It seems as though everyone has agreed: Gothic literature is reserved for autumn, and as soon as December hits, it must be ushered back into its crypt to wait for next year.
Setting plays a big role in Gothic literature, with its crumbling estates, desolate landscapes full of desolate people, and life slipping away with the seasons.
“Fall just kind of has that... feeling of ‘we're not quite at... the worst of the worst, but we're getting there,’" said OH English teacher Adam Jensen. "And... the same is true for a lot of our characters in Gothic novels who are transitioning from this place of normalcy... to this place of discomfort and terror.”
The decline from the life and joy of summer, the mounting dread of winter, having to watch as beauty wilts away in front of you, and the inevitability of it all lend themselves to many major themes in Gothic literature.
Adapting a novel into a film is not always executed successfully. Unlike the “Hunger Games” series, sometimes, a fictitious dystopia representing the state of our world turns meaningless as it is translated from paper into the perspective of a moving camera.
“Ever since we discovered cave paintings, humans have tried to illustrate their imagination, and then once we figured out words, then it was just an added bonus to bring both the creative written word and the creative visual art together,” said OH art teacher Michael Skura.
“I think it being a movie series definitely makes [[the books]] more popular,” said OH English teacher Abby Bartle. “I think a lot of kids have watched the movies, even like The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes… then decided to pick up the book because that was our ‘One Book One School’ [[title]].”
BookTok podcast hosts Nola Quinn and Chayse White meet up in this chilly, wind-whipped winter to discuss dark academia in this latest episode of all things literary. Snuggle in with a warm cup of tea to listen in as our two hosts thrill during this winter chill.
Staff reporters Ruby and Carolina dive into common tropes and occurrences seen in both the BookTok community as well as the components that make up BookTok itself.