Re: the "female gothic" (3 responses)
Darryl Wiggers <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.studies.media |
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From: "Glasgow, Adryan J" <[email protected]> A quick note on Twilight and The Vampire diaries: The Twilight films follow the book as well as can be expected. The Vampire Diaries TV series, on the other hand, is even less faithful to its source material than is TrueBlood. The Vampire Diaries TV series, less an adaptation of a YA book series, is actually an interesting response to Twilight, including casting choices that reflect the similar character tropes. What I find interesting is that TVD seems intent on critiquing Twilight, particularly in refuting Bella's model of femininity and in nuancing the dangerous/brutal masculinity of the vampires and werewolves. In particular, there is a moment when the female lead in TVD is forced to drink vampire blood in a scene perhaps intentionally reminiscent of date rape. Afterwards she give a short speech which seems, at least in my mind, to be a direct response to Bella's fetishizing of female submission, specifically using the language of "choice" (the choice to have children, the choice to grow old), which I read both as a refusal of sexual violence and as a resistance to the ethereal beauty standard which makes immortality so appealing to adolescent heroines. It's not a reading supplement, but consider having students watch an episode of this response to help them see what is flexible and what is fixed within the trope. ----------- From: [email protected] Perhaps an obvious one, but Cary Fukunaga's heritage-style 'Jane Eyre' with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, gives a very recent interpretation of one of the key texts. As does Andrea Arnold's 'Wuthering Heights'. And the former might be compared with the 1940s version with Orson Welles, as well as the Tourneur/Lewton 'I Walked with a Zombie' and maybe Hitchcock's 'Rebecca', which both draw on Eyre? Adrian Garvey PhD Candidate Queen Mary University of London ----------- From: Kate McNally <[email protected]> Another TV series was "Moonlight <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0955346/>" (2007-2008)*. Classic Vampire turned Private Detective endlessly rescuing Helpless Blonde Reporter Girl. It only ran for one season, but the writing was solid. I'm not sure what critical analysis is out there on this because it had such a short run. (due to the writers strike?) Hope this helps. Kate McNally