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Essay 3: Found Footage Horror

Paranormal Activity is a popular horror movie that has created three direct sequels, with two of them being technically prequels, as well as a few spin offs. Paranormal Activity was the first movie to come out, but chronologically the third in the series. Paranormal Activity is based on a woman named Katie and her boyfriend, Micah, who lives with Katie. The two encounter a supernatural presence that is out for blood and feasts on the negativity and fear in the house. The presence is later identified as some sort of demon. In the later movies, it is explained that the demon is out for revenge and desire for the first born male child.  There isn’t much of a scare factor until the end of the movie when Katie gets possessed and ultimately ends up killing Micah in their bedroom. The leading up to it is mainly cabinets opening and closing on their own. Chairs moving on their own and ending up in a different position than they should have been, including on top of the table. The intensity of the paranormal activities increase over time as the couple gets more scared and angrier at each other, leading up to Katie getting possessed in the end.

Paranormal Activity is also the first horror movie to be shown through the lens of found footage. It is presented mainly through surveillance cameras that have a time stamp on them. The footage is saved and backed up somewhere, and someone ends up “finding” the footage and compiles it together to create the horror movie. The found footage with the camera stamps makes the movie feel more real. Today (and even when the movie came out in 2007) many people have some sort of surveillance system in their house. They were set up to create safety and to be able to catch any criminals who dared to enter the house. Catching a supernatural presence was not the original goal. However, after the success of Paranormal Activity many other movies have done found footage. Many have ventured to cell phones and skype for their fear factor and element of realness.

With technology becoming an ever-lasting imprint on society, the more classic horror films are becoming less scary and relevant. The culture fears that created these horror films still exist in many ways, but the way that they were portrayed are slowly coming out of date. That’s why many remakes of them are happening and that they are getting an updated and more modern feel to them. The updates in technology and how much they are in everyone’s day to day lives causes many anxieties in culture. Everything is somehow connected to technology. Pictures. Messages. Homework. School. Projects for work. Everything is connected and utilized. What happens when this technology that most of us has come to love takes a turn and captures something we didn’t want to see, but are at the same time extremely interested in? The found footage angle is perfect for this because it compiles everything that interests and scares society. The collection of data that gets stores and never erased as well as the presence of supernatural entities existing.

With the found footage horror genre, and Paranormal Activity, it is "the realization that we may not be able to change our circumstances and may well be stuck with what we've got" (Dance of Dearth) that creates the true level of horror and dread that is felt when watching the movie. Katie and Micah are forced into dealing with a demonic presence that they didn’t ask for. Typically, no one does. This presence was forced on them because of a pact that was made long ago, when they were children. The innocence of the child and not being able to change their fate because of something that their parent did a long time ago affects many young adults now, especially in the face of the current economy and job situation. They were supposed to leave a better world for the next generation to come, but like the mother in Paranormal Activity 3, it didn’t matter. She made a choice that would ultimately hurt her children and the people that they love the most later. It was a set of circumstances that couldn’t have been changed regardless of what Katie did or did not do. Even if the demonologist came sooner, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything either. There’s only so much a person (or a generation) can do to fix the past mistakes made. What gave the demon the ultimate power was when Katie and Micah realized that there was absolutely nothing that they could do to get them out of that situation. They were stuck. This created the necessary amount of fear, dread, and hopelessness that was needed for the demon to take over. The fear in society is that the next generation won’t be able to fulfill all the jobs in the work place after the Baby Boomers retire or to be able to save the economy and environment for the next generations to come. Technology is helping with everything to be digital for the environment but could hinder the economy and jobs. The realization that technology could be more harmful then good has not been made yet. There is still hope for the future generations, but it is quickly becoming diminished over time.

 For the found footage element "it's the thing that's left when you take everything else away" (Dread and Circuses). The footage is the only thing that survives the wrath of the demon possessed Katie. Micah, the only other witness to all accounts, is murdered. The demonic presence left the house with Katie and follows her wherever she goes, for the time being, until it gets what it desires and what was promised. The idea that the demon won’t leave the family alone until it gets what was promised "introduced an element of personal revenge" (Drive-Ins are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Horror in the Fifties). This element of personal revenge is common throughout most horror films in some way. The deliberation of seeing personal revenge through found footage and through the everlasting technology is what really creates the scare factor in the Paranormal Activity series. The idea that something would destroy everything you have because of a personal vendetta and leave the only traces through technology and found footage speaks to the fear of technology. There are many instance of cyber bullying and the internet in general causing more problems, especially with people pretending to be someone that they aren’t online. Everything that is done on the internet can be traced somehow, much like how the found footage was found. There’s no way to hide what is happening through technology, even with the best servers; there’s still a way to find it. The imposters who are wanting to hurt someone for whatever reason is another culture fear. It can’t be changed because of the way technology has been set up. The browser history is the only thing that is left after a personal act of revenge has been conducted. The online world and technology in general is becoming a scary place that many people fear but won’t admit to because of how beneficial it is to the everyday life.

  Technology is “still permeated by the stench of mass death, and the threat of more to come" (Drive-Ins are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Horror in the Fifties). Paranormal Activity was the first of its kind for found footage. It was successful for a reason, and many more films like the found footage aspect were created because it was so successful. Most of the found footage films have some sort of supernatural presence that ultimately ends up causing at least one character to die if not more. The found footage films have also considered of using lesser known celebrities or first-time actors to make it more believable. With this kind of first person point of view to drive home the realistic horror, the directors need to make it as believable as possible. Using an A list actor won’t drive home that sense of horror, since everyone knows that they were in countless shows or movies previously. The lesser known actors make it real and believable and become afraid of what is happening and afraid of the footage that they found. They become afraid of the deaths that surround them and the feeling that there are more to come. In the found footage lens, it is less public mass death and more friends and family mass death. Almost no one makes it out alive, and if they do, then they might die in the next movie. The demon won’t stop until it gets what it wants regardless of how much footage is left or how many people need to die. The footage adds an element of fear that is purposeful too. The demon knows it will be watched by someone somewhere and that fear just continues to add strength to the demon. It’s an endless cycle that will continue until everyone ends up dead in some way.

Technology is one of the greatest inventions ever created and one of the worst. It will either save us or destroy us. Only time will tell, and maybe the survivors will have the footage to remember the mistakes that were made.

  References

Dread and Circuses. (n.d.).

Drive-Ins are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Horror in the Fifties. (n.d.).

Joost, H. (Director). (2011). Paranormal Activity 3 [Motion Picture].

Peli, O. (Director). (2007). Paranmoral Activity [Motion Picture].

The Dance of Dearth. (n.d.).

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Blog Post 18: Women’s Roles Connected to the Supernatural

Women don't typically have much responsibility in much of their everyday activities. They are often left out of the conversation and are expected to keep the house in order and domesticate the men as much as possible without interfering with their masculinity. Women are the keepers of the house and keep everything in order. This is also applied to when the supernatural decides to take a trip to a house. The women are more likely to have interactions because they need to be welcoming to all guests (even those who aren’t invited). The men are less likely to have interactions because they don’t believe in such things and how could something that can’t be seen interfere with their lives and dictate how they run the house. The spirits take control that the men have, but the men can’t see or accept that they have lost control. Women never had control in the first place so it’s easy for them to see the change and accept that something paranormal is occurring. 

 In the Poltergeist, the youngest daughter Carol Anne is the first to have contact with the spirits and the Beast. Diane, Carol’s mother, is the first to listen and understand what Carol Anne is saying about what is in the house and what is occurring. “Diane immediately sets about domesticating the supernatural occurrences” (Clover 2015) once she realizes what is happening. This act of domesticating signifies that the supernatural has the control and power in the house now. It is Diane’s job to now make them feel comfortable in their home, while still protecting her children. As soon as Carol Anne is abducted through the TV, the domesticating process is over. Diane’s only concern is to get Carol Anne back as soon as possible safely. She even goes through the portal to save her child. A mother’s love is what keeps them together. The bond those two shares is greater than anything the Beast can do. 

 Clover, C. J. (2015). Men, women, and chain saws gender in the modern horror film. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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Blog Post 17: Carrie

Carrie is a horror film based on the novel Carrie written by Stephen King. Carrie White is a senior in high school who is constantly being bullied for being different. The bullies are everyone in school, even the seemingly nice students and staff are bullying Carrie in some way, or at least that is what she perceives. The most notable hazing incident is in the girls’ locker room when Carrie gets her first menstrual cycle. She is completely unaware of what is happening and believes that she’s dying. The other girls laugh and throw feminine hygiene products at Carrie until the gym teacher comes in and stops them. When giving a statement about the incident, the principal can’t even get her name right and calls her Cassie the entire time and sends her home early. "Carrie was especially raw in its depiction of the cruel and exclusionary rites of high school" (The Dance of Dearth) as depicted by these scenes. It only gets worse for Carrie, as the main bully Chris is determined to make her life as hard as possible. Chris goes so far to seek revenge for getting in trouble (like she should have) to get pigs blood and dump it all over Carrie. This is a hysterical moment for Carrie which causes her to self-destruct and destroy everything around her.

High school is rough on everyone in some form or another. Most involves being bullied by others for several reasons, most involving money or social status. Carrie came from a single mother who lived in a church that was for sale. Carrie wore handmade clothes and didn’t have much in terms of make up like the other girls. This is like how the United States were operating at the time as well. There are many issues between the socioeconomic classes in the US at the time (and it’s only gotten worse). Carrie demonstrates these issues in a way that is easy to understand and relate to without having to be involved and have personal feelings in it.

References

The Dance of Dearth. (n.d.).

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Blog Post 16: House on Haunted Hill

House on Haunted Hill is centered about a wealthy man inviting over five seemingly random strangers to what is supposed to be a haunted house. The original owner of the house is one of guests and tells the tales of the ghosts during the initial tour of the house. Everyone else there is seemingly randomly invited. The only connection is that each of them could desperately use the $10,000 cash prize for staying the entire night in the house without leaving or dying. This separates the husband and his wife Annabelle from everyone else off the bat, as they have all the money. You can tell from how they are dressed, how they act, and the “party favors” that are given to each person. Throughout the entire movie, there are random interactions with what appears to be the supernatural. However, in the ending, it is unclear if it was the supernatural or a giant hoax scheme to commit murders.

Annabelle wanted her husband dead because she wanted his money and she was having an affair. The husband wanted Annabelle dead because he knew about the affair. This adds to the culture anxieties about sexuality and affairs. Divorce was uncommon during the 50s. Most people either worked through the affair and moved on together or went against each other but were still married because it went against social beliefs to divorce. The husband found out about the murder plan and attempted to catch them red handed with a house full of witnesses, which begs the question if the house was ever really haunted or not.

The way the hoaxes were set up were very anti technological. This is due to the general fear of technology and relating it to the mass death that occurred in WWII and the fear of the possibility of going to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Cars weren’t safe either. The opening scene had each guest riding in a funeral car in a funeral procession because the technology was the death of them. Even Nora’s family got into a horrible automobile accident, leaving her as the only one who can actually work now. This also translated to fear of using guns because they were a form of technology that got millions of people killed in WWII.

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Blog Post 15: Freaks

Being anything but an average built white person with no questioning sexuality, lisps, stutters, or anything else of that nature in the 1930s was abnormal and unnatural. This would include people of color, dwarfs, amputees, transgender/cross-dressers, and the mentally challenged people. This was also true for both women and men. The early 1930s provided a lot of fear for most Americans with the Great Depression only getting worse every day. The social and culture anxieties that were being faced with lack of money and food were amplified in horror movies, most notably the movie Freaks.

In Freaks, there is a circus of misfits and the abnormal people who are cut off from regular society that live together in trailers and perform in front of others. They included odd looking people, those who had lisps and stutters, a transgender, dwarfs, amputees, and even a woman who dared to speak her own mind and make her own life choices. Each person had their own story and background with how they became involved in the circus. To add contrast to each of these “freaks”, a “normal” woman was introduced through her beauty and desire to have the most amount of attention and money, Cleopatra. She was a performer like anyone else and even broke up the most “normal” couple (they were both dwarfs) just for her entertainment purposes and to gain Han’s money. Once she married Han, she tried to poison him, on their wedding night no less. After Han drank the first bit of poison, she exposed her true colors and distaste towards the other members of the circus and called them freaks, hurting everyone’s feelings, including Han’s. Her desire to have as much money as possible overrides her fear of the Other until they rebelled against her. After hurting Han, everyone turned against Cleopatra and turned her into some chicken Other, which was everything she hated and was determined to get away from.

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Blog Post 14: Concentrating on the Universe at Large

Everything is interconnected within the universe. It even goes down to a feeling of survival and dominance that connects man with the universe at its entirety. This is the kind of magic that is in everyday life. Previous men have named these other worldly forces after the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses as they played a key role in their everyday life and understanding of how the universe truly works.  Man can “master these forces by experiencing them, by absorbing them into his own being and subjecting them to his will” (Cavendish 2017). Man can master the forces because the same ones that run the universe also run him on the inside. Since the forces are inside, man can control the forces and his interactions with them to the best of his ability and outlook on life and how everything works. This is important to the role of his survival, both personally and as a species on Earth. The interconnections happen through the mind. When they manifest themselves, through imagination and pure will and desire, man is able to take control of these other worldly forces and use them to his sole benefit. There also must be an intense amount of concentration for this to be able to work as well. If one is not completely concentrated on the task at hand and becoming an extension of the universe and larger picture, then whatever is trying to be accomplished won’t. This is where a lot of “traditional” magicians with their eyes rolled back in their heads and are glossed over come from. It is a side effect of the amount of concentration and determination to control these forces does to a person. However, man wants to use the extension of these forces he can. This includes, anger, love, survival, control, dominance, and any representation that the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses had attached to their names. Through this concentration, man can do anything and everything he sets his mind to.

Cavendish, R. (2017). The Black Arts. New York: TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

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Essay 2: The Problematic Evolution of Zombi to Zombie

There are many problematic associations with the origins of the zombie and how they have evolved throughout American history. The origin of the zombie stems from the Haitian zombi. Haitians had distinct types of zombis, but one sticks out and causes the problematic association. This type of zombi is a dead person who is brought back to life in some capacity who has no cognitive skills and are susceptible to some type of order, whether that is a direct order from the person who brought them into this afterlife or a collective other consciousness shared between the zombis. Many of the associations of the Haitian zombi are based on racial stereotypes of African Americans and have been represented through various horror films and shows to heighten and instill the fear and anxieties within American society.

Zombies “had thus come to be associated in the minds of some Americans with a creature of African "origin” that willingly performed services for whites" (Kordas). Because these creatures lack individual consciousness and do whatever that they are told to do, they are taken as to being able to do whatever they are told to do. This equates directly to slavery. Even though when zombies became prevalent slavery was not a legal practice. However, many African Americans were and are still considered to be second class people who should still do the bidding of the white male. The zombies were perceived as committing acts of whatever the whites wanted with no arguments raised. This was the type of zombie white Americans were okay with and even accepted into their everyday lives. The ability to follow the white American rule was vital to the survival on many African Americans. They needed to be able to be submissive and take orders to minimize the abuse and horror that they suffered daily. However, once the African Americans decided to speak out against it, is when the drastic shift of a quiet abiding zombie to a flesh eating infectious disease-ridden zombie emerged.

Throughout American society zombies are “either dead and acting alive, or alive and acting in an unconscious way that is like death in its lack of individual consciousness” (Moreman & Rushton 2011). This lack of individual consciousness is a direct correlation the lack of individual consciousness experienced by many African Americans. They are a group that is discriminated against by being different than the white male. In many horror movies, such as Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were all white. This is because it’s not feasible to have that many African American actors in a movie that came in in 1968 as well as the deeper problematic racism would not be conveyed and portrayed properly. Equating Africans to zombies is an aspect that is in the collective consciousness of society. They don’t need it to be shown in entertainment because they already know it exists. Having white zombies adds another level to the racism.  They show that if this is how white people act when they are dead and acting alive or have no individual consciousness, then everything that they do is minimized compared to how the African American community would do. The violence and horror are wiped out almost immediately (overnight, and within a few hours of the initial outbreak), proving that the same can and will be done to any African American who dares to speak out against the cruel injustice that they must suffer each day.

American society morphed the zombi “into a creature that revealed more about the hopes and fears lurking in the American psyche than in the Haitian one" (Kordas). Americans changed and altered the zombi to fit what they perceived as their fear of the other and their reactions to it. The zombi was something to not be afraid of originally and is now a zombie that only causes horror and destruction wherever they go and that they need to be stopped as soon as possible. If not, then everything that the zombie does will spread like wildfire and infect everyone around them. With the zombies, it’s an infectious disease that causes the person to lose their individual consciousness while spreading that disease to everyone that they come into physical contact with. For the African Americans that are being directly compared to the zombie, it would be spreading the idea of justice, freedom, and real access to the American Dream that anyone should have access to but doesn’t if they are not a white male.

 The need to destroy all traces of the African American zombies and their vocalized protests "guarantees the well-being of the whole social order, and necessarily so, as without the terror induced at the thought of becoming a zombie, the justice of the secret societies would be important" (David Inglis). Without the fear of becoming a zombie and ending up like how the African Americans are, white Americans would still be nullifying and burying the tragedies that were committed against the African Americans. This fear of becoming the other is what makes these horror films and shows appealing. White Americans can take the “justice” that they want to serve to African Americans and their zombies without doing anything illegal. They can continue their stereotypes and propaganda against them because of the fear that they could become a zombie and spread the plague even further than it already has. This caused the justice of the other to be neglected as important and is conveyed through the zombies. In many movies and shows both White and African Americans work together to destroy the zombie other and continue to live and fight for survival. Despite them working together, the white American still tends to get the upper hand and usually survives longer. If the white Americans weren’t so terrified of the thought of flesh eating zombies existing one day, they could help bring social justice to not only African Americans but everyone who is considered be an outsider and is lumped into the Other group. The fear of African Americans having their own individual consciousness and the ability to have social justice terrifies White Americans so much that they did everything that they could to instill this fear into the general collective consciousness.

References

Inglis, D. (n.d). Putting the Undead to Work [PDF].

Kordas, A. (n.d.). New South, New Immigrants, New Women, New Zombies [PDF].

Moreman, C. M., & Rushton, C. J. (2011). Race, Oppression and the Zombie [PDF].

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Blog Post 13: Feminism and WITCHES

Witches and the feminism movement are connected deeply. In some ways witches enhanced and progressed feminism and in other ways they held it back greatly. Witches were very active in the feminist movements and working towards gaining equal rights to men. They were able to share their beliefs openly and with others who accepted them in their coven. In many of the rituals that they shared they would pray to the ancient Roman goddesses for fertility, a good harvest, and other various aspects of life that they wanted help to improve on. These witches were interconnected with themselves, the mythological past, and nature itself. As the rituals would continue, the requests would be less individual based and more collective, going as far expressing their concerns “for women in struggle everywhere, for women in prison and mental wards, for the feminist movement” (Women, Feminism, and the Craft). These women were working together to build each other up and send positive energy into the world in hopes of being able to better another woman’s life just by believing that they could. They even created a political organization called WITCH that would protest political decisions. “They bowed to no man” (Women, Feminism, and the Craft). because they believed themselves to be equal to men.

Despite the noble and an effort that these women were doing with standing up for themselves and pushing for their equal rights, there were many men who were pushing back against the feminist movement and the witches themselves with everything that they could. They would bring various people to trial for committing crimes, especially in a city that would forbid “the practice of magic, clairvoyance, palmistry, and so forth” (Women, Feminism, and the Craft). The connecting between being a witch and having magic isn’t a hard connection to make, and neither is comparting magic to political, economic, and social gain based on the political group WITCH. This would make it easy to go after women for trying to promote feminism, and thus give it a bad reputation and make it hard for anyone to want to believe in the movement anymore.

References

Women, Feminism, and the Craft. (n.d.).

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Blog Post 12: Paganism & Sexism

Witches are viewed as to be a part of the paganism religion. Paganism has many different forms and variations to it. Paganism was regarded as a devil worshiping religion based on Christianity and their faith. Paganism was almost completely buried due to the widespread of Christianity throughout Europe. Paganism was associated with the occult and “for most peasants, witches were simply those-mostly women-who harmed by occult means” (The Wiccan Revival). Christianity labeled paganism and their followers as being associated with doing harm to others rather than peacefully existing. Many “women were given an equal, perhaps superior, place in the religion” (The Wiccan Revival). This also created tension because women were regarded as being second class and not deserving the same rights and freedoms as a white male. Women saw Paganism to express their beliefs and be held accountable the same as their male opposite. Women were also allowed creative freedom to educate themselves or express themselves in the same ways that the men were allowed and encouraged by society to do. The idea that women could be equal to men, even in another religion, created tension with Christians. This is how women got associated to being witches and then associated with Paganism. If a woman dared to question her status, gain legal rights to her property or children, expressed her sexuality, or try to gain intellect through education, she was associated as being a witch. As soon as the association of being a witch came onto her, then she lost everything she was trying to gain because witches weren’t allowed to exist in most places for a long time. The witch stereotype doesn’t exist as much today as it once did, but the ordeals women must go through to get their voices heard is still a lengthy process, and they are still not considered equal to men.

References

Witches: The Wiccan Revival. (n.d.).

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Blog Post 11: How Individual Consciousness Spreads Fear of Race and Racism

Race and racism is a very clear issue that is being brought to life in Night of the Living Dead. In the film, the main protagonist is a black male named Ben. He asserts all his power in protecting the farm house and his life. He saves Barbra several times when she is unable to defend herself due to her hysteria. He even stands up for himself and what he believes is right and the best course of action in living. He goes as far as to physically assault and shoot Cooper, a white man, who was continuously undermining and confronting Ben on almost every situation since the two met. Through this entire film, "all Americans, black, and white, are implicated in America’s "living dead" culture"(Bruce). Everyone is the same and goes through the same terror and ultimately get the same fate. Ben survived the night but was shot in the head by a group of white men who want on an excursion to kill the living dead. They didn’t even think twice about checking to see if Ben was alive or just a zombie. They assumed and a choice. They probably didn’t even realize what implications that choice had. This group is determined to kill all the mindless walking zombies and anyone they believe who could also be a zombie (Ben and other black people). The zombie is “either dead and acting alive, or alive and acting in an unconscious way that is like death in its lack of individual consciousness” (Moreman & Rushton 2011). Zombies don’t have the free will to do whatever they want. They are mindless bodies moving around and causing destruction in their path. This is how many African-Americans were seen during this time in America, especially with the Civil Rights movement going on. Shooting anything that had no real individual consciousness is what prompted that white men group to go on their savior rampage. Ben, as a black man, was considered to have no real induvial consciousness either. He was still apart of the brutal past of his ancestors that everyone knew there was a lot of built up anger. He was viewed as being able to cause whatever destruction to get his shot at being thought of having an individual conscious.

The zombies are portrayed as white people, mainly white men, because it was the fear that the whites and blacks were becoming equal in some way. It was already proven that they could be equal in suffering the same fate of being killed by zombies. Whites were afraid (and still are) that they are beginning to suffer from not having the individual consciousness that they once had, when they had all the power. This fear of not having power and what happens when a black man takes control over a situation and almost lives through the horror of zombies, while every white person around him dies is at the core of the film.

Bruce, B. S. (n.d.). Guess Who's Going to be Dinner [PDF].

Moreman, C. M., & Rushton, C. J. (2011). Race, Oppresion and the Zombie [PDF].

Romero, G. A. (Director). (1968). Night of the Living Dead [Video file]. Hollywood, CA: Hollywood Film Exchange.

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Blog Post 10: Zombis Attempts to Nullify American History

Zombie comes from the Haitian term Zombi, most notably found in Haitian Voodoo culture and religion. The term zombi has three distinctive descriptions, each with a different meaning and use for how the zombi exists and what they are supposed to do. The American imagination stuck to one kind, the one everyone knows today. The zombi was something that would come out of the grave and is possessed by his master to cause harm to whoever the master desired. With this basis, it can be said that the Haitian zombi was turned “into a creature that revealed more about the hopes and fears lurking in the American psyche than in the Haitian one" (Kordas). The fear of the American psyche was and is that the discriminated minority groups are out there to get revenge on the whites. The initial fear started with former slaves, after the Civil War. Now freed slaves moved out from the southern plantations and to various parts of America would hopefully they wouldn’t suffer the same torture that they had previously. This mass movement alone helped stir the fear into many white American minds. These African-Americans now had the freedom to do whatever they wanted. This fear was only in the imagination, as many laws were made so that while the African-Americans were technically free, they really weren’t. The zombi took place of what the former slaves had, doing anything and everything for the white Americans. Zombi "had thus come to be associated in the minds of some Americans with a creature of African "origin" that willingly performed services for whites" (Kordas). This was how the white Americans chose to handle not having slaves to do whatever services that were needed. They created an image that would taint their future and make it that much harder to move past and forward the atrocities of slavery that continues to plague America.

Kordas, A. (n.d.). New South, New Immigrants, New Women, New Zombies.

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Blog Post 9: The Male Side of the Female Sexuality

The late 1800s was a revolutionary period for many women. They started to separate themselves from their previous Victorian ways. They were more outspoken in what they wanted. This included anything and everything from voicing their opinions to wanting to be more informed in general to exploring their sexuality. The exploration of their sexuality is what defines the New Woman. This New Woman is more outward with her sexuality. She can choose not only who she wants to be with but also how many men she wants to be with. She can initiate the relationship, instead of the male being the one to do all the work. It is very controversial, and many loved this new freedom, but there were many who were opposed as well, both men and women.

Stoker has two female type characters in Dracula. The first is the female vampires. Typically, one would associate something as aggressive in nature as a vampire to be a male figure. These women are portrayed as being “aggressive, inhuman, wildly erotic, and motivated only by an insatiable thirst for blood” (Senf 1982). This type of women is being compared to the New Woman. The choice of sexuality taken to the extreme. "Sexual behavior with a frankness which had previously been unthinkable" (Senf 1982) is exactly what the female vampires represent in Stoker’s society. The other type of women Stoker mentions in Dracula is Mina. She is the pure one and remains human. Mina is contrasted to the vampires because “helps to characterize his heroine by her discomfort at this frankness" (Senf 1982). Mina is compared to be the Old Woman or the Victorian Woman. She has a discomfort at being frank with her sexuality and ignores it. Therefore, she is pure throughout Dracula. These two contrasts of women show the conflict of women in the late 1800s and how men were seeing it. To be free to express your sexuality, women were also subjected to the other traits that defined many men.

Senf, C. (1982). "Dracula": Stoker's Response to the New Woman. Victorian Studies, 26(1), 33-49. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3827492

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Blog Post 8: The Devil in Dracula

Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler) lived a troubled life from an early age between being the son of a ruler and living in the Ottoman Empire during one of its more difficult periods before breaking up and becoming individual countries. Vlad III was around various forms of conflict since he was a child. He learned a way to resolve conflict was through violence. When he was older, he was able to take back the throne that many killed his father for. While he was the ruler, he would invite over his enemies, that wanted to take his power away from him, and “had his guests stabbed and their still-twitching bodies impaled on spikes” (Lallanilla 2017). This act of extreme violence and blood was just the beginning for Vlad III. It is unknown of all the people he killed and to what extent it was done, since the printing press had just been invented. Many of the stories were passed orally and then written down. There is some truth at the very least to all the gruesome details, but how much is true is a mystery. The mystery is what intrigues many people about Vlad III.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is based off Vlad the Impaler. Dracula “in Wallachian language means DEVIL” (Lallanilla 2017). Stoker most likely based Dracula off the devilish and evil acts that Vlad III committed while he was alive. Stoker’s Dracula is a piece of fiction writing that has some basis in history, but also on where the creepy appears to happen. Vlad III had no real traces or ties to Transylvania or the mansion that Dracula lives in. However, for there to be any good vampire-based story the vampire needs to live in a creepy styled mansion that would be similar enough to Vlad III’s home where he committed the impaling acts on his enemies/opposition to power. The pieces of history that are true that are clouded in many fictions details gives the allure to vampires and vampirism. The idea that it could be real, just like any paranormal or supernatural idea, makes the appeal and desire to be interested in the topic that more intense.

References

Lallanilla, M. (2017, September 13). The Real Dracula: Vlad the Impaler. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://www.livescience.com/40843-real-dracula-vlad-the-impaler.html

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Blog Post 7: Ghost Adventures & Aggression Towards the Paranormal

A show like Ghost Adventures is mainly for entertainment purposes with not a lot of thought provoking scenes or questions into the paranormal. In this episode, the Lemp family was being investigated with their suicides and the Native American cave system below the brewery and house. The show either got wrong, changed, or left out many important historical facts to tailor to the audience that they have. According to Dickey, William “hot himself in the head just over a month later” (Dickey 2016), after his closest friend passed. Another inaccurate statement was about the dog that was supposedly shot, as it is “nowhere mentioned in the police reports of the incident” (Dickey 2016). With getting all this information wrong and neglecting to tell the full story, there are many components missing. These missing components are the ones that give way to the possibility of the paranormal not only existing but also having a lasting impression on the Lemp mansion and brewery. With how much is wrong, how is anything about the supposed hauntings supposed to be real? Are they leaving anything else? Are they changing the narrative to make it appear to be more haunted than it is, just for more views? Unfortunately, there aren’t any answers to this, without directly asking Ghost Adventures or going to the Lemp mansion and brewery yourself.

With all the alterations to history to tailor to a more paranormal story, it makes it easy to assume that Ghost Adventures is only here to serve as an entertainment piece. Sure, there are some aspects that do compel some deeper paranormal thoughts, but with the editing and constant replays it’s extremely difficult to move past the entertainment factor. They get good ratings for making things be more dramatic and appearing to be paranormal by the editing of visual and sound effects to make you see and hear what they want you to. This makes it seem as if something paranormal really is happening, even though in reality there probably isn’t. This is due to the constant talking and being aggressive towards whatever energy and spirits there might be in that area at that point. The aggression and demands to be seen or heard make it hard to see anything or believe anything that they show. The aggression stems from the masculine men who are trying to not only dominate the spirits but are also trying to control them. They are asking questions and demanding that something happens via moving objects or talking. This aggression makes the editing easier, since they are talking during most of the episode. This causes it to be almost impossible to hear anything else, aside from their voices and what they want you to hear. Another factor is the media in which it is portrayed. It is a lot easier to manipulate the TV audience into believing something is there or happening because of all the edits that they do in advance.

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

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Essay 1: How the Salem Witch Trials Impacted the House of the Seven Gables

The history of any space impacts how it is viewed and has a clear correlation between the supposed hauntings that may occupy that space and time. The House of the Seven Gables is a notable example of how the history of place (town, house, and owners) create a lasting impact on how society views the past and creates its own narrative of the hauntings. The House of the Seven Gables was built in 1668 in Salem, Massachusetts. Less than thirty years later, the Salem Witch Trials started. These trials were the cause of so many injustices that the House of the Seven Gables is haunted “precisely because the house is the physical spoils of this injustice that it becomes haunted” (Dickey 2016). The rich history and the lingering injustices are what caused this house to become viewed as haunted and have many experiencing the uncanny.

The history affecting the space has a direct correlation to disrupting western narratives. This looks at the history of the Salem Witch Trials and how many women were being implicated as being witches and punished for not being a white male. Many of the women who were convicted of being witches were due to them possibly gaining land and in turn power. “The Salem witch trials with hysteria, religious fervor, and scapegoating, scratch the surface some and one finds property disputes and shady transfers of property and money” (Dickey 2016).  The dominant white male society at the time refused to let women have this much power and control in their lives and in society. There had to be some witchcraft that allowed them to even think that they could own land, thus causing the hysteria that ensued. This dominant white male narrative took away these women’s power and turned them into a side show and created mass hysteria at the same time to ensure it wouldn’t happen again. These women were disgraced all because they were not men. These injustices brought onto these women is what causes Salem to be haunted and continues to be haunted.

Salem is caught between the past and present, essentially in limbo. The dark tourism creates so much revenue that they are unable to bury the past. This causes the entire town, including the House of the Seven Gables to be haunted. This also allows the “ghosts of Salem are in fact capable of supernatural vengeance” (Dickey 2016). They want revenge for the injustices that were brought onto them, thus haunting the entire town and its inhabitants. The House of the Seven Gables is exploiting the aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials and turning a tragic event that has no known cause into a tourism spot. This creates the dark tourism that many people love to go on adventures to see or experience a haunting. This causes Salem and the House of the Seven Gables to not be able to escape the past and move forward. They are unable to escape the horrors of the past because Salem is making money on embellishing the past and ignoring the pain and suffering from the victims and their families.” Salem, with its broom-riding-witch logo on its police cars, has turned tragedy into spectacle” (Dickey 2016). Trying to recuperate the lost narrative of the Salem Witch Trials is very problematic because no one can move forward and try to remedy the past actions. They are trying to recreate the past to entice the dark tourism and get people to visit.

The architecture of the House of the Seven Gables is crucial to the supposed hauntings that occur there. There have never been exactly seven gables at any point in time. There have been less and more. There is also the addition of the secret staircase, where most of the hauntings and feelings of uncanny occur to those who visit. “The secret staircase, simply by virtue of not being immediately self-explanatory, renders the entire house even more uncanny” (Dickey 2016). The staircase has no real reason to be a part of the house. It winds around the chimney and leads to a small attic. It looks like the staircase should not even exist there. When people tell their experiences of the hauntings at the House of the Seven Gables, the majority come from this staircase. Freud describes the uncanny as “what one calls everything that was meant to remain secret and hidden and has come into the open” (Freud 1919). The staircase itself was meant to remain secret and hidden but has come into the open when the tours of the House of the Seven Gables started. The tight, narrow, and dark staircase that leads to the attic would be enough to cause claustrophobia in anyone, even if they don’t have it. This automatic sense of fear and uncomfortableness embellishes and heightens the sense of uncanny that is already being felt. This fear can cause people to believe that they are hearing, seeing, and even feeling a presence that should not be there. The architecture of the staircase and the attic is perfect for this feeling. It gives validity to the stories of the Salem Witch Trials and adds a sense of real fear and anxiety that can be felt by anyone. The town of Salem and the House of the Seven Gables feed off each other’s energy to create a tourism destination that many people not only want to go and see but to experience for themselves.

The history and architecture of a space dictates how it is viewed and the haunting stories that come from it. These hauntings are based in the white male narrative and attempt to prove that unless they are a white male or follow the guidelines that they impose, these minority groups will be subjected to horrible injustices. The hauntings themselves reveal that the dominant narrative does not feel remorse for what they did and instead just want to make as much money as they possibly can, regardless of who they hurt in the past and continue to hurt in the present.

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

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.

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Blog Post 6: Fairmount Cemetery Walk

I went to Fairmount Cemetery, located off Alameda and Quebec on Thursday afternoon. Fairmount is the second oldest cemetery in Denver, dating “back to 1890, the year it was founded” (Fairmount 2016). When I went, it was partially cloudy and the not very windy. It got cloudier and windier the longer I stayed. I walked around for about 30 minutes before I had to leave. I explored the center, where the more "famous" and richer graves were. I didn’t recognize the names of anyone, which I was slightly disappointed by, being as I grew up in Denver. The graves were extensive and kept in good order, seeing as many were buried in the early to mid-1900s. It was very peaceful and quiet. Even though, I didn’t recognize any of the names, I had this huge sense of respect and awe for them. Part of me felt it was wrong to be exploring the cemetery without a purpose of seeing a grave, like when visiting a relative or friend. I ended the walk by passing through the children's portion of the cemetery, completely by accident. The amount of dread and sadness that I felt was almost uncanny. The sorrow came out of nowhere. I couldn't talk, and tears were building so fast. I only stayed for a few minutes before I had to leave. It is an unfortunate truth that many children die every year, but that is something many of us tend to ignore and not want to see. A child's death is one of the most painful experiences for everyone close to that child. When seeing how many graves there were, it brought to life the death of children that society has kept hidden for so long. This hiding of death is what made it uncanny and filled with sorrow. Fairmount. (2016). Fairmount History. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://fairmount-cemetery.com/our-grounds/fairmount-history/

The children’s graves (above)