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What idea does each cartoon illustrate?

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The movie was directed by Henry Selick and written by Caroline Thompson. This film is based on Tim Burton original story. Burton wrote and produced The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 for Disney and he collaboratted with Henry Selick to realize it. In most of his animation realization, Tim Burton used the technique of the stop motion. Tim Burton (born in 1958) is an American film director, producer, artist, writer, and animator. He is famous for his dark and macabre, gothic, horror and fantasy films. 

• The plot

This movie tells the story of Jack Skellington named the pumpkin king and who is an scarecrow bone alive. He comes from Halloween Town. He spend all days to prepare the next halloween party. One day he decide to leave the town and he discovers a portal to Christmas Town and decides to celebrate christmas in is town, with some dastardly and comical consequences.

 

• What makes this story gohtic ?

This movie is gothic because there is an dread, dark and horror atmosphere. The settings are inspired by halloween, the sceneries are all distorted and dark. The characters are all different and they are also unrealistic and frightful, they are typical gothic. For example, Jack is a skeleton, he wants to do evil because it is normal in their world. His dog Zero is a ghost and he lives anyway this is very unusual.

The soundtrack helps us get into the atmosphere of the movie:

There is an evolution from the begining to the end, the characters become nice and there is a christmas atmosphere but the characters are still looks scary.

• The imaginary 

This imaginary notion is very important in this movie because the story takes place in an imaginary world with weirds settings. The characters are all unrealistic, most of them are half dead, half alive. The plot is also imaginary and uncommon. It mixes Halloween theme and christmas theme which are very different from each other. The gothic is essentially based on the imaginary notion.

A few words about the author:

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (28 August 1814– 7 February 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian Era. Three of his best-known works are Uncle Silas, Carmilla and The House by the Churchyard. His first success was published in 1851 But already in 1850, Le Fanu wrote the ne: The Mysterious Lodger, that he anonymously published in the Dublin University Magazine. After the death of his wife, April 28, 1858, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu dedicated exclusively to writing fantasy novels. And he became the owner of the Dublin University Magazine which he sold in 1872. He finally died in 1873 in Dublin.

A short summary of the plot:

Laura, the only daughter of an English man installed in Styria, hosts without concern Carmilla, an unknown young that an accident has thrown in his way. Vampiric clues will appear in the countryside, in the castle and on the body of the girls.The mysterious friend which was very beautiful, celebs Laura declarations so ardent that the young woman is confident that at this time Carmilla is a young transvestite man.

The efforts by his father and two strong and friendly preceptors to protect her from evil have no effect: Laura becomes listless, paralyzed by the excess of love and the poor monster, half-woman, half-vampire who lavishes her. Laura is loved by Carmilla who kills slowly.

What makes this story gothic?

- the setting: it is in a strange and familiar setting of ruins and desolate forests in a very far country of the United Kingdom, the birthplace of the author. The atmosphere is very gloomy and frightening.

- the characters:

There is Carmilla, the main character. She is a vampire. She is strange because we do not learn much about her. Carmilla strikes by her great sensuality: she is described as very affectionate, voluptuous. It's a woman who is striking for its immense beauty: this vampire lady seduces his victims more than she attacks. Having had an accident, it is collected by Laura, a girl who misses much only because it is High by his father. Gradually they realize they have link and they are closely spaced more and more. Carmilla soon manifested a passionate love for Laura, and her feelings are mixed to the latter, which has a deep trouble before Carmilla beauty at the same time that a certain repulsion.

-the mood: the general mood of the story is very dark. This creates a mysterious story between dream and reality.

-the evolution: What strikes us most is the striking change of Laura from start to finish. She is hesitating at first, then she lets herself be swept away by the behavior of Carmilla.

THE IMAGINARY

The concept of imagination is truly present in this book. Indeed, we have to do a vampire and who, moreover, is attracted to girls and not by men.

Lire la suite...

About the author : Tim Burton was born in 1958. He is a really famous american film director, artist and writer. He's known for doing creepy and dark films, indeed he has a really gothic, macabre and unique universe. He has directed movies you surely know, such as Edward Scissorhands in 1990, Corpse bride and Charlie and the chocolate factory both in 2005, Dark Shadows and Frenkenweenie, more recently, in 2012. We can see the same actors in almost every film he has done; Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, who, by the way, is married to Tim Burton.

                                                                                

Concerning the film : it has been released in 1993, and it's a stop motion musical fantasy film. Jack Skellington, who lives in Halloween Town, starts to get bored preparing Halloween's party every single year. One day, he goes into the wood and finds a door which leads him to another Town, the Chistmas' one. Fascinated by the lights and presents, Jack, when he comes back into his own town, decides to share what he just saw, and that this particular year, they wouldn't be celebrating Halloween; they would celebrate Christmas. So, he kidnaps Santa, wears his red costume and acts like him. Unfortunately, Jack doesn't know enough about Christmas, and that's why the party starts to get really creepy, morbid and scary looking. The presents are no longer toys, but scary boxes, and violent teddy bears.
This movie is obviously gothic because of its atmosphere.
First of all, Jack is a skeletton, which is not that common for a film. But since this is Tim Burton and his gothic ideas, we manage to understand. Jack is really tall, his arms and legs seems infinite, he's also really thin. He wears a black and white tuxedo. He can have cute face expressions, when he's happy, or really mean ones, and become scary whenever he's mad. The fact that Jack is a skeletton and that he can be spooky proves that this film belongs to the gothic genre.  Anyway, wether it's Sally and her ruler, Zero the ghost dog, the kids, or the mayor of it, Halloween town is composed of lots of creepy characters. They're all completely imaginary and scary.

                                                          

Halloween Town is a really dark place, the streets are full of castles and cemetaries. There is, of course, no sun in the sky, it's often storming and we don't see that much daytimes, but more night times, with a huge moon surrounded by clouds. That is what makes the atmosphere even more ghoulish and not reassuring at all.

                                                       
Also when Jack visits Christmas Town, he's himself surprised, because everybody is happy and laughing and he says that all of this is all new for him. He keeps repeating "what's this?" because his home town is so lugubrious he gets amazed by everything he sees. So except the small amount of joy and lights in the Christmas part, the movie is creepy, and so spooky.

To conclude I would say that despite the fact that there can be some hints of joy and colors, in general this film is a gothic one, and it has a ghoulish and macabre atmosphere, with great characters, as creepy as possible.
The imaginary notion is important because Jack travels through several worlds, which is kind of impossible, and all of the characters and Jack himself are also really surprising because we've never seen characters like these in any other movie, except for Tim Burton's ones of course.

A few words about the author : Yana Toboso (枢 やな) is a japanese mangaka. She was born in January the 24^th of 1984 in Warabi, Japan, and is now 29 years old. Her career began with Rust Blaster, a one-shot of six chapters published by the Square Enix editions, which takes place in a world where humans and vampires are forced to live side by side. But the work that made her famous is Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji, 黒執事), her main series since 2006 and one of the most popular manga of our generation, which is sold in Asia, in the United-States and in many european countries. Her readers love her fine drawing line and her precious and baroque graphics which are recognizable anywhere.

A picture of Yana Toboso.

A short summary of the plot : In the victorian Great-Britain, Ciel Phantomhive, the thirteen-year-old heir of the Phantomhive family, must manage the famous toys' company that he leads while investigating on unavowable politic affairs as the Queen's Dog, an hereditary responsability of his family. For this, he has Sebastian Michaelis, his mysterious and fautless butler whose nobody knows where he comes from. But, in front of inexplicable phenomenons like Jack the Ripper, a strange circus kidnapping children or Gods of Death searching for missing souls, even a demon may fails...

Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis.

What makes this story gothic ?

→ The story takes place in Great-Britain, at the end of the nineteenth century, under the Queen Victoria's reign, and most of the time in London, or in the Phantomhive's Manor, which is isolated in the countryside. In the Book of Murder's arc, a violent thunder comes up and the manor's inhabitants and guests are stuck in the house until the end of the storm. This climate of promiscuity and tension facilitates the series of inexplicable murders which follows.

Furthermore, the manor is bursting with secret passages and alarms to warn the domestics of anyone's intrusion. In the Book of Circus' arc, when the circus' members are coming to the Manor to kill Ciel, the domestics are well-aware and follow them in the house thanks to a system of bells like the ones which are usually used to call the domestics without moving.

→ The character of Sebastian Michealis makes this story more gothic. As Dracula, we gradually learn more about his evil nature. At the beginning, he attracts the reader's attention because of the perfect way he is managing his butler's job in despite of the negative attitude of his master and the incapable domestics. In the first chapter, he succed to save his master's reception whereas the afternoon has been a complete disaster as if the domestics were doing everything they could to prevent Sebastian from doing his job. He very handsome, charismatic and athletic while being quite young because as a demon he reflects the humans' most secret desires. Most of the time, he has a rather superior smile and sometimes is obviously laughing at the human race, but he cannot stop studying and observing them « as a hobby » he says. Furthermore, as Dracula and other characters from gothic stories, Sebastian's eyes are reflecting his demonic nature. When he uses his demon's powers or when he is striken by a strong emotion, his eyes are no longer human's and become red and skinny in the middle like a snake's ones. He seems immortal, one cannot be hurt by any human's weapon. Sebastian has a great strength and can have an influence on animals' behaviour, like the character of Dracula when he calms down the horses of the carriage.

→ In despite of some scenes which are more comical, the general mood of the story is very dark. It is created by the tackled issues like the death, present in all the investigations of the Queen's Dog and personified in the Gods of Death or Grim Reapers (Shinigami, 死神) ; and also present in the past of Ciel, whose the parents were killed when he was younger. Some scenes and characters are very bloody and merciless ; the author uses suspens and mystery created by the contact between the real and normal world with the demons and shinigami's one to keep her readers captivated, and it works, when you see how famous this manga is now.

→ There is a definite evolution from the beginning to the actual end of the story. The characters are confronted by much more violence and crazy investigations. The first affair, where members of the britain underworld kidnapped Ciel to blackmail him, was quickly resolved by the help of Sebastian ; but in the last intrigues, Sebastian cannot but only helping his master and is almost helpless, so Ciel has to more and more learn how to manage without his butler. In the Weston College's arc, he has to go to the school as a simple pupil and cannot bring with him any of his domestics (even if Sebastian also becomes a college's teacher to keep a close eye on his master), so he is then exposed to the other pupils' violence.

→ Black Butler has some recurrent themes :

• The death : in the investigation of Jack the Ripper, on dead prostitutes ; in the Noah Circus' arc, where little children are kidnapped and killed to have their bones ; in the Book of Murder's arc, by the successive deaths of the guests whereas they all have an alibi ; in the Campania affair, where dead bodies are bring back to life by the experimentations of an ignorant scientist and a denied shinigami, then escape from their control and begin to kill all the boat's passengers.

• The humans' nature : numerous Black Butler characters are showing a certain face at the beginning and then reveal their true nature ; this is the case of the Ciel's aunt, who is helping « Jack the Ripper » to kill prostitutes and wants to kill the count because he looks like her sister ; of the Weston College's prefects who are able to kill to preserve the traditions and the dignity of their school ; of the members of the Noah Circus who are nice and welcome Ciel and Sebastian when they rejoin them as Smile and Black, but then are no longer nice and welcoming when they learn their true identities. But Ciel used to lie too and recognize it, when he uses some naive people to achieve his aim.

• The humans' responsability : at the end, we can notice that the mortals are responsible of all the troubles that happened in this story, and imaginary creatures are only a help, a "tool" that helps them to achieve their aim : in the Jack the Ripper's arc, Grell Sutcliff, the deviant shinigami, appears and decides to help Madam Red to take her revenge only after she killed the first prostitute. Even if Sebastian is a demonic creature, he is bound to Ciel by the Pact and most of the time only acts on order of his master ; he says himself that he is nothing but his "dog". In the Weston College's arc, Undertaker and Doctor Ryan Stoker introduce the "Bizarre Dolls" in the school only because the prefects of Weston needed them to hide the fact that they killed some pupils. So, even if Black Butler contains some fantastic creatures which could discourage some people to read it, this is still a story about humanity and the consequences of its actions.

→ Notion : the imaginary :

Black Butler is a complete fantastic story, even if it takes place in a real time and place. The author uses fantastic characters and figures, as the demon, a famous figure in all the societies and religions, which represents the evil and tries to pull the humans to the « dark side » (as he does with Ciel : the pact that they entered into promises that when Sebastian would concrete Ciel's wish, he would have his soul ; during all the story, he tries to « prepare » the soul of his master so it would be very « tasty » when he will have it) ; the shinigami, which are a real part of the japanese mythology, are a real industry which is recover all the dead souls, to verify and classify them. They are neutral characters who have to not to take sides for the humans or for Heavens ; but some shinigami are escaping to this law like Grell Sutcliff, an uncontrollable agent who takes the nickname of Jack the Ripper and kills people who are not in the Death List. The story also talks about humans trying to bring back dead bodies to life, like, on the Campania, the couple of parents who did not succeed to forget their daughter's death and uses the ignorant Doctor Ryan Stoker (whose name refers to the Dracula's author, Bram Stocker), manipulated by a shinigami, to bring her daughter and other dead bodies back to life ; but it didn't work and the "Bizarre Dolls" escape the Doctor's control and kill almost all the passengers of the boat ; this proves that even this old human desire about defeating death is only a dream and that imagination has its limits, even in this world. But Black Butler also has some kind of reality, a dark reality whose we don't like to hear about, when it talks about the human's nature and the murderers and other crimes that the mortals are ready to make in the name of a reason that seems good to them.

A shinigami (William T. Spears).

Madam Red and Grell Sutcliff ("Jack the Ripper") :

Most of the time, since the 20 century, to speak about gothic novels or movies, we use the example of Tim Burton’s. This famous American director  ( born in 1958) made lots of movies and animations movies in association with other film directors, he realized some animations movies based on the on the technique of the stop motion, and the evolution of puppets in a real decoration set. He is famous for right some stories, with lots of black humor, with strange creatures, and the important influence of the ghoulish. He is famous, for example, for his movie Dark Shadow, a gothic movie about vampires. Tim burton has two favorite actors, who have played in lots of his movies: Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. We can’t say that he is only a gothic director, because he realized also fantastic comedies. But this genre has influenced a lot his movies, with, most of the time, a heavy and lugubrious atmosphere, and fantastic creatures.

 
In 2005, he realized in association with Mike Johnson and John August, Corpse bride. This American animation movie is inspired of the dead bride’s legend, a typical gothic legend, ghoulish and stressful. The atmosphere of the movie is stressful too, because all elements and characters are in black, grey, blue and white, there aren’t many colors and it creates a lugubrious atmosphere. The movie’s music, likes sounds are disturbing.

 

Corpse bride takes place during the XIX century, in a small village. The story is about a man, Victor Van Dort, who has to get married with Victoria Everglot. At the beginning, this wedding is only a forced marriage, organized by the parents, who think win money since this union. But as incredible as it can be, between the two young peoples, it’s immediately the love at first sight. But some terrified elements will happen and waste this rising love. In fact, a dead bride, Emily will appear from the death’s world. Unintentionally, Victor will be engaged with this corpse alive, and he will, during the entire movie, try to cancel this engagement. He wants to get married with Victoria, his real soul mate. But during this short time during which Victor disappears, she has to get married with a strange man, Emily’s murderer and former husband. During all the movie, Victor try to return in the real world, to live his love with victoria.

 
 

This movie is a typical gothic story, with a ghoulish atmosphere. The settings are the most important elements in corpse bride, to represent the gothic. First, Victoria’s castle is an old castle, with big corridors, and nobody around, and that’s disturbing. Later, when Emily makes Victor travels in the death’s world, he meets undead peoples, going up of their coffin. These supernatural events and spooky characters are typical elements of the gothic genre.  The death’s theme is recurrent in this movie, and from the beginning, to the end, the terror is going up, when Victor discovers this other world, when undead peoples appears or when Emily’s murderer appear, and try to accomplish it again with Victoria. The general atmosphere, oppressed, is typical of the gothic, and characters, seems like undead too, there are disturbing and can affrays us.

 
The imaginary notion is really important and present in Corpse bride. First, the setting in which the action happen is unrealistic. The death’s world is what makes this movie influenced by the imaginary. Characters like undead peoples, and the bride, dead, but alive when Victor asks here to engage with him unintentionally, are also elements of the imaginary. The imaginary is present in all the animation movie, settings, characters, and the events are imaginary facts. And that makes the story gothic, because this genre is based essentially based on the imaginary notion.