The haunted house/haunted mind as a gothic trope in Mike Flanagan’s The haunting project and source texts : a comparative analysis

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dc.contributor.advisorEllis, Jeanne, 1962-en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBotes, Christan Nancyen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-21T10:53:43Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T08:26:27Z
dc.date.available2024-02-21T10:53:43Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T08:26:27Z
dc.date.issued2024-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: The haunted head as a haunted house trope, which is the focus of this thesis, has long been a staple of the Gothic genre, appearing in seminal Gothic works such as Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764), Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839), and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847). The haunted head as a haunted house trope was once again revitalised in renowned horror director Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting Project (2018-2020). Multiple screen adaptations of Gothic haunted-house texts have been created over the last century, often tackling the difficulty of portraying the haunted head as a haunted house trope using visual and auditory language. This study aims to examine how two seminal Gothic haunted-house texts, Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898) and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (1959), use the trope to explore the social anxieties surrounding female mental illness and the mother figure of their respective periods, as well as how Flanagan re-contextualises those social fears and re-presents the trope in his adaptations of the source texts for his project. In 2018, Flanagan adapted Jackson’s 1959 novel into a ten-episode long series that would form the first instalment of The Haunting Project, a horror anthology for Netflix. James’s famous novel received the same treatment in 2020, wherein Flanagan once again demonstrated his unique style of adaptation and homage to his source texts. This thesis examines the concept of the uncanny and its relationship with the haunted house and how the haunted head as a haunted house trope is utilised as a tool through which the Gothic explores underlying social anxieties surrounding the perceived sanctity of the domestic home, the threat that female mental illness poses to the structure of the household and the effect that patriarchal ideology has upon the feminine-coded space of the home and subsequent enactment of patriarchal oppression through the maternal figure. In my examination of James’s The Turn of the Screw and Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), I will use Sigmund Freud’s theory of “The Uncanny” (1919) to read how both the source text and its adaptation confront the underlying concerns of their respective periods by employing the haunted head as a haunted house trope. I will further use Gaston Bachelard’s theory of the oneiric home (The Poetics of Space 1958) as a lens through which Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Flanagan’s 2018 adaptation of the same name utilise the same trope to explore the social fears of their respective contexts. This study aims to compare how the source texts use the trope to explore the social anxieties of their time with how Flanagan employs the trope in his adaptations as a means to re-present the concerns explored in his source texts to a contemporary audience whilst also addressing how those past anxieties have been translated into the present’s fears.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die beeld van ‘n spookagtige skedel, of spookkop, as die spookhuistroop wat al vir eeue lank as die stapelsimbool en herhalende tema van die Gotiese genre gebruik is. Voorbeelde daarvan kan gevind word in belangrike Gotiese werke, byvoorbeeld Horace Walpole se Castle of Otranto (1764), Edgar Allan Poe se kortverhaal The Fall of the House of Usher (1839), en Charlotte Brontë se Jane Eyre’ (1847). Die spookkop tema is ook sentraal in die bekende gruwelregisseur, Mike Flanagan, se ‘The Haunting Project’ (2018 – 2020). Talle rolprente met Gotiese spookhuistemas het oor die afgelope eeu hul verskyning gemaak. Hierdie werke slaag daarin om deur middel van visuele effekte en klank die skedel as ‘n spookhuis uit te beeld. Hierdie tesis ondersoek hoe twee seminale Gotiese spookhuis-romans, Henry James se Turn of the Screw (1898), en Shirley Jackson se The Haunting of Hill House (1959), die spookhuis gebruik om die sosiale angs te verken wat met geestesversteurde vrouens - veral moederfigure -gepaard gaan. Die werk van Flanagan herkontekstualiseer byvoorbeeld in verwerkings vansy oorspronkilike skryfwerk, die gepaardgaande vrees en verskrikking wat onvermydelik volg in die nasleep van hierdie geestesversteurdheid. Flanagan het, in 2018, Jackson se Haunting House 1959-novelle verwerk in ‘n gruwel-reeks van 10 episodes vir Netflix. Henry James se beroemde novelle is ook in 2020 op hierdie manier verwerk, en daarmee het Flanagan in op sy unieke manier weereens hulde bewys aan die bronteks. My tesis bestudeer die konsep van bo-natuurlike verskynsels (met erkenning aan die oorspronklike werke) en kyk verder na hierdie verontrustende verskynsels in hul verband met spookhuise. Dit verken ook hoe die skedel, of spookkop, deurgaans as ‘n simbool van geestesversteuring gebruik word. Die Gotiek bestudeer die onderliggende sosiale angs in veral ouerhuise, wat veronderstel is om as ‘n heiligdom beskou te word. Die bedreiging wat die vrouefiguur se geestesongeesteldheid vir ‘n huishouding inhou en die gepaardgaande effek van die onderdrukking van die moederfiguur deur die vader in die vroulik-gekodeerde ruimte van die ouerhuis is ‘n fokuspunt. In my ondersoek van James se Turn of the Screw en Flanagan se The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) het ek na Sigmund Freud se teorie van “The Uncanny” verwys om te probeer bepaal hoe die brontekste en verwerkings daarvan, die onderliggende kommerwekkende nagevolge in die verskillende tydperke in die konteks van ‘n spookhuis uitgebeeld word. Verder sal Gaston Bachelard se teorie van die oneiriese huishouding (The Poetics of Space 1958) die lens wees waardeur Jackson se The Haunting of Hill House en Flanagan se 2018 verwerking met dieselfde naam, enerse beeldspraak gebruik om die sosiale vrees wat ervaar word, te ondersoek. Hierdie studie het ten doel om te vergelyk hoe die oorspronklike werk die herhalende tema van die skedelhuis gebruik om die sosiale angste van daardie tydperk uit te druk. Dit word ook gebruik as ‘n manier om die angste van daardie tydperk aan ‘n kontemporêre gehoor voor te stel, en terselfdertyd te ondersoek hoe die angste van vervloë dae ook in die vrese wat ons in die hede ervaar, uitgedruk word.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.format.extentvii, 111 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130186
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshFigures of speechen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshGothic fiction (Literary genre) -- History and criticismen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSocial phobiaen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshHorror tales, English -- History and criticismen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshWomen -- Mental health -- Sociological aspectsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshHorror filmsen_ZA
dc.subject.nameUCTD
dc.titleThe haunted house/haunted mind as a gothic trope in Mike Flanagan’s The haunting project and source texts : a comparative analysisen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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