Hey y'all, I am horrible at making decisions. And so I'm going to throw two potential paper topics at you and ask for your preference, if you would be so kind as to tell me. ^^;
IDEA ONE: There was something that just stuck out to me in "Stone Animals"... how things were "haunted." I mentioned it in class, but it stays with me: the use of that single word "haunted" has many implications, and yet it's left ambiguous (like so many other things in Link's story). What does "haunted" really mean? And does it frighten us? I would write about ambiguity in the story, focusing on the term "haunted"--maybe bringing in more obvious examples of "haunted" things from other stories. I think I will wind up spinning this into a discussion of something we mentioned in class--that sometimes the scariest things are perfectly ordinary, with new meaning invested in them. Like all the class ghost stories--the lid of the trash can, the weight on the bed, my personal experiences with lucid dreaming, the movement I just thought I saw out of the corner of my eye just now and how I turned to see only the kitchen stool (*shudder*)... we're good at being scared by perfectly normal things if we think about or notice them too much. Why might the house in "Stone Animals" be haunted? Where does the haunting come from? etc.
IDEA TWO: This idea is less horror-centered and more towards the "fantastic" or "uncanny" element, but of course it deals with a story we read. --I loved "The April Witch." It's light, lyric, bittersweet--easily one of my favorites we read, and not just because some of the other stories scared me. But it interested me how easily it read and how quickly we sympathize with Cecy, who is essentially possessing Ann Leary and using her body to do things she doesn't want to do--not an entirely innocent endeavor. We sympathize with Cecy because she just wants to be "normal." She just wants to "fit in." I got to thinking about this--I guess I call it the "witch metaphor": a young girl is different, and she can't help it; she wants to find her way into a community or what-have-you, but there are ~magical~ things preventing her from doing so; and the story arises out of her struggle. And yet there are still vague negative connotations associated with being a "witch." I guess I want to talk about this "witch metaphor" and its implications, both as a teachy element about "being different" and "fitting in" and any potential feminist connotations. While I hope to base my paper in "The April Witch," I will deal with two other modern witches, who have (on a large scale) similar struggles: Elphaba of Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked and Kiki of Hayao Miyazaki's film Kiki's Delivery Service. (The film is based on a children's book but I am a much bigger fan of the film, and the film is definitely more popular and widely-known than the book.)
I think really my witch idea is my favorite, but in case it's too unrelated to the dark fantastic I wanted to bring up the more horror-y idea about "haunted" things. What do y'all think? Which one should I go with? Do you like my witches idea?
Meg
2 comments:
I like the witch idea, and I'd say its fair game (even though it really isn't that dark). If you like it, you should go for it.
I love the witch idea! Especially bringing in modern examples. If you look at any witch story there is an aspect of fitting in. Look at Sabrina the Teenage witch, there were some pretty angsty moments on there. Even-though it isn't horror it is uncanny, because we are on the side of the one who is possessing someone.
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