Unless I missed it, I do not think anyone has mentioned the most obvious connection between "Fear Itself" and our class readings. I think I was absent the day of class when we watched it so it very well may have been brought up but I figured I would mention it anyway...for the Blogs sake at least. But its clear to me that in many ways the haunted house in "Fear itself" is a lot like the castle in Otranto. Both the haunted house and the castle epitomize a stereotypical gothic setting. Because of this, the authors easily manipulate the spaces so that they encompass the most satyrical and obvious gothic tropes. Similar to the pictures on the walls that come to life in the castle of Otranto, the haunted house set up by the frat guys becomes the manifestations of the fears of each of the characters in Buffy. The difference is that Walpole pokes fun at the obviousness of a scary castle while Whedon acknowledges the campiness of the haunted house and still finds a way to make it scary. There is obviously going to be some demon in a haunted house in Sunnydale just like there is going to be gothic elements in a Castle, or a dark hallway, or a locked laboratory. But that is the point that Walpole and Whedon are trying to make; if you go looking for trouble, you will find it, but why waste time pretending it is not going to be there?
I really like the point you make about the castle compared to the haunted house. I think it's interesting that in both Fear, Itself and The Castle of Otranto the action takes place in a limited setting, whereas in other Gothic stories the action tends to take place in far more spread out locales. (Like in Dracula, for example.)
ReplyDeleteAlso I think your point about looking for trouble is interesting because in some ways the characters were looking for trouble by wanting the chills of a haunted house party and living in a castle they shouldn't be, but in other ways the characters didn't really believe they were going to find trouble. Maybe this is a comment on fears being more and less real than you think, as it turned out that the Scoobies' fears were all in their heads and Manfred caused the worst part of his experience by accidentally murdering his own daughter due to his own excessive fear.
Anyways I'm going to go expand on this in my own post because I think it's really interesting. Thanks!