Monthly Archives: March 2015
Sarah Hentges, ‘Girls on fire: political empowerment in young adult dystopia ‘
More ideas to add to the debate around YA dystopias which I’ve posted about recently. In this article, Sarah Hentges argues that images of young women in these currently very popular novels and films are positive and ’empowering’. She also … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged consumerism, dystopia, Film, gender, Hunger Games, identity, ideology, YA Fiction
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Lauren Chochinov, ‘Carmilla Rising: Adapting Le Fanu’s Novella In the Age of Social Media’
A very interesting review by Lauren Chochinov on the recent (2014) web-based adaptation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson. I’ve only had glimpses of this series, but Chochinov’s article here has certainly whet my appetite for … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged adaptation, Carmilla, Internet, new media, sexuality, Vampires
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Caasandra Clare’s City of Heavenly Fire
I’ve finally got round to finishing City of Heavenly Fire, the last book in the splendid YA paranormal romance series, The Mortal Instruments. Cassandra Clare writes with considerable flair, but her characterisation is exceptionally strong–you really do care for the … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged angels, Cassandra Clare, demon hunters, demons, fairies, Paranormal romance, Vampires, warlocks, Werewolves, YA Fiction
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Was Elizabeth Bathory onto something?
Yesterday an article entitled ‘Why I consumed my own blood’ appeared on the BBC News website. With such a compelling title, I couldn’t help but give the article a read and was suitably disturbed and intrigued. The ‘Vampire Facial/Facelift’ has … Continue reading
Little Red Riding Hood Rides Again–and Again and Again and Again
One of the fairy tales that seems to attract multiple reinterpretations and adaptations is ‘Red Riding Hood’: Angela Carter’s subversive wolf stories (including ‘The Company of Wolves’) and Marissa Meyer’s SF version ‘Scarlet’ (in her Lunar Chronicles series) are excellent … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged adaptation, Fairy tales, Marissa Meyer, Red Riding Hood
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Frankenstein and Fantasmagoriana
This is the first of three very interesting articles by Maximiliaan van Woudenberg on an important source of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein–the collection of ghost stories in Fantasmagoriana (1812).
Posted in Books and Articles, Critical thoughts, Resources
Tagged Fantasmagoriana, Frankenstein, Ghosts, Mary Shelley
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Sir Christopher Frayling and Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber
Sir Christopher Frayling has applied his immense erudition to many areas of popular culture but will be best known here, perhaps, for his pioneering study, Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula (1978), which made academic research into vampire fiction respectable. … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged adaptation, Angela Carter, Christopher Frayling, Fairy tales, Vampires, Werewolves
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Versions of Cinderella
Fairy tales, as we’ve shown in quite a few posts on this blog, are prone to myriad reinventions and adaptations, not least in cinema. There are countless variations on ‘Cinderella’; here’s a summary of some of the recent film versions. … Continue reading
Posted in Resources
Tagged adaptation, Cinderella, Fairy tales, Feminism, Film, gender
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Value and Ideology in YA Fiction
When studying popular culture (that created for younger people in particular), the question of value inevitably appears. YA fiction is often seen as not worthy of serious regard, particularly if it’s ‘genre’ fiction such as paranormal romance (gritty realism is … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged dystopia, Film, Genre, Holly Black, ideology, Julie Kagawa, literary value, Marcus Sedgwick, Paranormal romance, Vampires, YA Fiction
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Feminism and the cinematic female vampire
A nice analysis of some of the most familiar vampiresses on the silver screen that aims to explore ‘How the vampire became film’s most feminist monster’. Great to see the inclusion of Park Chan-wook’s Stoker (2013) which is one of my favourite … Continue reading