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The Appeal of True Stories in Gothic and Horror

October 31, 2019

Based on a true story. You must’ve seen this many times in the opening credits of a film. This is particularly the case with works of the Gothic or horror genres. But why do true stories in Gothic or horror fiction appeal to us so much?

Moreover, does the phrase “a true horror story” make sense or not? Remember, good horror fiction should be about the supernatural – no ambiguities allowed. Movies like The Exorcist accept the supernatural (and treat it as such). Compare that to Scooby-Doo Gothic, where there is always a natural explanation for everything.

The “based on a true story” trope is older than you might think. Moreover, just in case you wondered, “based on a true story” is not a writing gimmick but a case of legitimate creative manipulation.

In this post we’ll take a look at its origins and, more importantly, its significance.

true stories gothic horror — “True” stories in Gothic and horror function as a booster of *affect*

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The Meaning of Dracula’s Castle

October 20, 2019

Criticism

academia, criticism, Dracula, Gothic, reality, Victorian, vision

Note: the following article on the meaning of Dracula’s castle is a modified excerpt from my article “Philosophical Idealism and Vision in Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Photographs, Sight, and Remote Viewing as Tools of Reality Rendering”. Word and Image: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. Tampere, Finland: Tampere University Press, 2014.

Feel free to also take a look at my other academic publications.

The importance and meaning of Dracula’s castle in the novel becomes evident for a variety of reasons. In general temporal terms, the castle of Dracula serves as a generic reminder and connects with the Gothic tradition.

Examining the text itself, the novel essentially begins and ends with the castle. In fact, the novel ends in the castle twice: the first time in Mina’s last journal entry, describing the seeming destruction of Count Dracula in his home ground (D, 401) and the second in Jonathan Harker’s note, revealing their pilgrimage of sorts to the very same place seven years later (D, 402).

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Time and Meaning in Only Lovers Left Alive

October 2, 2019

Criticism

academia, criticism, film, Gothic, symbolism, time

Note: the following article on time and meaning in Only Lovers Left Alive is a modified excerpt from my article “Reconfiguring the Garden of Eden: Suspended Temporality in Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive”. The Eternal Return: Myth Updating In Contemporary Literature. Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics. 40.2 (2017): 123-134.

For a list of my other academic publications, see here.

Arguably one of the most pivotal moments of Only Lovers Left Alive comes when Adam, the male vampire protagonist, utters with despaired surrender that he feels as if “all the sand is at the bottom of the hourglass”.

Time and Meaning in Only Lovers Left Alive — The concept of time and meaning in *Only Lovers Left Alive* can be summarized by Adam’s key statement: ” all the sand is at the bottom of the hourglass”

He expresses his misery at the realization that every experience worth having has already been had and, as he believes, the future holds nothing better. Eve, his loyal partner who is much more of an optimist by nature, tells him to simply turn the hourglass over; to reset time.

In effect, the core problem of Only Lovers Left Alive is indeed related to time, particularly in the context of experience and progress: If perfection is already achieved (the archetypal paradise of the Garden of Eden), is the only way forward through loss and suffering? And, perhaps more importantly, to which extent is the human experience intrinsically connected with this grand paradox of time and progress?

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