. Zombies this day in age is about life and death. How they are living but death at the same time.

Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton. Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition. McFarland & Co., 2011.

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Blog Post 9: The New Women

The New Woman is, a woman who wants to have an education, has her own “financial independence,” her own career, and is free from men sexual obligations besides her own, (Buzwell). She can also have the choice to fill the role of being a mother or being a part of marriage, (Senf). I basically feel that they are saying about the New Women is that they are acting like men now. They are the one who proved for their families, they are the ones who have to get a job and provide financially. However, they are saying that the women don’t want families or get married. They even go as far to say that the “women” are starting to act like the men. Greg Buzwell article regarding The Victorian fin de siècle was mainly about gender and sexuality but to me, it discusses mainly the gender roles of women and men. Stoker’s response to the New Woman, it seemed like he does like the New Women but also how he doesn’t like something about the New Women. Even his our wife decided not to have any more sexual relates to him after their daughter was born, (Senf). It just shows that women nowadays don’t all want to live the traditional lifestyle of having families and getting married. Some women don’t even like men, which explores the sexual aspect that was also mentioned in, The Victorian fin de siècle, (Buzwell). More women now just want to focus on their careers first, and then worry about getting married and having kids later.  

Stoker was “surrounded by very strong women” and maybe his female character like Lucy and Mina were model after those strong women, (Senf p.38). Some of the vampires are men but in Stoker’s books, they are men and women. There are two main women that they address which are Lucy and Mina. “Lucy is a perpetual child, pampered by everyone around her and on the other hand, Mina has had to take care of herself,”(Senf p.45). Unfortunately, you think that Stokers wants either the women to acts like in a role that is traditional or the New Women, but later in the book he says that Mina character is supposed to represent a combination of the best of the traditional and the new, (Senf p.49).

The interview between Rebecca and Tom I don’t see how it relates to gender role. The only gender role I see it that the women are the victims and the men are the strong vampires that prey on the girls. At one point Rebecca refers to the men vampire as a stalker in a real-life situation.

 Buzwell, Greg. “Daughters of Decadence: the New Woman in the Victorian Fin De Siècle.” The British Library, The British Library, 17 Apr. 2014.  

Senf, C. (1982). “Dracula”: Stoker’s Response to the New Woman. Victorian Studies, 26(1), 33-49.

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Blog Post 8: Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, and Pellagra

Do you believe in vampires? The myth of vampires goes all the day back to the 1700s. Some people relate it back to Vlad the Impaler and Lilith. I always thought “vampires” were people with a health condition and the only way they could live was with blood only. It is interesting that most of the stories mention Vlad the Impaler also known as Vlad the third. The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler by Marc Lallanilla reminds me of the film, Dracula Untold. It tells the same story about how the Vlad the second’s kids had to go to the Ottoman Empire, the annual tribute, and how he is the prince of Prince of Wallachia and Transylvania. It also talks about that Vlad the third and Dracula become one person in the end, however, there are studies that show Vlad and Dracula are two different people, not the same person, (Lallanilla, 2017) (MacFie's). 

It is amazing that vampires nowadays are so different. Back in the old days, they thought that the people who were affected by “Pellagra were the originator of the vampire myth,”(Hampi). Although, I can’t see why they would think that the Pellagra effected people would be close to vampires. Their bodies over time would get, “black-tongue, blood would be oozing out of their bodies, and their skin would get rough, brown, and scaly areas,”(Hampi, 1997).  The only resemblance between the Pellagra affected people and vampires would be the “fangs and blood coming from their mouths,”(Hampi,  1997).  

 Vampires now can go into the sunlight but they get all shimmery and beautiful (reference to Twilight), which is a bunch of junk. It doesn’t even seem true. Hollywood is getting away from the cruel and blood aspects of being a vampire, it like they want to show them as regular ordinary people with some minor differences.

Lallanilla, Marc. (2017). “The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler.” LiveScience.

 Hampl, J. S., & Hampl, W. S. (1997). Pellagra and the origin of a myth: evidence from European literature and folklore. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 90(11), 636–639. 

“Vampire History.” MacFie's Wizard Shop.               

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Blog Post 7: Ghost Adventures: The Lemp Mansion

First of all, I don’t like Ghost Adventure at all. We all know that they hype up the show a lot more than it needs to be and they try to make it creepy all the time too. I thought the episode was going to be about the Lemp Mansion but then it was also about the family brewery also being haunted by Cherokee Indians and how there is a supposed curse. During the show, Zak (the leader) goes into William Lemp room and asks his ghost why did your family commit suicide and was it because of you? However, in the book by Colin’s Dickey, it didn’t tell us why they all killed themselves but it all started with Franklin William’s son that was going to take over the business. It is also interesting that William decides to kill themselves three years later after his son’s death. You would think that if William did kill himself because of his son he would of kill himself sooner within a week maybe. In addition, to the book, it doesn’t mention the brewery being haunted. I believe it was another way to add-on to the experience following the Lemp Mansion. I later found out (from a professor in school) that the Cherokee Indians don’t put curses on people or deal with that sort of stuff. It shows that the people in Ghost Adventures didn’t do their homework before doing to the site.

Another observation is that there are no girls on the Ghost Adventure’s team. At-least on Ghost Hunters they have girls on the team and they did more than just watch the cameras. The girls are out in the field walking around the property, also watching the cameras, and listening to the recording device. The Ghost Adventure’s crew claim that they are going to be respectful during their investigation nonetheless, they are commanding the ghosts of the Lemp family to talk to them. It seems very aggressive and very fake to me. I’m not saying that nothing happened on the show but it seemed very unrealistic that all the ghost in the Lemp Mansion wanted to talk to the Ghost Adventure team that specific day.

I would say, all in all, it was very difficult to watch Ghost Adventures. During Ghost Hunter, they would get the background story besides what they already know and just listen and watch what was happening on the property not just mainly talking throughout the whole show. With all the unexplained voices in the show that could of be easily fabricated behind the scenes. Another thing when Zak’s flashlight goes out and he said that he has to rely on looking through the night vision lens of his camera all by himself, he wasn’t even alone he isn’t holding the camera so for him to make that comment was a little bit over the top.

Dickey, C. (2016) Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. New York: Penguin books.

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Essay 1: The Mystery of New Orleans

Colin Dickey’s Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places discusses New Orleans and its hauntings and other historic events that have happened. It mentions the Lalaurie Mansion and how it may or may not be haunted. It also talks about a ghost who is an elderly woman named Vera who died during Hurricane Katrina.

 It is a shame that people buy “haunted” houses just to make a profit. Nicolas Gage probably brought the home because he could afford it or perhaps had a weird fascination with haunted things, (Dickey p.237). Unfortunately, the Lalaurie Mansion has a curse on it and whom even wants to make a permanent resident of the home will eventually fail. (Dickey p.237). Here is an example of Fortunato Greco trying to profit off of the Lalaurie Mansion in 1893, (Dickey p.236). Some people believed that the house was haunted but in order for Fortunato to bring people in he made signs to tell people it wasn’t haunted and if they didn’t believe then they could see for themselves for ten cents, (Dickey p.236). New Orleans has made its fortune off of telling ghost stories and having expeditions, voodoo magic, and in the past slave labor. It tells people that they are willing to do whatever it takes for the city to make money.

“They displayed an utter savagery and indifference toward their fellow men and women, which they hid behind a veneer of civilized society,” (Dickey p.239). I thought this quote was interesting because back then a lot of people didn’t see blacks as people they saw blacks as objects and things, not people. For Dickey to write something like this is hard for me to see that New Orleans folk saw blacks as people. Even though Madame Lalaurie was a terrible person, they still let her slaves be slaves, they didn’t release them. The people were sympathetic to the slaves and formed a mob to stop her but in the end, they didn’t care enough to stop slavery in New Orleans. Even in the tv show, American Horror Story betrayed Madame Lalaurie has a person who treated “blacks bodies as objects,.”(Dickey p.241). No person should even go through the pain that those blacks people did during that time like having, “their eyes gouged out, their ears hanging by sheds, and having their tongues drawn out and sewed to their chins,” (Dickey p.240). Honestly, I would rather die than go through that pain and I bet that most of them felt the same way.

New Orleans has a lot of history with death. It goes back to slavery, the Civil War, normal deaths, and Hurricane Katrina. No wonder “New Orleans is very haunted,” I could see why the ghost hunter New Orleans native David Laville reasoning would be because “history of violent crimes,” “the city’s so old,”, and “long history of tragedies,” (Dickey p.235). The Jackson Square history tells us that there were many public executions and how the new Spanish governor wanted their bodies to stay. If their bodies would have stayed there I could see why Jackson Square would be haunted because the people wouldn’t have had a proper burial and their souls would be roaming the earth without finding a proper resting place, (Dickey p.246). Another prime example, the Hotel Provincial, on Charles Street that housing the wounded soldiers during the Civil War, (Dickey p.236). “Countless men died within the walls” due to their battle wounds and because of the “barbaric method of healing” used on them, (Dickey p.236). Most of them died because they didn’t get the proper treatment they need and they died cold and alone. They died in a place that was supposed to help them. I can see some unresolved feelings regarding the soldiers and the way they died.  With the death surrounding the city, this quote by Colin Dickey would best describe what has happened to the city, “In New Orleans, you cannot avoid the fact of death and decomposition,” (Dickey p.235). The city isn’t shy about represents the died, they are proud to show it. 

The story on the Undead talks about “whiteness’ and “Africanist” and how they represent “fear and longing” and also mean “life” and “death,” (Newitz, p.89-90). They always want to realty it back to race. Back in the old days, people associated life with white and death as something dark like black and it went hand and hand with race when whites would enslave blacks. The “whites” were the superior ones for the longest time and still nowadays but more people are being diverse now, hardly anyone is just one race anymore. New Orleans is now primarily a black city but that doesn’t stop other races from coming now. Things that have to be separated from whites and blacks are acting like we are in the old ways. We should see everyone as equals now and not by race.  

Freud Uncanny mentions that some things are, “to remain secret and hidden” Lalaurie dirty little secret ruined her, (Freud p.132). I’m pretty sure Lalaurie didn’t want people to know about her brutality mistreatment of her slaves or else she wouldn’t be had to leave the comfort of her own home but she made her bed and now she has to lie in it. There is absolutely no reason for any more to treat their slaves like their less than nothing. “Several slaves, more or less horribly mutilated…suspended by the neck with their limbs stretched and torn from one extremity to the other…,” justice has not been severed for those slaves and it will never be severed, (Dickey p.238). Maybe the Madame was abused in her life and that is why she was so brutality to her people. Another reason maybe she had a sick and twisted fantasy about torturing people and she finally cracked and acted on her desires.  

           As a final note, New Orleans could be haunted because of the historic events that have happened in the city. New Orleans celebrates death with grace and pride and uses it to their advantage to draw in the tourist and profit off of them.

Dickey, C. (2016) Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places. New York: Penguin books.

 Freud, Sigmund. “The Uncanny.” The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XVII (1917-1919): An Infantile Neurosis and Other Works.

Newitz, Annalee. “The Undead: A Haunted Whiteness.” Pretend We’re Dead: Capitalist Monsters in American Pop Culture. Duke: 2006.

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Among The Ruins

Central Station

Michigan Theatre

Red Dwarf

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A statue that is from German

More pictures from the Molly Brown Muesum