• About Me
  • ADX-Files
  • Blog
  • Creative Writing Exercises
  • Doctor Who
    • Books
    • Classic Who
      • Lost Episodes Found?
      • Was Doctor Who Rubbish in the 1980s?
    • Clips and Teasers
    • Doctor Who News
    • Matt and David
    • Official Webpage
    • Previews
      • The Name of The Doctor
    • The Doctors
      • Peter Capaldi
    • Theories!
      • Who is Hurt’s Who?
  • Dracula
    • Actors
    • Literature
      • Anno Dracula Series
      • Dracula by Bram Stoker
      • Dracula Rekindled
    • Movies
    • New Series
  • EDX-Files
  • Extracts
    • Bacchae: The Pie-Eyed Piper
    • Finding Delphi
    • God Almighty, Aphrodite!
    • Petronius’ Satyricon
    • Queens of Alba
    • Sisterhood of the Wolf
    • Sleepless
    • War Beyond Reguntor: Prologue
  • Guest Appearances
  • Hex Files
  • Jack the Ripper
  • Links
    • Dickson Telfer
    • Donald Robertson
    • IAFA
    • Radio of Horror
    • Sherlock Cares
    • SupernaturalUFO.com
    • Terry Pratchett
    • Ultimate Fantasy Books
  • Meditations
    • View From Above
  • Poetry
    • Limpet
    • The Tommyknocker Knicker Nicker
  • Political
    • I Voted For Scotland
    • On the Eve of the Scottish Independence Referendum
    • Real-Life Horror of Scotland’s Poverty in 2014
  • Published
    • Bacchae: The Pie-Eyed Piper
    • Erotic Magic of the Ancients
    • Nods to the Old Gods: The Pagan and Magical References of the Scottish Romantics
    • Petronius’ Satyricon
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
      • Killing a Spider
      • The Philosophy of CBT: Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy
    • Movie Reviews
      • Contact
  • Sherlock
    • Sherlock Cares
    • Virtuoso
  • Short Stories
    • Coffee Dating
    • St Tony’s Prayer
    • Waiting
  • SPI
  • Spirituality
  • Talks
    • Nods to the Old Gods

Alyson Dunlop's Blog

~ "Hex in the City"

Alyson Dunlop's Blog

Tag Archives: sexual

QUEER STORIES: Hidden Homosexuality in Early Horror

20 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Anubis, beast, bi-sexual, buggery, Carmilla, Dark Fantasy, Desire, disguise, Dorian Gray, Dracula's Daughter, Egyptian mythology, Finding Delphi, gay, gothic, Greek, homoerotic, homoeroticism, homosexual, homosexuality, Horror, Hyde, jackal, James Corden, Jekyll, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, lesbian, Lesbian Vampire Killers, monster, Oscar Wilde, Paul McGann, queer, Robert Louis Stevenson, secrecy, secrets, Sex, sexual, Sexuality, sodomy, Stephen Fry, the love that dare not speak its name, Underworld, Vampire, Victorian, Werewolf of London, Wilde

Dorian GrayAs I mentioned in a previous article, horror is the perfect place to find a secret subtext.  In some parts of human history, it became unfortunately necessary for the subject of homosexuality to remain hidden in the world of literature and film.  The UK 1533 Buggery Act made sodomy punishable by death.  In 1861, this was changed to life imprisonment rather than hanging.  However, in 1885 the laws were extended to include all sexual activities between males (Queen Victoria did not believe there was such a thing as lesbians!).  It was in this very dark era that “the love that dare not speak its name” had to find other ways to communicate itself.  Gay and bi-sexual writers were able to give expression to the subject of homoerotic desires using the medium of Gothic literature.  In fact, many of the early Gothic romance writers were linked to homosexual scandal.  “Secret and unlawful desires” became euphemisms for homosexuality.  Three such tales, where one may find allusions to homosexuality, are Carmilla (1872) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde.  A few years later in 1935, with the advent of film, the gay theme can be found in a couple of horror films such as Werewolf of London (1935) and Dracula’s Daughter (1936).

 Carmilla is the story of a young woman’s susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire called Carmilla.  The young woman, Laura, whilst living in a castle in Styria, has a vision of a beautiful woman when she is six years old.  She claims later in the story to have been bitten on the chest by the visitor, although no wounds are visible.  Perhaps this signifies an initial pang of attraction.  Twelve years later, Laura finally meets Carmilla face to face, when Carmilla’s carriage is involved in an accident.  The two women recognise each other from the dream.

Carmilla and Laura start to become close friends, although Carmilla has very sudden mood swings, and makes unsettling advances towards Laura.  Of course, Carmilla exhibits vampiric tendencies, such as sleeping during the day, being awake at night and becoming enraged at hearing religious songs.  Furthermore, Laura sees a portrait of an ancestor from the 17th century: Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, who looks identical to Carmilla.  Laura begins to have nightmares of being bitten on the chest by a fiendish cat, which transforms into a female figure.  It would seem Laura’s feelings are being disturbed by an aggressive sexual predator.

 Laura becomes very ill following these nightly visitations.  Her father is told by a friend that his own, recently deceased, daughter had similar symptoms and goes on to describe the situation which involved a young woman named Millarca, who became friends with his daughter.  He came to the conclusion that his daughter was being visited by a vampire, and upon a surprise attack the ‘cat-like creature’ took the form of Millarca and fled.

 It all unravels that Carmilla, Mircalla and Millarca are one in the same person.  All are anagrams of the same name.  Of course, it is clear that lesbian attraction is the force between Carmilla and Laura:

Sometimes after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion would take my hand and hold it with a fond pressure, renewed again and again; blushing softly, gazing in my face with languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous respiration. It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, “You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever”. (Carmilla, Chapter 4). (1) 

Carmilla confined her attentions to female victims, was more comfortable at night-time, was very beautiful, able to walk through walls, could shape-shift into a cat and slept in a coffin.  She was, most definitely, a lesbian vampire!  A few films have been made in her honour.  Some attempt to keep to the original story, but you may remember Carmilla making an appearance as the antagonist in Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009), starring James Corden and Paul McGann.

I had never thought of The Strange Tale of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, as being homoerotic.  Up until now, as one of my all-time favourite stories, I had viewed it as a tale of the classic ‘beast’ or monster within.  What that monster was, I had put down to some sort of message about insanity and split personalities.  However, it is thought that one reading can be interpreted as that of a queer tale, so let’s look at the evidence for homoeroticism within the story.  It is said to be a story of disguise – and not only in the form of Jekyll and Hyde: ‘a Gothic tale is disguised as a moral fable; the moral fable is disguised as a monster story’ (1).  It might be safe to assume, therefore, that there is much more going on beneath the surface than the initial reading of it might suggest – I’d expect nothing less from such a stylish writer as RLS.

Thanks to a potion invented by Dr Jekyll, he is able to lead a double life in the form of his alter ego, Mr Hyde (obviously the name ‘Hyde’ is the same in sound to the word ‘hide’, which is exactly what both Jekyll and Hyde are doing, depending on who is visible. Hiding.  As for Jekyll, well…the only word I can think of is ‘jackal’ and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was indeed the intended meaning.  In Egyptian mythology, the jackal-headed Anubis, is the god of the Underworld, protector and judge of the dead.  Ultimately, I suppose, Jekyll is a doctor who leads himself to death, but is he also judging himself as well?

The story is commonly thought to be a tale on the horrors of the unleashed sexual appetite, and here is my initial mistake.  Having only seen the film, I assumed that the sexual debauchery Hyde demonstrated were towards women. In fact, in the original text there are no female characters, apart from a cook and a housemaid – both peripheral to the story.  However, Stevenson himself rejected the notion that Hyde was about sexuality of any kind, maintaining that the only reason people would read it that way is because they can think of nothing else!  A trap we should be careful of when reading Gothic fantasy…  Nevertheless, some people do believe that Hyde is a closet homosexual and RLS does include some suspicious markers of homoeroticism within the story:

The suspected blackmail of Jekyll by his “young man”, his “favourite”; the “very pretty manner of politeness of Sir Danvers Carew” when approached in the street – terms that may have denoted forbidden liaisons to a Victorian readership. The hidden door by which he enters Jekyll’s house is the “back way”, even “the back passage”. It happens that the year of composition, 1885, was the year in which an amendment to an act of parliament made homosexual acts between men a criminal offence.(3)

On closer examination it looks like there is much more to discover within the pages of the story, and I think it might be worth returning to this subject in full once I’ve had the chance to read the original text thoroughly.  It would seem there are several possible interpretations, and I wonder if this in itself was deliberate.  Quite often a writer has more than one message he/she wishes to convey.

Most people know of Oscar Wilde and the circumstances which led to his imprisonment, after being convicted of homosexuality.  He spent two years in prison for the sake of the “love that dare not speak its name”, famously quoted in Wilde with Stephen Fry playing the lead role.  Fry gave a very beautiful and moving speech on being brought to trial for daring to love a man.  He explains that in ancient Greek times it was perfectly natural, and the purest of relationships, for a teacher and his student to share a bond.

It has been suggested that the name Dorian, the protagonist in The Picture of Dorian Gray, is a reference to the ancient Greeks, who had a very different and more accepting view of homoeroticism.  Both Lord Henry and Basil compete for Dorian’s attention, praising him for his good looks and youthfulness.  Basil even states: “as long as I live, the personality of Dorian Gray will dominate me.”  Nevertheless, Dorian does claim to have only ever loved one woman in his lifetime: Sibyl Vane.  It could be that Dorian, like Wilde himself, was actually bisexually inclined.  The fact that he is as attracted to her when she is dressed up as a man, as he is when she is dressed as a woman might point to that.  Wilde was very happy and in love with his own wife for the first few years of their married life.  Although I do wonder if the use of the word Sibyl is another nod to the Greeks and their prophetess, the Sibyl, the priestess seer who pronounced her oracles in ancient holy places like Delphi.  (In Finding Delphi the Sibyl plays an important part in the story).  Either way, it would seem the attraction Dorian feels for Sibyl is as a result of her ability to be all things, and as an actress she is well-placed to “mask life”.

Although it remains obscure, Basil asks why Dorian’s “friendship is so fatal to young men” and mentions the “shame and sorrow” of one of the young men’s fathers.  Basil also tells Henry how he worships Dorian, begging him not to “take away the one person that makes my life absolutely lovely to me.”  In the 1890 edition, Basil is more focused on the love he feels; whereas in the 1891 edition the following year, this has been changed to reflect the influence Dorian has on his art: “the one person who gives my art whatever charm it may possess: my life as an artist depends on him.” (4, 5, 6, 7).

Like Dr Jekyll, Dorian has another side to himself, his hidden sexual menace, which lives in the portrait of himself he keeps locked away.  About the secrecy of his portrait, Dorian says: “I have grown to love secrecy.  It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous.”  In both stories, the protagonists enjoy the pleasures of leading a double life, whilst in Carmilla, the vampire is known as having three different names and with the ability to disguise herself in the form of a cat.  Although these are necessarily inexplicit about the subject of homosexuality, in the Victorian era when these stories were written, it is of much use to the interested reader to read them bearing in mind the zeitgeist of 19th century Britain.  To those who don’t see (or wish to see) the homosexual content in these stories, I’m sure you’ll find another interpretation and there is certainly much more to discover.

In the meantime, it is only by studying those dark times that we begin to see the horror of equating any kind of love with evil and ugliness.  No character who hides away their repressed natural emotions ever meets a happy end.

Until next week, be true to yourself and love with pride.  Your Fag Hag friend, A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1)   Le Fanu, J S (1872) Carmilla in “In a Glass Darkly” (Kindle edition).

(2)   Halberstam, J (2000) Gothic Surface, Gothic Depth: The subject of Secrecy in Stevenson and Wilde in Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and The Technology of Monsters Duke Uni Press: USA.

(3)   Campbell, J The Beast Within in The Guardian (13th December 2008)

(4)   The Picture of Dorian Gray Book Notes: http://www.bookrags.com/notes/dg/

(5)   Literature (TPODG): http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/index_p.html

(6)   TPODG: http://www.novelguide.com/ThePictureofDorianGray/index.html

(7)   TPODG: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/study-guide/short-summary/

Advertisement

Werewolves: Narrative and Symbolism in Film and Literature

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

allegory, anarchy, Berserkers, bitten, classics, criminal, curse, delinquency, Devil, film, folk lore, folktales, forest, full moon, fury, God, hallucinogens, Herodotus, hooliganism, hypertrichosis, infection, literature, Luna, Lupa, lycanthrope, lycanthropy, Madness, menstruation, metamorphosis, Norse, Ovid, Pausanius, pentagram, Petronius, Pliny the Elder, pornography, prostitute, psychiatric illness, puberty, scratched, sexual, symbolism, transformation, tranvestitism, Viking, Virgil, werecats, werejaguars, werelions, weretigers, werewolves, witches

werewolf

By Sergey Kalinen

Werewolves!  Where does one start?!  These supernatural creatures have as vast and varied a history as vampires, probably even more so.  Early tales of transformation from man to wolf, can be read in the classical literature of Herodotus, Pausanius, Ovid, Virgil, Pliny the Elder and Petronius.

Depending on which part of the world you live in, the curse of the werewolf is either given by God or the Devil. Also, depending on which part of the world you live in, humans may metamorphose into any number of creatures.  In Europe, and subsequently Canada via Viking migration, America via European migration, Haiti via French migration etc, wolves are the most likely     were-animal.  Were-cats are also mentioned in the texts.  In Europe they are mostly associated with witches, whereas in Africa and Asia they are mostly associated with big cats – weretigers and werelions.  Werejaguars are also mentioned in the Americas.  In Thailand, there are even folk tales of werecrocodiles!

There seems to generally be a big difference between werewolves of film and werewolves of literature.  For example, in film werewolves are most often infected or cursed from being bitten or scratched by another werewolf.  In literature, they are cursed through a pact with the Devil, parentage or because they have a psychiatric illness (lycanthropy); also, in literature, religious symbols are usually no protection whereas, for example, a pentagram was used in the film An American Werewolf in London.  Traditionally used as a symbol for protection, it is often misunderstood to mean something Satanic.  In later (20th century) literature, the silver bullet was added as a means of killing a werewolf.  Prior to that, wolfsbane and exorcism were often tried on people believed to be lycanthropes.

From the original texts to current visual storytelling, it should by now be obvious that werewolves represent many varied things, and I’m not going to get too arsy about the differences because as I see it, most stories evolve and metamorphose themselves in the process.  Plus, films have to be written by someone before being put on the screen….

It has been suggested that rabies is one origin of werewolf beliefs.  It’s a great hypothesis, and there are several aspects of infection and symptom that would suggest this theory is correct.  Even though being bitten and infected was a later addition, and not present in origin myths and legends, the infection does curse the victim to a state of madness and is also often associated with canines.

Another possibility for the origins of the werewolf legends lies with the medical condition hypertrichosis.  This condition is caused by a genetic mutation of chromosomes, as well as various diseases such as cancer and anorexia.  In the most severe cases, the face and body are covered in thick hair, giving a very animalistic appearance.  In days gone by, people who suffered from this condition often ended up in circus shows, labelled with such names as “Wolf Man”.

Thirdly, The Berserkers, were Viking warriors described in Old Norse literature who dressed in wolf and bear skins.  They were said to enter an almost uncontrollable, trance-like fury, thought by some historians to be induced by drugs.  In one saga, they are described as being “tasters of blood”.  Their fit of madness is described here:

This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days.(1)

This is interesting, in that not only do the Berserkers transform in the same way as werewolves do, but they are also weak when the effects wear off, in the same way that werewolves appear to be weak when they transform back to their human form.  The state of going ‘berserk’ is explored in Finding Delphi, when one of the protagonists is forced to confront his past and the guilt that remains with him because of his actions.  The effects of a hallucinogen experienced by him and other protagonists in the story, cause him to shapeshift into various animals, including a wolf.

The werewolf, in storytelling, has to be some part of the human being – a part of us which is deep-rooted and potentially accessible.  In some cases, it could be madness, and we have the full moon symbolism to thank for the association with the lunatic.  The word luna is Latin for moon and the goddess of the moon.  It is also, incidentally, the alchemical name for silver!  The full moon has long been associated with psychiatric illness.  It has never been proven to be anything more than a mythical link, although there is no accounting for the effect belief has on a subject.  In American Werewolf in London, the unfortunate David Kessler suffers psychologically through nightmares and supposed hallucinations, after straying off the path onto the moors, disregarding the full moon and being attacked by a werewolf which kills his friend, Jack, and turns David into a werewolf.  His reign of terror throughout the streets of London seems to be linked to delinquency and hooliganism, with some transvestism, anarchy and porn thrown in for comic effect.   In this case, the werewolf is the parts of an eighties society that London was either uncomfortable with or did not take very seriously, possibly both.  Certainly it represents the ‘Other’ in that society.

As well as furious, strange and criminal behaviour, the werewolf represents our most base instincts; our untamed wildness.  It represents the animal side of our nature.  It is really what is going on, or what we have the potential for, underneath our civilised exterior.  Of course, this includes our sexual nature which seems to have been demonised some couple of thousand years ago….  In very ancient times, the wolf was associated with prostitution, and this is one theory for the background story of the wolf that raised Romulus and Remus, the founding brothers of Rome – that is, that Lupa may in fact have been a prostitute.

Folk tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, are full of amazing allegory, warning unsuspecting adolescent girls of the dangers of not sticking to “the path”.  In the original fairytale there is a clear distinction between the safety of the village and the dangers of the forest.  The tale is symbolic of an innocent female victim being lured by a dangerous male criminal from a place of safety to a place of isolation.  Charles Perrault, writer of the earliest version (1697) explicitly explained the meaning of the story at the end:

From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner. I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!

There is no doubt in my mind that Little Red Riding Hood is a warning to pubescent girls on the awakening of sexual maturity, the red cloak symbolising the blood of menstruation; the wolf, therefore, a sexual predator.

The literary tale was beautifully brought to life in Company of Wolves, which was an absolute dream for the discerning symbologist (yes, I know it’s a made up title – please don’t write in!).  Unlike the fairytale the charismatic wolf is first encountered as a Prince Charming, later metamorphosing into a wolf.  Throughout the story there are several transformations from human to wolf, introduced through other folk tales within the story.  The main point, according to the old-fashioned thinking of her grandmother’s generation, is for Rosaleen (Red Riding Hood) to be wary of wandering off the path (of righteousness) as there are wicked men ready to take advantage of her.  However, Rosaleen’s mother has a different attitude.  Nowadays it’s okay to run off with the man (or werewolf!) you love.

I leave you with one of my favourite quotes, and the moral of the story, from Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood:

Little girls, this seems to say,
Never stop upon your way,
Never trust a stranger-friend;
No one knows how it will end.
As you’re pretty so be wise;
Wolves may lurk in every guise.
Handsome they may be, and kind,
Gay, and charming – never mind!
Now, as then, ‘tis simple truth –
Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth!

Until next week, stick to the path and beware the moon!  Your friend,  A.D.

Footnotes

(1)    Fabing, Howard D. (1956) On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry in Scientific Monthly 83 [Nov.] 234.

Follow me!

YouTube FBBtwittertumblr-logo_zps5dc10b69

Alyson Dunlop

Twitter Updates

  • Happy 214th Birthday, Edgar! twitter.com/englishwhirled… 2 weeks ago
  • RT @revpeterlaws: A sadistic imposter in your house is terrifying...but what if you were the only one who could see it? Join me for a distr… 1 month ago
  • RT @isaackoi: Thanks to code kindly developed by a fellow Twitter user ("QEDJoe"), I've uploaded PDFs of over 60,000 pages of posts by UFO… 2 months ago
  • Lynne Crawford Knight "Ghostly Encounters of a Scottish Tour Guide" youtu.be/QxblabPAF7s via @YouTube 3 months ago
  • RT @NightmaresNorth: This week I had the chance to appear on the excellent @AlysonDunlop ADX files podcast. We discussed many tales from bo… 4 months ago

Creative Writing Exercise Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • The Danger of Conspiracy Theories
  • Question Time for Gary Heseltine
  • Ali Jay Stone
  • Peter Robbins Versus The Haters
  • ADX 93 Miguel Conner

Archives

  • April 2020
  • February 2019
  • November 2018
  • May 2018
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • November 2012
  • August 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Categories

  • Creative Writing Exercise
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 920 other subscribers

Blog Stats

  • 100,284 hits

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Alyson Dunlop's Blog
    • Join 78 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Alyson Dunlop's Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.