Week 8: Mythic Fiction and Contemporary Urban Fantasy

American Gods was a really interesting read for me I always love this kinda of stuff. Modernizing something old like gods and bringing them to America is cool idea, then adding our own “American Gods” and how we as a new culture must too worship gods. I’m sure this is all some big metaphor, but I don’t really want to get too much into it.

            This was one of my favorites of the course, I found every little thing about it be interesting. Slowly feeding you bits of information as you join Shadow along for the stories length. You learn as he does what is happening and the chaos that slowly goes on over the course of the book. I also enjoyed the back and fourth the sub characters like the succubus women sucking men she sleeps with into her, the other one of these that stood out was the African gods section. It’s nice too because there is some religious lore in there too much makes it nice for people also interesting in learning mythologies of ancient cultures.
            I’ve never read another Neil Gaiman work, but I am interested in reading more. I’ve only ever heard outstanding things about Sandman. That would seems like the next logical place to go.

Week 7: The Novel of Spiritual Education

The words “Harry Potter” bring a lot of thoughts into the minds of the millennial generation. Castles, owls, qudditch, chocolate frogs I could go on and on about it. Many of us drew up reading the series as kids and we got to grow into them as the darkness grew in the series. I got lucky and had a really nice sweet spot in the year I was born. When I was 11 the first movie came out, the age you start at Hogwarts. Then my senior year of high school the final book came out.

            Despite growing up and into it, I think the Harry Potter series offers a strong cast of likeable characters that are all well defined and explored over the course of the seven books. Sprinkling death over almost all the books, JK Rowling managed to never make readers feel like their favorite could still be the victims of the evil magic of these world. At the same time there is a sense of hope through out everything. Death isn’t something you can escape and that is one of the main themes of the series. At the same time you have to learn how to accept death as well, because it’s part of life and you will come face to face with.

            Though not my favorite  Secondly, this were much of the fun happens. The crazy every favor beans, the fore mentioned frogs, owls, dragons, and so many other things are touched are on the original. It’s not as child to lose yourself with all the whimsy of the first novel.

in the series the Sorcerers Stone probably has the strongest aspects of this week’s theme. It’s the most school focused of any of the others the final victory being winning the house cup.

           

Week 6: A Rich Fantasy Life

Warcraft 3- Peon

             Sadly I slept through this class, which is a damn shame because I really wanted to learn about some stuff about high fantasy that’s life I guess. So I’ve never read a Tolkien book, but of course like so many people I’ve experienced the Lord of Rings and the recent Hobbit film. I’m very fond of those movies, like so many other people. I was excited to read the Hobbit since I’m counting down the days the 2^nd movie and it’s always been on my list of things I’ve wanted to read.

            The Hobbit is interesting; Tolkien’s style is something I wasn’t expecting. All the 4^th wall breaking of the reading so Tolkien can relate things to the present day to make descriptions. It makes sense, as this is a children’s book. It just wasn’t what I expected from the great father of high fantasy. I found it quite charming though, the songs especially stood out.  I fell as though I missed a golden book in my childhood after getting through it.

Album- Nightfall in Middle Earth

            All in all I thought that the Hobbit was a really cool novel and it’s no surprise to me that it really grabbed a lot of people as kid or even adults reading it. You have all your great fantasy tropes going on. Dragons, treasure hunting, wizards, orcs, trolls, goblins, warrior princes, and so much more and from what I know it all started with Tolkien. Did we even have fantasy, as we know it before Tolkien, honestly? I know he didn’t make up elves and dwarfs but my god did he spawn the all the stereotypes and tropes for these races and monster of middle earth.
I’ve been an avid World of Warcraft player on and off since 2007. I spent most of my high school on a world filled with all these things found in Tolkien’s works and even not having read them, I feel like I have a huge emotional connection to them jut because of what they helped create. So thanks Tolkien for helping create Dungeons and Dragons, Warcraft, Power Metal, and Live Action Roleplaying with your writings.

Week 5: Women Archetypes

For this week we were asked to discuss a trope or archetype in horror/fantasy of women. Having a small talk after class, I wanted to explore the idea of the "Unsatisfiable Women" in horror and primarily in the older films mainly in the 1950s.

 The first movie I thought of when thinking of women like this my mind came to the film, "The Brain

That Would Not Die". After a fatal car crash a scientist is able to keep his wife's (Jan) head alive. She is enrage by this, and even more so has the scientist begins to try and find a new body for her. She goes around town, find and drugging the most beautiful women he can find back to his house. Right from the get go all Jan wants is to me left alone and die, however he will not let her. This causes her to hatch a murderous scheme. Luckily for her there is a monster in the labs closest locked away, and the juices keeping her alive give her the ability to talk to it mentally. Through of series of events her plan is success and all three of them burn in flames.

The second is "Attack of the 50ft Women"

Week 4: The Future of Horror

The future of horror is an interesting topic to look into. I think it goes without saying that horror has gone it a number of different directions. One of these new trends in horror, now thanks to the power of the Internet spreading the word is “The Syfy Original” type of movie. Things like Sharknado and Sharktopus are strangely very widely know and and celebrated films, by a selected group. One that is profitable enough to continue making them. The so good it’s bad movie trend has really exploded in this generation.  The success of the Syfy & The Asylum films is really something interesting and is really building on “the bad movie” as these movies are of course meant to be bad. These films are made bad it's done for comedic value. Packed with bad CGI, cardboard characters, ridiculous monsters/titles, and awful acting.  So this is mix of comedy if is done by poor quality, is technicality, an explainable of genre mashing.

The idea of genre mashing isn't a totally new idea for the genre. It was probably one of the earliest to do so with the Horror & Sci-fi. The 50s were filled with that stuff and it's really a marriage of both genres made in heaven. I don't see this mashing come to a close. The newest trends in horror is the horror comdey, which ties in with the "Syfy Original" movies I mentioned. Horror seems to be a popular genre to parody as it has some of the most famous cliches in town. It's not just horror sci-fi and comedy though. Looking at a list of genres horror has mashed with almost all of them. Fantasy of course, History? Lincoln hunting vampires, Reality Show? Fear Factor I guess. I think that is something that not only horror but everything genre is going to be doing. However it will likely be horror that is the first to cross pollinate first.

Week 3: J-Horror

This week we covered J-Horror witch is a pretty deep genre with a lot of content, since it’s a whole countries. Anyway I’ve seen bits and pieces of J-Horror movies, Battle Royal, and the Auditions. I remember having to leave the room during the dismemberment scenes of that movie. I can’t stomach any thing like that. It was so prolonged, and everything it was just…ew I couldn’t do it.

            For reading though I listened to the audio book for “A Wild Sheep Chase” is my second Haruki Murakami novel. I really like something about his work, it’s a lot of dialogue but it’s good dialogue something just really engaging about it. Interestingly the audio books for his novel “Sputnik Sweetheart” both have the same reader and he was quite good. As far as the novel goes it was good. They’re a little slow, and I don’t think there were many American Horror elements to it. It follows more closely to the Japan threads switch I’m not use to. That said, its still a very interesting novel. The events that happen are much more like a thriller then a horror novel.

Week 2: Vampires

Nosferatu

One of the thing that this book has, is a lot of different ideas about being afflicted with vampirism.  These ideas, archetypes that a lot of media has not used in Vampires strange state at the moment (maybe the fact this is my first time reading this series. Plus there was some interesting new character stories I hadn't heard before). I really like character struggles of Claudia because a lack of physical sexual similar to many vampire stories, but is handled differently. Vampires are often sexual, but there is lack of sexual contact or sex in them. Though Claudia does not do anything like, though she does drink blood. However it is not written the way like it is during the show in the theater or when Lestat does, to me it's more like she is just eating. No, Cladia's repressed sexuality comes from being a physically trapped in a girl's body for all eternity. This is where Cladia's burning rage seems to come from, her hatred for being cursed not only has a vampire but also to never to experience the sexual sensations that vampires do, since they most likely experienced sex as humans. As I said I thought this was an interesting approach for a vampire. Since she isn't a show as a sexy modern vampire, if anything I think she is in a way the biggest "monster" of all. I should consider her the closest to the original idea of vampires like Dracula and Nosferatu. She is the scariest in my opinion.

 
 Then of course, you have the odd relationship with Louis and Lestat, what the whole novel is built on. Personally the novel really loses steam in the parts of Lestat's absentees for me. I feel like their relationship is similar to an unhealthy marriage. It starts off well, there is an attraction between them, then one of them wants to break up and then they have to stay together because "oh crap we made a baby".
Then again you could say Lestat is some what charming even though he is serial killer. He takes such pleasure in killing that when I was reading I found it hard to not enjoy it myself. For Louis though it really goes back to being forced into the "marriage" again. The idea that Lestat knows more then him about vampirism when really Louis really makes more out of the powers given to him then almost any vampire. There is a pupil overcoming the teacher theme somewhat, and I think that is kind of what is important for Louis. He learns he doesn't need Lestat, but he almost learns he can't trust any other vampire at the same time. Which is tragic, but I guess there is a message in that idea too.