Tuesday, May 26, 2009

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST

I have a crush on ghosts (literarily speaking)... and this one is no exception. Poor fellow. He gave his best to scare the American minister modern family, but when he got acquainted with the evil twins, the pragmatic Washington, their materialistic parents and, more importantly, with the impertinent, independent young Virginia - he had no chance but to fall asleep once and for all. He was sympathetic in his old fashioned style, poorly sophisticated in a charming way (I was just thinking about the hours he would spend in front of the cupboard, perfecting his outfits and building more or less terrifying “characters”… all that effort in vain), though this wasn’t enough to touch the discourteous Otis, who actually found it cool to have a (preferably quiet) spirit meandering around in their new place.

Thus, the Canterville ghost is a character rich in sub-characters, all of them united in a meta-personage with symbolic meaning. Old England is for sale, the New World has come to invade the colonialist, respecting no blood colours. Also the former romantic types of horror (based on fears inspired by religion and antichrist-like figures) are threatened, just as the once very talented "actor" represented by the phantom becomes outrageously ridiculous in his performances. Poor old spectrum.

2 comments:

Bones said...

My Brother's ghost is named Mrs. Chapin, who me met when he married into a family that owned a haunted house. He didn't believe in her untill he named the dog after her and she got pissed.

Alexandra Pereira said...

Brilliant :))