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GCSE Film Studies : Representation Of Vampires
Vampires and Slayers - Representation and genre shifting
Initially and famously transferred to filmic format by Fredrick Murnau, the silent classic Nosferatu began the genre that went on to become one of the most iconic and recognised in cinematic history. With its roots firmly embedded in Germany, and the German Expressionism movement, the idea of the bloodsucking un-dead quickly emerged across the waters in a hybrid format; removing the animalistic and contorted features originally impressed upon the vampire, in favour of a dark, mysterious and sensual interpretation.
One of the first and most acknowledged Hollywood vampire movies is Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula (also based on Bram Stoker's original text), with Bela Lugosi taking the lead role. This re-imagining sticks closely to its famous predecessor, but with the all important shift in the protagonist's appearance; which set to shift the Hollywood vision of the vampire into an ethereal being we desire as much as we fear. And you can see how far this ideal has progressed over the last eighty years. You only have to Google Twilight to recognise its immediate cult status; the notion of impossible love between a young innocent woman, and creature of the night. The shift from the gruesome to the unfeasibly beautiful solidifies the idea of Western influences morphing a genre from the horrific into the romantic.
Important as it is for our dark, mysterious (usually male) vampire to a given film, we are also obsessed with his blonde counterpart; the virgin with whom he falls in love. Pre - 1990's, the beautiful helpless victim became the vision of purity. She wore white, was softly spoken and was commonly betrothed but not yet wed. So pure, in fact, she would not see the danger that lurked behind the vampire's demeanour ways. She would be lured away from her perfect innocence, and inevitably die because of it. The moral of the story, quite obviously being, that by giving into temptation and compromising your purity, you will definitely die. However, the idea of the feeble and vulnerable female in the vampire genre was dramatically changed through Joss Whedon's creation Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She embodied all of the characteristics attributed to the generic victim; but with the important distinction that, in fact, she is a superhero whose legacy is to kill vampires.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, of course, a rejuvenation of a genre that was swiftly becoming laughable, with Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 spoof-like remake of Dracula doing little but to solidify the fact that change was necessary to prevent the whole genre becoming obsolete. Although the 1992 feature film of Buffy was ridiculed and wholly unsuccessful, it provided a kitsch cult following that was massively amplified through Whedon's long running TV series of the same name. This sub-genre of vampire films concentrated upon the vampire hunter. It preserved the original moral principles attributed to vampire flicks, with punishment and redemption as common themes surfacing in almost every vampire based film from the west. The idea of the vampire that refuses to become the monster is a frequent plot feature; take for example the Blade films, where Wesley Snipes plays a half-vampire hero; we are given a protagonist who chooses to be protector, avenging man-kind by hunting evil vampires. Similarly, the character of Michael in The Lost Boys must find redemption by killing the head blood sucker - he gave into his temptation, was punished by the prospect of eternal damnation and only finds himself free through the killing off of the vampire gang.
Possibly the most recognised ‘vampire hunter' is another Bram Stoker creation, Van Helsing - Count Dracula's arch enemy. Although not nearly as close in popularity and filmic representation as Dracula, Van Helsing identifies a similar niche that Buffy did in the 1990's. The character is complex and involved, offering an alternative to the overtly sexual nature of the vampire. Whereas Dracula is led by his primary and bodily instincts (accounting for the overt link with sex), Van Helsing is led by books and learning, he is not tempted by lust or desire; explaining his eventual ability to defeat Dracula - Vampire morality still insists that those who give into their temptations are doomed. Of course, Van Helsing was never to be as popular as Dracula (or any other vampire protagonist), nor ever will be. Our obsession with the dark, sensual and mystical figure stems from just that; he is shrouded in mystery and intrigue, and we are emphatically drawn to him despite the mortal danger he is synonymous with. We are not as intrigued by Van Helsing in this way because there is no mystery. His abilities stem only from the books he reads.
Coming back to the whole concept of the vampire in film, conceptions and stereotypes will always be at the forefront of most viewers' minds. However, when looking at a non-Hollywood approach to the genre, a much more diverse, and to an extent, disturbing representation can be found. The most recent successful non-Hollywood vampire movie, the Swedish film Let the Right One In, an entirely unconventional camaraderie is built between a young female vampire and a boy tormented by bullies, based on a common desire for companionship. This departs entirely from the passionate Hollywood rendition of the vampire film; as the all important link between vampire and sex is absent, with a genuine, albeit highly atypical, friendship in its place. It also bemuses the Hollywood stereotype by avoiding the moral sensibilities set out so clearly. By becoming involved with Eli the vampire, Hollywood would expect Oskar to die. He doesn't, rather Eli saves him; the film is romantic and violent without being sexual or driven by morals and generic standards.
In a merging of cinemas, of sorts, it seems that Park Chan-wook's Thirst which recently premiered at Cannes, uses the same ‘vampires are not innately monstrous' theme adopted by teen obsession Twilight. When asked about what he had to offer to the genre, he replied."I thought I could add some changes to this old genre by approaching the subject - vampire-ism, so to speak - without the usual mystery or romanticism but from a realistic perspective - where being a vampire is sort of a disease." Yes, Chan-wook's film involves a killing spree on the part of his protagonist, but the principle remains in the Hollywood spectrum of both valorising and victimising the vampire. It seems, therefore, that for the vampire genre to rejuvenate, films must negotiate their way through past, current and prospective futures in how to represent the vampire, and those who hunt them.
With a remake of Buffy the Vampire Slayer currently in production, and another three instalments in the Twilight saga to go, there is a question mark as to where Hollywood, and cinemas from across the globe, will take the vampire genre. Will movie-makers revert to the grotesque and animalistic representation of the vampire, in preference of the sexual and mysterious depiction that has been popular for more than half a century? Or will the genre as a whole shift further still from its origins in horror, moving more into romance and comedy (as it currently seems to be), and edging its classical roots into the abyss of archives for good. Hopefully near future will bring us a new and exciting take on the vampire/slayer story; as the 2004 version of Van Helsing attempted to do .
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 1
It didn't take long after the advent of motion picture technology in the late 19th century for filmmakers to dabble in the horror genre, as witnessed by French director Georges Méliès' 1896 short The House of the Devil, often credited as being the first horror movie. Although America was home to the first Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde movie adaptations, the most influential horror films through the 1920s came from Germany's Expressionist movement, with films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu influencing the next generation of American cinema. Actor Lon Chaney, meanwhile, almost singlehandedly kept American horror afloat, with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera and The Monster, which set the stage for the Universal dominance of the '30s.
1896: The House of the Devil
1910: Frankenstein
1913: The Student of Prague
1920: Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
1920: The Golem: Or How He Came into the World
1920: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1922: Haxan
1922: Nosfertu
1923: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1924: The Hands of Orlac
1924: Waxworks
1925: The Monster
1925: The Phantom of the Opera
1926: Faust
1927: The Cat and the Canary
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 2
Building upon the success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, Universal Studios entered a Golden Age of monster movies in the '30s, releasing a string of hit horror movies beginning with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931 and including the controversial Freaks and a Spanish version of Dracula that is often thought to be superior to the English-language version. Germany continued its artistic streak in the early '30s, with Vampyr and the Fritz Lang thriller M, but Nazi rule forced much of the filmmaking talent to emigrate. The '30s also witnessed the first American werewolf film (The Werewolf of London), the first zombie movie (White Zombie) and the landmark special effects blockbuster King Kong.
1931: Dracula
1931: Drácula
1931: Frankenstein
1931: M
1931: Vampyr
1932: Freaks
1932: The Mask of Fu Manchu
1932: The Mummy
1932: The Old Dark House
1932: White Zombie
1933: The Invisible Man
1933: Island of Lost Souls
1933: King Kong
1934: The Black Cat
1935: The Bride of Frankenstein
1935: The Werewolf of London
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 3
Despite the success of The Wolf Man early in the decade, by the 1940s, Universal's monster movie formula was growing stale, as evidenced by sequels like The Ghost of Frankenstein and desperate ensemble films with multiple monsters, beginning with Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. Eventually the studio even resorted to comedy-horror pairings, like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, which met with some success. Other studios stepped in to fill the horror void with more serious-minded fare, including RKO's brooding Val Lewton productions, most notably Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie. MGM, meanwhile, contributed The Picture of Dorian Gray, which won an Academy Award for cinematography, and a remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, while Paramount released the highly regarded haunted house picture The Uninvited. Notable international entry Mahal marked India's first foray into horror.
1941: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1941: King of the Zombies
1941: The Wolf Man
1942: Cat People
1943: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
1943: I Walked with a Zombie
1944: The Uninvited
1945: Dead of Night
1945: The Picture of Dorian Gray
1948: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
1949: Mahal
1949: Mighty Joe Young
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 4
Various cultural forces helped shape horror movies in the '50s. The Cold War fed fears of invasion (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing from Another World, The Blob), nuclear proliferation fed visions of rampaging mutants (Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Godzilla) and scientific breakthroughs led to mad scientist plots (The Fly). Competition for increasingly jaded audiences led filmmakers to resort to either gimmicks like 3-D (House of Wax, The Creature from the Black Lagoon) and the various stunts of William Castle productions (House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler) or, in the case of Great Britain's Hammer Films, explicit, vividly coloured violence. International efforts include the first full-length Japanese horror movie (Ugetsu), the first Italian horror movie in the sound era (I Vampiri) and the acclaimed French thriller Diabolique.
1951: The Thing from Another World
1953: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
1953: House of Wax
1953: Ugetsu
1954: The Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954: Godzilla
1954: Them!
1955: Diabolique
1955: The Night of the Hunter
1956: The Bad Seed
1956: I Vampiri
1956: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1957: The Curse of Frankenstein
1957: I Was a Teen-age Werewolf
1957: The Incredible Shrinking Man
1958: The Blob
1958: The Fly
1958: Horror of Dracula
1959: House on Haunted Hill
1959: Plan 9 from Outer Space
1959: The Tingler
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 5
1960s Horror Movies
'Night of the Living Dead'
Perhaps no decade had more seminal, acclaimed horror films than the '60s. Reflecting the social revolution of the era, the movies were more edgy, featuring controversial levels of violence (Blood Feast, Witchfinder General) and sexuality (Repulsion). Films like Peeping Tom and Psycho were precursors to the slasher movies of the coming decades, while George Romero's Night of the Living Dead changed the face of zombie movies forever. Horror luminaries of the time included Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, The Birds), Vincent Price (13 Ghosts, The Fall of the House of Usher, Witchfinder General), Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast, Two Thousand Maniacs), Roman Polanski (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby) and Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Black Sabbath).
1960: 13 Ghosts
1960: Black Sunday
1960: Eyes Without a Face
1960: The Fall of the House of Usher
1960: The Little Shop of Horrors
1960: Peeping Tom
1960: Psycho
1960: Village of the Damned
1961: The Innocents
1962: Carnival of Souls
1962: Mondo Cane
1962: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
1963: At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
1963: The Birds
1963: Black Sabbath
1963: Blood Feast
1963: The Haunting
1964: Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1964: Kwaidan
1964: Two Thousand Maniacs
1965: Dr Terror's House of Horrors
1965: Repulsion
1968: The Rape of the Vampire
1968: Night of the Living Dead
1968: Rosemary's Baby
1968: Spider Baby
1968: Witchfinder General
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 6
'The Exorcist'© Warner Bros.
The '70s pushed the envelope even further than the '60s, reflecting a nihilism born of the Vietnam era. Social issues of the day were tackled, from sexism (The Stepford Wives) to consumerism (Dawn of the Dead) to religion (The Wicker Man) and war (Deathdream). Exploitation movies hit their stride in the decade, boldly flouting moral conventions with graphic sex (I Spit on Your Grave, Vampyros Lesbos) and violence (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes), the latter reflected particularly in a spate of zombie movies (Dawn of the Dead) and cannibal films (The Man from Deep River). The shock factor even pushed films like The Exorcist and Jaws to blockbuster success. Amidst the chaos, the modern slasher film was born in Canada's Black Christmas and America's Halloween.
1971: The Abominable Dr. Phibes
1971: Twitch of the Death Nerve
1971: Vampyros Lesbos
1972: Blacula
1973: The Exorcist
1972: The Last House on the Left
1972: The Man from Deep River
1973: Sisters
1973: The Wicker Man
1974: Black Christmas
1974: Deathdream
1974: It's Alive
1974: Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
1974: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
1975: Jaws
1975: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975: Shivers
1975: The Stepford Wives
1976: Carrie
1976: The Omen
1977: The Hills Have Eyes
1977: Suspiria
1978: Dawn of the Dead
1978: Faces of Death
1978: The Fury
1978: Halloween
1978: I Spit on Your Grave
1979: Alien
1979: The Amityville Horror
1979: Phantasm
1979: When a Stranger Calls
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 7
Helen Udy and Peter Cowper in 'My Bloody Valentine'.© Lionsgate
Horror in the the first half of the '80s was defined by slashers like Friday the 13th, Prom Night and A Nightmare on Elm Street, while the latter half tended to take a more lighthearted look at the genre, mixing in comic elements in films like The Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead 2, Re-Animator and House. Throughout the '80s, Stephen King's fingerprints were felt, as adaptations of his books littered the decade, from The Shining to Pet Sematary. Fatal Attraction, meanwhile, spawned a series of "stalker thrillers," but despite the efforts of newcomers like Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins) and Tom Holland (Fright Night, Child's Play), horror's box office might had subsided by the end of the '80s.
1980: Cannibal Holocaust
1980: Prom Night
1980: The Shining
1980: Friday the 13th
1981: An American Werewolf in London
1981: The Beyond
1981: The Evil Dead
1981: The Howling
1981: My Bloody Valentine
1981: Scanners
1982: Cat People
1982: Creepshow
1982: Poltergeist
1983: The Hunger
1984: Ghostbusters
1984: Gremlins
1984: A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984: Silent Night, Deadly Night
1985: Demons
1985: Fright Night
1985: Mr. Vampire
1985: Re-Animator
1985: The Return of the Living Dead
1985: The Toxic Avenger
1986: Aliens
1986: House
1986: Manhunter
1987: A Chinese Ghost Story
1987: Evil Dead 2
1987: Fatal Attraction
1987: Hellraiser
1987: The Lost Boys
1987: Near Dark
1987: Predator
1988: Child's Play
1988: Night of the Demons
1988: Pumpkinhead
1988: The Vanishing
1989: Pet Sematary
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 8
1990s Horror Movies
Wesley Snipes in 'Blade'.© New Line
The early '90s brought unrivaled critical acclaim for the horror genre, with The Silence of the Lambs sweeping the major Academy awards in 1992, a year after Kathy Bates won the Oscar for Best Lead Actress for Misery and Whoopi Goldberg won for Best Supporting Actress for Ghost. Such success seemed to spur studios into funding large-scale horror-themed projects, such as Interview with the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Wolf. In 1996, Scream's runaway success reignited the slasher flame, spawning similar films, such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend. At the end of the decade, Blade foreshadowed the coming flood of comic book adaptations, and Asian horror movies like Ringu and Audition signaled a new influence on American fright flicks. Meanwhile, 1999 witnessed two of the biggest surprise hits of the decade, regardless of genre, in The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project.
1990: Arachnophobia
1990: Ghost
1990: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
1990: Misery
1991: The Silence of the Lambs
1992: Bram Stoker's Dracula
1992: Candyman
1992: Dead Alive
1993: Cronos
1993: Jurassic Park
1993: Leprechaun
1994: Interview with the Vampire
1994: Wolf
1995: Se7en
1996: The Craft
1996: From Dusk Till Dawn
1996: Scream
1997: Funny Games
1997: I Know What You Did Last Summer
1998: Blade
1998: Fallen
1998: Ringu
1998: Urban Legend
1999: Audition
1999: The Blair Witch Project
1999: The Mummy
1999: The Sixth Sense
1999: Sleepy Hollow
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Movies Timeline 9
2000s Horror Movies
Julianna Guill and Derek Mears in 'Friday the 13th'.Photo: John P. Johnson © Warner Bros.
Twenty-first century horror in the US has been identified with remakes of both American (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Dawn of the Dead) and foreign films (The Ring, The Grudge), but there have been innovations within American horror -- most notably Saw and Hostel. Outside of the US, there is as great a variety of edgy and innovative material as there has ever been in the genre, from Canada (Ginger Snaps) to France (High Tension) to Spain (The Orphanage) to the UK (28 Days Later) and, of course, Asia, from Hong Kong (The Eye) to Japan (Ichi the Killer) to Korea (A Tale of Two Sisters) to Thailand (Shutter).
2000: Final Destination
2000: Ginger Snaps
2000: Scary Movie
2001: Ichi the Killer
2001: Joy Ride
2001: The Others
2002: 28 Days Later
2002: The Eye
2002: Resident Evil
2002: The Ring
2002: Signs
2003: Freddy vs. Jason
2003: High Tension
2003: House of 1000 Corpses
2003: Ju-on: The Grudge
2003: One Missed Call
2003: A Tale of Two Sisters
2003: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2004: Dawn of the Dead
2004: The Grudge
2004: Hellboy
2004: Night Watch
2004: Saw
2004: Shaun of the Dead
2004: Shutter
2005: The Descent
2005: Hostel
2006: The Host
2007: Halloween
2007: I Am Legend
2007: The Orphanage
2007: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2008: Cloverfield
2008: Let the Right One In
2008: Prom Night
2008: The Strangers
2008: Twilight
2009: Friday the 13th
GCSE Film Studies : Horror Fiction
A brief history of horror fiction. Horror movies' literary background: ancient myths, gothic novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe, H G Wells
HORROR• noun 1) an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust. 2) a thing causing such a feeling. 3) intense dismay. 4) informal a bad or mischievous person, especially a child.— ORIGIN Latin, from horrere ‘shudder, (of hair) stand on end’.- Oxford English Dictionary
Although our studies are concerned with the horror film, no serious student of the genre should remain ignorant of the literary classics which have helped shape the paradigms over the last two centuries. This is a very brief overview - check the Further Reading links at the end for articles which explore this fascinating field.
As long as there have been stories, there have been stories about the Other, the unrealities we might categorise today as speculative fiction. Early creation myths in all cultures are populated by demons and darkness, and early Abrahamic and Egyptian mythology resounds with tales of a world beyond the physical, a realm of the spirits, to be revered and feared. Classical mythology is replete with monsters - Cereberus, the Minotaur, Medusa, the Hydra, the Sirens, Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis to name but a few- and heroes must navigate safely through the land of the dead on frequent occasions. Ancestor worship and the veneration of the dead begins with the Zhou dynasty in China, 1500 years BC. The modern horror genre as we know it is only around 200 years old (it begins to have form and conventions towards the end of the eighteenth century) but it has distinguished antecedents. Every culture has a set of stories dealing with the unknown and unexplained, tales that chill, provoke and keep the listener wondering "what if..?" Horror films are the present-day version of the epic poems and ballads told round the fires of our ancestors.
The Gothic Tradition
The term 'horror' first comes into play with Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto, full of supernatural shocks and mysterious melodrama. Although rather a stilted tale, it started a craze, spawning many imitators in what we today call the gothic mode of writing. Better writers than Walpole, such as Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho) and Matthew Gregory Lewis (The Monk) took the form to new heights of thrills and suspense. For half a century, gothic novels reigned supreme. As the Age of Enlightenment gave way to the new thinking of the early nineteeth century, Romantic poets of the stature of Coleridge (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christabel) and Goethe (The Erlking) reflected the strong emotions of the movement through a glass darkly, recognising that fear and awe aren't so very different sensations. The first great horror classic (Frankenstein 1818) was written by a Romantic at the heart of the movement - Mary Shelley.
Nineteenth Century Masters
Some of the greatest mid- nineteenth century novelists (on both sides of the Atlantic) tried their hand at horror fiction, paying tribute to the dying traditions of the gothic. Emily Bronte steeped her magnus opus, Wuthering Heights in gothic situations and sensibilities while Dickens wrote a number of ghost stories (the best perhaps being The Signalman, the best known A Christmas Carol). Herman Melville incorporated many supernatural elements into Moby Dick, as did Nathaniel Hawthorne with The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. As the century advanced, many writers turned to the short story or novella form to spook their readers - J S Le Fanu, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Robert Louis Stevenson and of course, Edgar Allen Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe
Reviled for many years as an alcoholic hack, Poe is now gaining his rightful place in the literary canon; his terse yet suggestive prose style carries him through several volumes of startlingly original short stories and some heartbreaking poetry. He is credited with inventing the modern detective story (The Murders in The Rue Morgue -1841) and with being the first writer to explore psychoanalysis within a literary format. The funereal landscapes and grotesque characters he wove into his stories have become staple tropes of the horror genre. Reading him now, it is hard to imagine how innovative and creative his work was in the 1830s and 1840s. Sadly, he was ahead of his time, and struggled his whole life with poverty and lack of recognition. Much ink has been expended on the mysterious circumstances of his death - he was found badly beaten and raving in Baltimore, and died in hospital before recovering his faculties. No serious student of the genre should be without a Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
The Poe Museum (Richmond, VA)
The End Of The Century
As a Viennese academic called Sigmund Freud was beginning his explorations into the recesses of the human consciousness, literature too took on a more psychological bent, with many writers trading freely in madness (building on the work of Poe), and the horror that lies beyond the boundary we call sanity. These stories deal not with events, but with the slow unravelling of minds; the reader is left to decide whether the causes are supernatural or psychological. Henry James played with the mind of a nanny in The Turn of The Screw in 1898, while Charlotte Perkins Gilman weaves a diatribe against patriarchy ('You see, he does not believe I am sick!") into The Yellow Wallpaper (1899). And of course Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) spiced up the psychological with the sexual, creating an anti-hero in the Count whose appeal shows no sign of diminishing over a century later. H G Wells developed the concept speculative fiction further with his science themed novels The Island of Dr Moreau, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine and War of The Worlds, all of which utilise elements of horror as well as fantasy.
And then came the Great War, and with it horrors that not one of these literary minds could have conceived.
Classics You Should Read
It's always heartening to see well-thumbed copies of these on anyone's shelf. Nonetheless, this is the 21st century so here are the e-text URLS of all these genre-definining works, all of them now out of copyright and in public domain.
Frankenstein (1818) - Mary Shelley. Often imitated, never equalled.
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840) Edgar Allen Poe - full of absolute gems from the mind of a dark genius. Set "View Text" to "Biggest" in your browser otherwise you too will end up in an insane asylum
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)- the seminal novella from Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula (1897) - Bram Stoker, pulp fiction of the very best kind
The Yellow Wallpaper (1899 short story)- Charlotte Perkins Gilman charts female hysteria - or does she?
The Monkey's Paw (1902 short story) - W W Jacobs - the ultimate in "be careful what you wish for"
Thursday, 8 October 2009
GCSE English Literature : An Inspector Calls
Eva's letterThe Inspector tells Mr. Birling that Eva Smith/Daisy Renton “left a letter…and a sort of diary”. The letter could be to her nearest relative or to Gerald Croft. Write - as you imagine Eva would have done - the letter and diary entries (between 1910 and 1912) for the key events in her life, from her starting to work for Birling & Co. to her suicide.
Year and month : What happens
September 1910 : Eva sacked by Birling & Co.
December 1910 : Eva employed by Milwards.
Late January 1911 : Eva sacked by Milwards.
March 1911 : Eva becomes Gerald's mistress.
Early September 1911 : Gerald breaks off the affair.
Eva leaves Brumley for two months.
November 1911 : Eric meets Eva.
December 1911/January 1912 : Eva finds she is pregnant.
Late March 1912 : Mrs. Birling turns down Eva's application for help.
Early April 1912 : Eva's suicide/the Inspector calls*
(*Dated by Titanic's maiden voyage.) The diary is also mentioned on pages 179 and 193 (Penguin edition).
Who is to blame?
Who is to blame for Eva's death? Consider how each of the Birlings and Gerald Croft influences what happens to Eva - what part does each play in the chain of events leading to her death?
Give an account of this chain of events in the order in which each event occurs (see dates above).
Say how far each character is at fault for what he or she has done to Eva.
Then judge how far each is right or wrong in his or her attitude now to what was done - admitting or denying guilt.
In conclusion, try to assess how responsible, and how ready to admit responsibility, each of the five is.
Is there any connection between the age of each character and his or her readiness to accept blame?
Responsibility
The most important theme of the play, it could be argued, is responsibility.
See how often the words “responsible” and “responsibility” appear, and in what senses.
At the beginning of the play Mr. Birling gives his (limited) view of responsibility in a long speech. Mr. Birling's definition of responsibility is immediately followed by the arrival of the Inspector. The Inspector gives his (very wide) explanation of responsibility immediately before he leaves.
Comment on these speeches and compare them.
Consider how Mr. Birling's comments reveal his views:
How do Mr. Birling's earlier comments on the unlikelihood of war, the probable success of capitalists in eliminating strikes and on the unsinkability of the Titanic affect our view of what he says on responsibility? (The play's audience, in 1946, would be aware of two world wars, the General Strike and the sinking of the Titanic).
Is Mr. Birling a “hard-headed” businessman, as he claims, or a “hard-hearted” character?
In 1912 there was no welfare state in Britain. Poor people often depended on charity. But wealthy people, such as Mrs. Birling, in the play, usually controlled the charity.
Does Mrs. Birling, in her work for the Brumley Women's Charity Organisation act out of a sense of responsibility or a desire to be seen to be charitable?
Where does she claim the responsibility for Eva Smith and her unborn child lies?
How is she shown to be wrong?
Show how the Inspector demonstrates by bringing out Eva's dealings with the Birlings and Gerald, that his view, not Birling's is right.
What are the “fire and blood and anguish” he refers to in his final speech?
What point is Priestley making by placing this line in a play published in 1946?
The Inspector's identity may affect how we view his comments.
How is our view of the Inspector's statements affected by his apparently supernatural character?
Comment on his claim that “we are members of one body”.
After he leaves, says the Inspector, the Birlings and Gerald can divide responsibility among themselves.
How do they apportion blame when he leaves?
Is Birling concerned about the same things that worry Sheila and Eric?
Sheila is worried earlier in the play by her mother's self-righteous denial of blame. After the Inspector goes she is worried by the attempt to dismiss his visit as a mere practical joke.
Consider the idea that the Inspector, by his visit, gives the family a second chance which is lost by the failure of the majority to learn their lesson.
How significant in determining the play's conclusion is Gerald's eventually siding with the view of the parents (The Inspector has foreseen a suicide about to happen. They may, by a change of heart, prevent it - but the chance is missed and the suicide occurs).
Who is the Inspector?Who or what is the Inspector? In the text there are many clues. Examine each of these and try to interpret it. Write an essay, discussing how these clues and the Inspector's general behaviour contribute to the audience's idea of who he is and how correct his statements are.
The clues are:
The timing of his entry (noted by Eric);
His method of working: “one person and one line of enquiry at a time” (A policeman would not insist on this. A real policeman would interview people alone. This Inspector already knows; he wants the others to see what they have done.)
His asking Birling why he refused Eva's request for a pay rise.
His statement that it is his duty “to ask questions”.
His saying that he never takes offence.
His statement that he does not see much of the chief constable.
His failure to be alarmed by Birling's threats.
His reply to Birling's question: “You sure of your facts?” - “Some of them - yes”. Not all, because not all have happened yet: Eva Smith has not yet killed herself, it would seem.
His concern for moral law not for criminal law.
His statement: “some things are left to me. Inquiries of this sort, for instance”.
Sheila's recognition of his authority and supernatural knowledge - as shown in her warnings to Gerald and to her mother .
His statement about the impression he has made on Sheila: “We often do on the young ones”.
His impatience to “get on” with his questioning followed by his statement that he hasn't “much time”. A police officer would take as much time as was needed. It is as if he needs to finish before the moment at which Eva will decide whether or not to end her life.
His saying, “I don't need to know any more”, once he has shown the Birlings and Gerald what each has done.
His final speech, which has nothing to do with criminal law, but which is a lecture on social responsibiility and the perils of ignoring it.
The Birlings' discovery that no such officer is on the local police force.
The Inspector's telling Sheila there is “no reason why” she should “understand about” him
Eric's saying “He was our police inspector all right” followed by Sheila's comment “Well, he inspected us all right”
His foreknowledge of Eva's death.
His intimate knowledge of Eva's life and despite the fact that he never spoke to her
His prediction of a massive social catastrophe (“fire and blood and anguish”) which clearly refers (for the Birlings) to the First World War and (for the audience) to both World Wars.
In the 1954 film of An Inspector Calls, the Inspector does not leave the Birlings' house as in the play: he is left alone in Mr. Birling's study; Birling returns to ask him a question, and finds the room empty. Is this too blatant a way of suggesting that the Inspector is some kind of supernatural or angelic being? Some commentators on the play have suggested that his name contains a pun - it sounds like “Ghoul”.
A “ghoul” is an evil demon, which eats the flesh of the dead, or, metaphorically, a person obsessed by, or who profits by, another's death. After he has gone the Inspector is said by Birling to have exploited Eva's alleged death to frighten the “victims” of his supposed practical joke. Is it more important to know who the Inspector is, or what he has to say? Should Priestley (the playwright) have made him more obviously spooky?
What next?At the end of the play there are many possibilities, and we cannot say with certainty what might happen.
Will the Birlings try to persuade their children to conceal the truth from the real Inspector who is coming?
Will Sheila and Eric insist on openness?
Where will Gerald stand now? (After his clever theory has been disproved - will he realise that Daisy Renton told him of her two sackings? He knew that at least Mr. Birling, Sheila and himself had all influenced the same girl!)
1912 and 1946
This task is suitable for treatment as a written or spoken response. You should consider the question of why a play first performed in 1946 should be set in 1912. Why does Priestley choose this particular time?
In order to answer this you should consider the following points:
The play opens with a scene of great luxury: a wealthy family is celebrating an engagement in a very lavish fashion. This will be obvious to an audience that has spent the years of the Second World War without the luxuries that the Birlings are so abundantly enjoying (rationing of many luxury - and basic - goods continued into the 1950s). Although Churchill (a Conservative) is seen as a war hero for leading the fight against Nazism (he led a coalition government of Labour, Conservative and Liberal elements) a Socialist government has won a landslide victory in the 1945 General Election. Priestley was a supporter of the Labour party, and made many broadcasts on radio in which he tried to persuade people of the merits of socialism.
In order to do this, Priestley sets the play in a time before there was a welfare state in the United Kingdom, and when employers had great power over their workers.
Lower costs and higher pricesWhat is the playwright's view of Mr, Birling's enthusiasm for joining the two wealthy families of Croft and Birling, and his hope that they can work together for “lower costs and higher prices”?
Lower costs are mostly achieved by paying the workers less. Would the audience see this as a good thing?
How would ordinary people feel about higher prices?
The Crofts and the BirlingsAre the two families exactly alike? What differences can you find between Mr. Birling and the Crofts?
Why are the Crofts not present at the celebration?
Comment on the telegram that Sir George and Lady Croft have sent to the Birlings.
Mr. Birling's idea of progress
What is Mr. Birling's view of the likely results of technological change (see his comments on cars and aeroplanes)?
Is he right to link scientific advances with progress in politics and international relations? Why does he believe that there will be no war? How far do we trust his judgement? What do we know that he does not about the future? Consider his comment that the Titanic is unsinkable.
Being above the law (or playing golf with the Chief Constable)
How does the time in which the play is set enable Priestley to portray Mr. Birling as a man who can use his influence to stop the Inspector from continuing with his investigation?
How would an audience view the idea that the rules that apply to ordinary people do not apply to the Birlings of this world?
Do you know of anyone like Mr. Birling (in your own world, in the past, or in fiction), who believes he or she is above the law?
Charity and the welfare stateBecause this is 1912, there is no system of benefit payments for impoverished people; Eva has to approach a committee of which Mrs. Birling is the chairman, but is refused help.
Show how Mrs. Birling exploits her position to make her feel self-important, while denying help to those who really need it.
Do you think she does this for genuinely charitable reasons, or for other motives?
What might these be?
Mrs. Birling claims that her organization has done a lot of good work in deserving cases: is a deserving case, in her opinion, one of genuine need, or one where the applicant pleases her?
Young men and wild oatsThis play depicts a common situation from the early years of the 20th century - young women from the middle classes would not be sexually active before marriage. This has nothing to do with virtue - but much to do with securing a good match. (After marrying, or even becoming widowed or divorced, middle-class and wealthy women could be more active if they chose.) But poorer women could sometimes be seduced in return for material rewards (that would not be so attractive to those with wealth of their own).
How does Gerald's relationship with Eva reflect the moral atttiudes of his class at this time?
Do you think that it is right for Gerald to begin his affair with Eva, when he has no real commitment to her, and would not consider marrying her?
Why can Gerald not marry Eva, and why is he quite ready to marry Sheila Birling, when it is obvious that he does not really love her?
What do we learn from the various references in the play to the Palace Theatre, “women of the town” and the woman who wanted Eva to go to the Theatre bar?
How does Eric's relationship with Eva reinforce the idea that women of Eva's class can be used as playthings by the wealthy, and then discarded?
The customer is always right
Sheila is able to have Eva sacked from Millwards' shop by threatening the manager that her family will close its account there unless Eva goes.
How does this reflect the class system of the time, by showing the enormous influence that a few wealthy people could exercise?
Could the manager have refused?
Silver spoons and spoilt brats
Eric and Sheila have great faults, of which they become ashamed when the Inspector tells them of Eva's fate.
How far are these faults not so much in the children's nature, as the result of the way they have been brought up?
What do we learn about Eric's education, and why might this explain his lack of responsibility?
The honours systemAt the start of the play, Mr. Birling hints to Gerald, that he will soon be knighted (become Sir Arthur Birling) in return for his work in the Conservative Party.
What is the importance in the play of Mr. Birling's knighthood?
Mr. Birling is concerned when he learns of Eva's death - is he more concerned for Eva's suffering or for his knighthood? What does this tell you?
Do you think it right that Mr. Birling should be given a knighthood in return for his active support of a political party?
ConclusionWhen you have looked at all of these ideas, you should consider the question in a more general sense:
The Inspector, in his final speech, tries to show how both the First World War, and the Second, which had just ended when Priestley wrote the play, were the result of attitudes and behaviour such as those of powerful and wealthy families like the Birlings.
This may explain why all the worst features of such families seem to be present in the Birlings: they represent the worst qualities of their class.
Do you think Priestley has made the play's argument more convincing by the inclusion in it of such people, or are they too awful to be believable?
This play is set in 1912. In what ways might you argue that it has a relevance, not only to the Britain of 1946, but also to the country as it is today?
Use of evidenceThis is critical. Always give examples or refer to details in the story to support your comments. You may use quotation, too: lots of short quotation (where the point of quoting is obvious) is better than very lengthy quotations of less obvious relevance. When you quote, introduce with a comma or colon (, or :), and enclose what you quote in inverted commas.
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