Is the house really haunted? Or do you just think it is?

So, to expand in a rather untimely manner on Dylan's post about "Fear, Itself", I'd like to talk a little bit about Gothic settings. I recently started thinking a lot more about the settings of the texts we've encountered this semester, and I think the haunted frat house in this episode is particularly interesting. It's a much more contained setting than most of the other texts we've read, to the extent that Giles has to cut a door into the house with a chainsaw. Similarly, The Castle of Otranto is mostly contained to the castle and the connected-by-secret-passageways church. This setting does not contain the story in quite as restrictive of a way as does the house in "Fear, Itself", as a scene also occurs in nearby caves, but nevertheless the focus on these Gothic structures (the house and the castle) seems significant. As The Castle of Otranto was one of the founding texts of the Gothic, the scary castle trope seems to stem from this. It's probable that the idea of a house of horrors that Joss Whedon turns on its head is directly descended from Walpole's castle.

Even more interesting than just having the location of the action (mostly) restricted to a particular building, in both texts the characters' Gothic horrors are directly connected to said buildings. In "Fear, Itself", Gachnar's symbol is drawn on the floor of the house, and his sphere of influence seems to be restricted to the house. In The Castle of Otranto, the curse on Manfred's lineage is due to him taking over the castle which was not rightly his, not to mention the fact that this curse manifests itself in large legs walking around and helmets falling from the sky. Despite this correlation between the structures and the horrors, the character's true problems come from within themselves. It's already been discussed at length how the Scoobies' fears manifest themselves in the house and create the horrors they encounter there, but likewise, as I commented on Dylan's post, Manfred causes one of his own worst horrors when he accidentally kills his daughter after mistaking her for Isabella. His insane fear that his lineage will not survive causes him to kill his own offspring.

"Fear Itself" as a Progenitive and Progressive Text

Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto combines romanticism and modernisms to capture the complex gothic imagination of the eighteenth century. This text breaks free from the status quo and attempts to propose alternative avenues of thought that stray from the conventional realms of philosophy and religion. Similarly, Whedon’s Buffy marries modernism, postmodernism, and antiquity to make a new gothic landscape of interpretation. Buffy captures the twenty-first century struggle of seeking alternative explanations that deviate from the all too static rational and scientific means of understanding. “Fear Itself” exemplifies this union of genres as well as the intent to use the supernatural as a mode of enlightenment.

Many of the characters have fears that they are unable to grasp and face through rational processes. For example, Joyce fears making new friends and trusting people, Buffy fears that she is inadequate of Parker’s attention and that she won’t be able to protect her friends, and Xander fears that he no longer has a place in the Scooby Gang. While not by choice, these characters find understanding of these doubts through supernatural circumstances in the haunted house. These aforementioned characters’ fears are “classical” in nature, and therefore ground the text in antiquated tradition that creates an acceptable foundation for the supernatural to flourish from.

With that being said, some of the characters have supernatural fears, such as Willow who is afraid of being a weak witch and Oz who is afraid of transforming into his werewolf state. Not surprisingly, they too learn through a supernatural avenue that fear is in the mind and should not be given unbridled control. The fact that these fears are not classical speaks to the following step in the progression of using the supernatural as an accepted channel for gaining understanding. That is to say, in Sunnydale, and arguably modern society, the supernatural no longer needs classical ties to assert validity. Still, it should be noted that Willow does use classical motifs in other ways in this episode. For example, she dresses as Joan of Arc for Halloween and playfully calls her werewolf boyfriend Brutus.

Thus, Buffy and The Castle of Otranto combine multiple genres and advocate for the supernatural as an alternative method of understanding complex issues within individuals and society. Both texts come at respective times in history when common ideology is too restricting for comfort. Moreover, “Fear Itself,” through its commonplace acceptance of the supernatural, not only seeks to build off classical traditions but also works hard to establish the supernatural in its own right as a distinct channel of thought.

Into the Woods

I got a similar message from the episode, “Fear, Itself” as Nicole discussed in her blog post; however, I found that the "Fear, Itself" and The Castle of Otranto not only suggest controlling your fear, but accepting fear and not allowing it to skew things out of proportion. From the very beginning of the episode, we see Buffy as feeling emotionally fragile and being distant from her friends because she is afraid that if she allows herself to open up and be close to people than she will get hurt. Thus, we she enters the haunted house and her fears become real, she ends up isolated and deep in the filth with monsters beneath the house. This relates to Buffy’s fear that she’s somehow wrong or messed up, and that she isn’t loveable. Similarly, we see Xander, Willow, and Oz dealing with individual fears that they then have to face later in the episode. Willow feels as though she isn’t powerful enough to be a strong witch, and that Buffy doesn’t take her seriously enough. The conversation with Buffy while getting food from the cafeteria demonstrates that Willow feels frustrated by the lack of support for her interest in Wicca. These feelings come to a head in the haunted house when she confronts Buffy, saying, “I’m not your sidekick.” She tries magic and, as predicted, it goes horribly wrong because her deepest fear is that she isn’t a good enough witch. As Anya rightly targets in her conversation with Xander earlier in the episode, Xander fears that he doesn’t fit with his friends anymore. He feels as though he’s invisible guy since he doesn’t go to college or live in a dorm, so he literally becomes invisible in the haunted house. Oz, as usual, is terrified of being a monster, specifically a werewolf. I think the interesting message from this episode is that fear only has power if you allow it to overcome you. The characters allow themselves to be overwhelmed by their fears, and this is what causes them to be separated and terrified. Common objects become imbued with terror when we give them that power. The skeleton with the knife turns back into a plastic decoration as soon as Buffy punches it. We get a similar comic effect with the demon. The characters have faced their fears and no longer feel weak in the face of terror; thus, the demon of fear himself manifests as tiny and easy to squash. This suggests that nothing is actually as horrible as it seems when we allow it to overpower us.

I think this idea of being overpowered and overwhelmed by fear also relates to The Castle of Otranto. Manfred is terrified of breaking his lineage and having the title of Otranto move to someone beyond his bloodline. This fear dominates his reason and morality; thus, causing him to act as a tyrant in order to prevent his fear from manifesting. However, the more he fights against his fear, the worse the situation becomes. At first, we get the death of his son at the hand of a giant helmet, which is fairly unnerving. Then, when he tries to rape Isabella, we see giant legs in the castle—again, pretty creepy; and things just keep getting worse as he struggles against his fear. Eventually, his actions against his fears become so irrational that he kills his own daughter. The novel also demonstrates that you can’t allow your fear to take over your life. If Manfred had faced his fear and accepted that the throne of Otranto wasn’t his to have, then the damage to his home and family wouldn’t have been so horrific. Struggling against your fears only gives them power. Both the novel and the episode seem to suggest that accepting fear as best you can, and not allowing it to cloud your vision or guide your actions, is the only way to master your fear and achieve the desired outcome.