As ghosts and ghouls rise from the dead to stake their annual claim to October\u2019s pop culture crown, Brock University English Language and Literature experts are weighing in on society\u2019s fascination with scary stories and why \u201cmonsters\u201d continue to thrill.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor and Dean of Humanities James Allard says Gothic fiction, which originated in the 1700s, entertained mass audiences by using emotional and suspenseful storytelling techniques that are now hallmarks of many popular stories \u2014 and not just scary ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cEstablishing iconic figures like Frankenstein\u2019s creature and Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em>, Gothic literature laid the groundwork for today\u2019s popular storytelling genres \u2014 think murder mysteries, detective fiction, romance and fantasy fiction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The success of the storytelling style, Allard says, is in part thanks to human emotional reactions, allowing readers to explore fear and other challenging feelings in a safe setting.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s enjoying the suspense of a thriller or feeling scared watching a film with a blanket over your eyes, these stories allow us to feel emotions we may not want to feel otherwise,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n According to Allard, Gothic monsters are adaptable symbols functioning as whiteboards for society\u2019s fears.<\/p>\n \u201cLater adaptations of Frankenstein\u2019s experiment reflect fears of science and technology run amok with no consideration of morality; Dracula is a wealthy, gender non-conforming aristocrat who is at home both in a castle and in the dirt,\u201d he says. \u201cContemporary authors and creators still grapple with these themes, and modern-day audiences still want to experience them.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Martin Danahay agrees, pointing to Guillermo Del Toro\u2019s forthcoming remake of Frankenstein, <\/em>which Danahay believes will show Mary Shelley\u2019s creature in a positive way.<\/p>\n \u201cDel Toro\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em> shows the enduring appeal of Gothic horror,\u201d he says. \u201cDel Toro is the perfect director for this film because he has always had a deep sympathy for \u2018monsters\u2019 whom he regards as outsiders rejected or oppressed by society.\u201d<\/p>\n Each generation revisits and rewrites monsters to reflect social anxieties of the era, says Professor Ann Howey, an expert in feminist adaptations of traditional tales.<\/p>\n Female villains were historically written as elderly and ugly, and therefore dangerous, Howey says, reflecting patriarchal fears about women\u2019s power, control, age and sexuality.<\/p>\n Feminist adaptations of these characters emerged in the 1970s and \u201980s. Marion Zimmer Bradley\u2019s The Mists of Avalon<\/em>, for example, retells Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters, particularly the sorceresses, Howey says.<\/p>\n The trend gained momentum in the \u201980s and \u201990s with authors like Nora Roberts writing mainstream romance with a supernatural edge, positioning women\u2019s paranormal powers as part of the female protagonist\u2019s allure.<\/p>\n Contemporary works, Howey adds, continue to reimagine women traditionally coded as villains, referencing popular mainstream shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> and more recently, the global success of Sarah J. Maas\u2019s A Court of Thorn and Roses <\/em>series.<\/p>\n \u201cIn these new storylines, witches or \u2018chosen\u2019 women with supernatural powers are billed as heroic leads,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Allard, Howey and Danahay agree the current trends dominating genre fiction reflect an increasing cultural awareness of what constitutes evil and that society\u2019s appetite for stories that explore fear, morality and identity continue to resonate through the ages.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As ghosts and ghouls rise from the dead to stake their annual claim to October\u2019s pop culture crown, Brock University English Language and Literature experts are weighing in on society\u2019s fascination with scary stories and why \u201cmonsters\u201d continue to thrill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":105561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,4767,1],"tags":[7003,2371,76,30,8406,6822],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105548"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105562,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105548\/revisions\/105562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}