The Haunting of Haddonfield

Halloween ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Murray Leeder ◽  
Murray Leeder
Keyword(s):  
Musical Score ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov ◽  
Haunted Houses

This chapter argues that, formally, narratively, and thematically, the character of Michael Myers is constructed as a haunted force, and Haddonfield as a haunted space. One common framework for dealing with the supernatural in literature comes from the Bulgarian structural narratologist Tzvetan Todorov. Todorov delineated three modes for the literary supernatural: the Marvellous, the Uncanny and the Fantastic. Many of Halloween's most effective moments similarly depend on Fantastic hesitation. The chapter then explores the themes of haunted houses and legend tripping in Halloween, as well as the utilization of sound in implying a kind of omnipresence to Michael's presence and perspective. John Carpenter's musical score works similarly to project Michael's presence beyond his body.

scholarly journals coloquio de Todorov y Cervantes en "El coloquio de los perros"

STUDIUM ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Licet García Simón ◽  
Frank Otero Luque
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Literary Theory ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov

Resumen: En el presente trabajo analizamos el aspecto fantástico de El casamiento y de El coloquio de los perros  a la luz de las teorías sobre el género fantástico de Tzvetan Todorov (Introducción a la literatura fantástica, 1970) y de David Roas (“La amenaza de lo fantástico”, 2001). Nos interesan las ideas de Roas especialmente en la medida en que valoran y, al mismo tiempo, problematizan la teoría de Todorov. Nuestro análisis explora la tensión que se establece al interior del texto cervantino entre lo real y lo imposible, con el propósito de ilustrar las nuevas posibilidades interpretativas y los nuevos sentidos sobre el género fantástico que la teoría contemporánea le ofrece al lector actual. La tensión que producen las lecturas posibles ilustra perfectamente las subdivisiones de género que Todorov habría de proponer tres siglos más tarde: lo maravilloso, lo extraño y lo fantástico. Palabras clave: fantástico, real, imposible, Cervantes, Todorov Abstract: In this paper we analyze the fantastic element in Cervantes' El casamiento engañoso (The Deceitful Wedding) and El coloquio de los perros (The Conversation of the Dogs or Dialogue between Scipio and Berganza), under the light of Tzvetan Todorov's literary theory on the fantastic genre in his Introduction à la littérature fantastique (1970), contrasting it with David Roas' thoughts on the same topic in his essay titled "La amenaza de lo fantástico” (2001). We are interested in Roas' ideas in particular, because this scholar values and yet challenges Todorov's theory. Bearing both perspectives in mind, here we explore the tension that Cervantes' texts under scrutiny create between real and impossible situations, in order to illustrate new interpretative possibilities of the fantastic genre that contemporary literary theory allows the reader nowadays. The tension that Cervantes' texts produces in the contemporary reader due to the several possible interpretations such texts offer, perfectly illustrates the subdivisions that Todorov would set forth three centuries later: the marvelous, the uncanny, and the fantastic. Key words: fantastic, real, impossible, Cervantes, Todorov

In the Realm of the Fantastic

2019 ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Bryan Turnock
Keyword(s):  
Horror Films ◽  
Horror Film ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov ◽  
Universal Studios

This chapter investigates 'the realm of the fantastic'. According to philosopher Tzvetan Todorov, such a state exists only as long as there is indecision over whether the event is indeed a supernatural occurrence or a product of the imagination; once this is determined, one leaves the realm of the fantastic for that of either the 'marvellous' or the 'uncanny'. The chapter considers Jacques Tourneur's Cat People (1942), the first in a series of 'fantastic' horror films produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. Famous for their use of suggestion and ambiguity, they are widely regarded as classics of the genre. Like Universal Studios before it, RKO used the horror film to transform itself into a major Hollywood force, injecting new life into a genre that had by then become staid and predictable. Their success came at a time of mounting problems for the majors, and when independent studios and film-makers began to play an increasingly important role in the industry.

scholarly journals Lagniappe: “For ’the making and glimpsing of Other-Worlds’: Literature of the Fantastic in the Schlobin Collection at East Carolina University"

2008 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-43
Author(s):  
Joseph Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov ◽  
East Carolina University

A new collection at East Carolina University’s Joyner Library: The James H. and Virginia Schlobin Literature of the Fantastic Collection includes fantasy, science fiction, horror, and the weird which builds, perhaps, on the uncertainty and anxiety created by the “marvelous” and the “uncanny” aspects of fantasy identified by Tzvetan Todorov (1975).

scholarly journals Fantastic Elements in Djebar's La Femme sans sépulture

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M Medeiros
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Constant Return ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The Status ◽  
Cultural Self ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Supernatural Explanation

Fantastic Elements in Djebar’s La Femme sans sépulture Todorov famously defined the fantastic genre as comprising texts set in a recognisably ‘real’ world that involve the possibility, but only the possibility, of a supernatural explanation underlying the events of the story related. Where the supernatural and the natural co-exist as hypotheses within the text, the reader enters a state of hesitation concerning the status of the story-events set before her (Todorov, 1975). If this hesitation is sustained to the end, according to Todorov the text can usefully be classified as belonging to the (pure) fantastic genre. Is La Femme sans sépulture an example of the fantastic genre? Certainly the author plays with the conventions of that genre, skilfully juxtaposing two types of explanation for the events recounted and fostering a hesitation on the part of the reader. But this is not an end in itself for Djebar. Rather, the possibility of the supernatural seems to function as a metaphor; if the ghost of Zoulikha ‘haunts’ those who live on after her disappearance (her daughters and former comrades, the narrator herself, and all those for whose freedom she fought), this means that we all owe a duty to the past. Only once she has done her duty to Zoulikha in this way can the author-narrator feel that she has truly returned home. And it is entirely appropriate to represent this relationship to the past as a kind of haunting. This is the use to which Djebar puts the idea of the supernatural; whilst celebrating and continuing Zoulikha’s struggle for the liberation of Algeria and its women, she uses the possibility of the fantastic to convey the uncanny experience of a constant return to her own (cultural) self.

scholarly journals The Unheimliche as Source of the Fantastique. On the Translation of the Concepts of Todorov’s “Étrange” and Freud’s “Inquiétante Étrangeté”

2021 ◽  
pp. 169-183
Author(s):  
Jun Mita
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
English Translation ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov ◽  
Superstitious Beliefs

This study examines the problem of the translation of the concepts of “étrange” in the theory of the fantastic in literature by Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017) and of Unheimliche by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). Todorov defines clearly the realm of “fantastique” as an intermediary genre situated between two poles: “merveilleux” (lit. marvellous) and “étranger” (lit. strange, odd). The latter term is translated by the substantive adjective “uncanny” in English and Unheimliche in German. However, Unheimliche is also used by Freud to designate a psychoanalytical notion, and the common English translation is “uncanny”. This comparative analysis reveals that, on the contrary, the Freudian notion of Unheimliche and the Todorovian notion of “fantastique” are equivalent and that they both refer to a temporary nature. This comparison makes it possible to clarify the mechanisms of the fantastic in literature. Todorov indeed does not explain where the “hesitation” in the face of an apparently supernatural event comes from, even though this uncertainty is the pivot of his theory. However, Freud’s considerations lead us to understand that it is because such an event shakes our modern rational convictions, and because the old superstitious beliefs convictions that we should have “overcome” return in the form of the Unheimliche.

scholarly journals Mystery or not? Quantum cognition and the interpretation of the fantastic in Neil Gaiman

Ars Aeterna ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-33
Author(s):  
Ivan Čipkár
Keyword(s):  
Reader Response ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Genre Fiction ◽  
Realistic Interpretation ◽  
Quantum Cognition ◽  
Realistic Fiction ◽  
Neil Gaiman ◽  
Dual Interpretation ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Tzvetan Todorov

AbstractThe present paper describes a reader-response experiment focusing on the perception of the genre of the fantastic. It also proposes an update of the genre’s structuralist definition to better conform to contemporary cognitive research. Participants answered questions relating to the interpretation of events and important symbols in a Neil Gaiman short story and were also asked if they considered the story “fantasy” or “realistic fiction.” Tzvetan Todorov characterized the fantastic as a hesitation between the uncanny (realistic interpretation) and the marvelous (supernatural interpretation). Neil Gaiman, a popular contemporary author of genre fiction, has utilized this hesitation between psychological and supernatural explanations of his stories to great effect. The results show a consistently higher degree of enjoyment in readers who were aware of the dual interpretation and partook in the hesitation. This paper also introduces the concept of quantum cognition into literary theory and explains the benefit of using terminology from this discipline in a reader-response context. The findings of this study could be the first step towards a better understanding of the different ways in which readers cognitively approach the fantastic or genre in general.

Gender Hyperbole and the Uncanny in the Horror Film

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Model
Keyword(s):  
Horror Film ◽  
Gender Norm ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
The Fantastic

This chapter examines Stanley Kubrick's film, The Shining (1980), based on Stephen King's eponymous novel (1977). Applying the Freudian concept of the “uncanny” to Jack Nicholson's performance the film, it suggests how genre and star performance generate horror in the aporias of cultural gender. Rather than the ambivalence of the fantastic premised on difference, the chapter emphasizes the uncanniness of hyperbole grounded in repetition. Thus, The Shining draws out from Nicholson's self-parodying performance a hyperbolic rendition of masculinity: a doubling that makes the gender norm itself a source of a horror, doubled again through haptic star-audience contact.

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