First, a review. Here are the criteria of Southern Gothic literature/cinema:
1. The gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror. Gothic is about haunting and possession. We are supposed to feel a chill at some point in the story, and this emotional response is in part the point of the gothic experience. Paradoxically, this fear is a source of pleasure. "Tis so appalling--it exhilarates," Emily Dickinson says in a poem.
2. In a Gothic work, there is usually confusion about good and evil. What does ‘good’ actually mean? What about ‘evil’? And how can we tell the difference?
3. Gothic reveals a fear of institutions, such as religion, education, or marriage.
4. Gothic shows the dark and hidden side of things. It rips open the lies and shows a world of cruelty, lust, perversion, and crime hidden beneath society’s rules and customs.
5. Gothic tears through censorship and explodes hypocrisies. It exposes the world as a corrupt, reeking place.
6. Gothic is a reaction to the conventional, common sense, and enlightened world. If society is supposed to be orderly and sensible, gothic shows how it really isn’t.
7. Southern gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Sweet Southern belles are crafty and greedy, chivalrous gentlemen are sneaky and perverse, and righteous preachers are manipulative and evil.
Here is your task:
- Find a specific moment in the film that in some way illustrates one of these criteria.
- In a thoughtful, thorough paragraph, describe in detail the moment of the film and connect it to one of the criteria.
- Post your paragraph in the comments bellow.
- Check other comments to make sure no one has previously discussed the moment of the film you are discussing. (No repeats!)
Is extra credit available? Yes. After you have posted your response, feel free to comment/respond to your peers and participate in an online discussion.
Here are some images from the movie that might help jog your memory:
In the middle of the movie Willa, Harry Powell’s current victim, is lying in bed as though she is in a coffin. She has just witnessed her new husband, who is also a preacher, questioning her children about the money her late husband stole. She has just finished praying when Harry begins speaking to her about what she witnessed. Instead or giving him the response he is looking for she begins ranting about how the money was not thrown in the river as Harry claimed Willa’s late husband Ben had said. He slaps her because she does not respond the way he would like. Instead of becoming upset, Willa stays where she is and begins speaking her thoughts about what happened. She says that the children know where the money is and that it is still amongst them, tainting them. While she is on her rant, Harry is looking out of the window. In a hurry he shuts the blinds and grabs his pocket knife. Willa continues on about how he did not marry her for the money, but the money brought them together. Apparently, this was all an act of god. Harry then continues on to kill her. The reason this scene is a good example of a Southern Gothic film is because of rule number seven. It says that Southern Gothic tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut. Harry is supposed to be a righteous preacher, yet on multiple occasions, he is caught being sneaky and manipulative. First, by violently questioning the children about the money, then by violently slitting Willa’s throat and MURDERING her. Seeing as he’s a preacher and murder is pretty high on the Bible’s “What not to do” list, he is very far from a righteous preacher. Another stereotype that is being tipped on its side is one about a protective mother. Instead of being worried about Harry questioning her children, Willa is instead worried about Harry and his feelings. Instead of realizing that he is using her and could possible harm her children, she continues to live (for about thirty seconds longer) believing that he has good intentions.
ReplyDeleteCourtney I think you are very right. After watching this movie its hard to go to church or watch a preacher and not chuckle a lit relating them to this. Its like you never know what they are really after and makes you rethink so many stereotypes.
DeleteTheir isn't a really specific scene but in this movie their is a big fear in institutions with marriage and religion. Harry the "Preacher" is pretending to be a nice preacher and just have nice life with a family except that hes just the opposite. Inside he only wants the money that Willa's last husband hid somewhere. The only thing he is trying to do is find where the money is and then kill Willa. this evokes one of the Southern Gothic "rules". This is a fear of religion because a preacher is suppost to be a nice guy who lives life for god but this guy lives to marry a woman then kill her and take her money.
ReplyDeleteYes Brian.I can totally relate to you on this. We talked about this in class,and fear institutions are one of the main things we talked about it. Harry Powell is the exact opposite of what a real husband is. He doesn't really "care" for the kids, or her wife. He only wants the money. You are correct.
DeleteI can relate my scene to number 6. Harry was eating dinner with the children and he asks them where the money is. John lies saying that the money is under concrete in the cellar. It was very unrealistic and not sensible when Harry is in the cellar with the children looking for the money and Pearl says that John lied, and they get in that chase up the stairs. Harry could have easily caught the children but he barely misses them and they just escape his reach to really make the movie get scarier and more spooky. Again, Harry could have easily caught John and Pearl running up the stairs, but he did not for southern gothic reasons.
ReplyDeletePete, you are spot on with this relation to number 6 of southern gothic rules. The director of this movie just wants to add these unrealistic, fake situations to add more suspense and flavor to the movie.
DeleteThus, it is not comment sense at all.
DeleteSouthern Gothic is a reaction to conventional common sense. There have been multiple examples in this where its so surreal and common sense is thrown out the window in the movie. The answer to a lot of obvious questions in this movie are "because it does not make sense." The best example is when the police are trying to take him away and the boy ruins the sole purpose of running from the man and hiding the money. Its like if he was going to do that you should have done it a long time ago. Also the boy knows Harry killed her mother and he isn't his real father so I can't see any connection why he would end up saving him. So the boy went through all that trouble just in the end to show where the money is and save the man from being killed. This is so illogical you know its Southern Gothic because it doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I will describe is one that occurs near the middle of the movie. After Harry Powel brutally kills Johns and Pearls only living parent he maliciously dumps her body into the nearby river, to rid himself of any evidence leading him to the crime. After her death though, Harry Powel promises to the townspeople he will take good care of the two poor motherless children. However he does not keep to his promise. Instead, he tortures and threatens both children. In the scene I will describe Harry Powel sits at the dining room table. A grand dinner of turkey, chicken, and mashed potatoes lays on the table before him but he will not let the children eat until they answer is one and only question, where is the money your father once stole? Although this, John stands firm, and does not allow Pearl nor himself to tell Powel where it is. In this situation John decides the best solution is to lie. Thus, he tells Powel the money is hidden downstairs in the cellar (not in Pearls rag doll). Powel immediately stands up and drags both children down to the cellar alongside him. Realizing Johns lie as they are in the cellar, he unjustly threatens John with his pocket knife, forcing innocent little Pearl to tell Powel where the money is. This scene definitely portrays Southern Gothic because it “tips stereotypes on their side and kicks them in the gut.” Harry Powell in the movie is a self appointed preacher. In daily life however, most preacher are considered loving, truthful, and are most often admired for their personalities and religious devotion. However Harry Powel is the exact opposite. He is neither admirable nor a fine man. He is violent, wicked and a criminal. He not sweet nor kind, instead he is malicious, preaching about an honorable way of life that will help reach salvation but not following his own words and preaching’s in any way, shape or form.
ReplyDeleteThe Night of the Hunter most certainly relates to the criteria that "the gothic novel tries to evoke chilling terror and gloom by exploiting mystery and horror." This is practically the whole theme of the movie. John's father that went to jail had put all his trust to take care of the $10,000 dollars that he had given them. The day before he was put on a death penalty, he had told the preacher, his jailmate that he had the $10,000 with his son. That immediately left a burden on the family. After Willa re-married the preacher, his main goal was to snatch and run away with the money. The kids had to sleep with anxiety that Mr. Powell would haunt them in their sleep for the money. Pearl and John had to take their uncle's boat and ran off to somewhere far away. After a woman found the two kids sleeping on the boat, she immediately took them in and gave them shelter and care. But the burden still followed them everywhere they went. Dan Powell eventually found them. The lady threatened to kill Mr. Powell if he didn't leave, but he eventually came back. The mystery of the 10,000 dollars followed the kids everywhere they went. This gothic movie does evoke terror and mystery.
ReplyDeleteThe Night of the Hunter is considered to be Southern Gothic for many reasons. It does try to make you fear institutions and it does spook you out a little bit. But the main reason why this movie is considered to be Southern Gothic is because there was no common sense used througout the entire movie. The first part of the movie where no common sense was used was how the mom married Mr. Powell a week after they met. Another part where no common sense was used was when Mr. Powell was chasing after the kids in the basement. When they were running upstairs Mr. Powell is walking very slow and reaches his hands as if he just missed grabbing the kids. This made no sense because Mr. Powell could of easily ran and caught the little kids.
ReplyDeleteJIM NASH
ReplyDeleteThe Movie was Southern Gothic in so many ways! I chose, however, to only pick one little scene out of the movie and analyze it on how it is Southern Gothic. The scene I am analyzing was the scene when the old lady was staring out of a window with a rifle pointed out at the father of John and Pearl is just waiting outside the house they are in waiting for them to come out so that he can beg them for the money. This scene created a sense of fear and chilling horror. Wouldn’t a man u don’t know that well staring into your window make u scared? This was the main reason why this scene was Southern Gothic because of the fear the characters made of just looking at each other with on of them holding a huge gun.
In one scene in the movie, numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are portrayed. John and Pearl believe they are safe at Mrs Cooper's house, after running away from Harry Powell, a morbid "preacher" who murdered their mother and is attempting to steal $10,000 from them. One night, he shows up in the marketplace and asks the eldest of Mrs Cooper's orphans if she has seen John and Pearl. She gives him the information and then disappears. He shows up at the house the next day and then Mrs Cooper discovers from John that Harry isn't actually his father, contrary to prior belief. So, she threatens him with a shotgun never to return unless he wants to be shot. However, he does show up one night. He is sitting outside, singing a song about waiting, which was supposed to be about Jesus. Mrs Cooper is sitting on the porch, singing along with her shotgun pointed right at him. However, when one of the orphans walks in with a candle that lights up the whole screen of the porch, he disappears after the candle is removed from the scene. This scene does create a chill among audience members, provides a confusion about good and evil, shows the dark side of things, goes against censorship and hypocrisies, and is a reaction to the conventional and enlightened world, classifying it as Southern Gothic.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree. This sceene which Katie described above creats a chill and evokes a feeling of suspense. It makes us, the audience questions whose intentions are good and who's are bad? The scene allows us to question. In the scene Mrs.Cooper is potrayed as an old and dangerous lady, gun in her hand, sitting and waiting for the kill and Harry Powell is portrayed as the good and innocent character, standing alone, singing of songs about his lord, Jesus. In other words, the scene evokes the feeling of suspense and creepiness but it also makes us questions, what is good and what is bad. This is definiately Southern Gothic.
DeleteMost definitely. I sometimes wonder whether or not if would be safer to just assume that everyone is out to get you. At least that way it's a little less likely that you'll be violently murdered in your bed... unless someone randomly decides to murder your in your bed... then maybe you should have gotten a better security system.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately many people do stupid things in this world like Courtney said. Also it is classic Southern Gothic for Harry like Katie said to disappear which tries to evoke chilling tear even though its really cheesy. This wasn't really scary to me but also I wonder whether people back then would actually be scared by a scene like that.
DeleteIn the movie there are many scenes that bring a chill. One specifc one is one of the last scenes where Harry is getting arrested and Jon go out and tries to help him. It brings a chill to me because Jon hates Harry very much and is weird that he would go out there because it is the same thing that happened to Jons dad and makes me scared how it could happen to him. This scene is defintley a scene from a Southern Gothic
ReplyDeleteSorry Tyler Malik
DeleteIn the movie " Night of the Hunter" there are numerous amounts of scenes that protray Southern Gothic criteria. Almost the entire movie was South Gothic, from the shape of their parents room, to the way to spoke and acted. But one scene that stuck out in my mind the most is when Mr. Harry Powel finds out where the money is (in pearls doll) and he is chasing both of the kids trying to ctahc them so he can steal the money. The scene is very fake, cheesy, and exaggerated. It feels like you are living in a childs nightmare and that is how the world seems to them. Which i find expressed in a Southern Gothic way.
ReplyDeleteThere were many scenes that you could say were Southern Gothic in the movie "Night of the Hunter. The scene when Harry Powell is preaching his thoughts about god and then goes and kills women because "god sent him to kill some women"
ReplyDeleteis a perfect example of how Southern Gothic brings out the dark and hidden secrets of religion. Some people believe that people of god could never possibly do bad things and Harry Powell is a great example of how some people who preach about god can also do bad things.
John Noll
ReplyDeleteI thought that the scene where the old lady is trying to convince Willah to marry Harry was a classic southern gothic scene. A creepy preacher comes into town and starts preaching about love and hate, and the old lady thinks it's adorable. Knowing that Willah was recently widdowed, she tries to set them up with eachother. That kind of throws common sense right out the window, because nobody even knows him yet, so how do they know he's not going to do something bad. Also he just got out of jail. that seems a little suspicious to me.
In the movie "Night of the Hunter" there are tons of scenes which show the southern gothic theme. A scene that defines number seven is at the beginning he seems like a good preacher but when it says he has killed seven widows and took their possessions it basically goes against everything in that stereotype. Preachers seem nice and good willed, but when we meet Harry Powell, he is the opposite of it. He is a bad evil man that only cares about himself. He will do anything to improve anything in his life. They should put him in the loony bin for how crazy he is. This scene definitely shows a characteristic of southern gothic.
ReplyDelete"Night of the Hunter" has many scenes categorizing this movie as Southern Gothic. in particular number 3 and 7 can really relate to it. the fear of marriage and religion are exposed. the fear of marriage is shown when the preacher has killed 7 widows only for their money and the last women with the children was killed leaving her children with hidden money. the woman was tricked into marrying Harry Powell. the marriage wasn't really for love at all. the fear of religion is exposed because he is a preacher; therefore, the sterotype is a good righteous man which Harry is clearly not. Relating to number 7, he is the typical stereotype of a preacher:manipulative and evil.
ReplyDeleteIn "Night of the Hunter", many scenes do tear through the lies and stereotypes of society and especially those of that time period. This movie portrayed the dark and hidden side of things through the preacher Harry Powell. What this movie shows is not only that the most unlikely suspects can actually be greedy and murderous people but that if there are still people like that around society is not as great as it pretends to be. I can imagine that if a movie like this were to question the greatness and society that it would appall viewers which is also a component of Southern Gothic compositions. Throughout the entire movie, Harry Powell did horrific things and those actions did not affect his unquenchable thirst for wealth which revealed the extreme greed in society. "Night of The Hunter" really exposed the conniving and greedy side of society which is indeed a component of Southern Gothic.
ReplyDeleteNear the end of the movie "Night Of The Hunter," a large group of town is hunting down the preacher, Harry Powell. When the preacher arrived in town, everyone gathered to listen to his preachings. He earned respect throughout a short time, and no one had a clue of what kind of person he really was. The scene of the mob hunting down Powell is an example of #6 on the Southern Gothic list. Everyone in town was outraged when they found out what the preacher had done, and now they want to kill him themselves. This shows how society (a town in this case), changes its reaction from orderly and sensible to outrageous and furious. The grandmother of the children seemed to be fooled by Powell, and sees him as a great man, but wants to kill him near the end, because of what he did. The town wants revenge on the preacher and the townspeople themselves are now becoming killers (for Harry Powell).
ReplyDeleteIn Night of the Hunter, the scene where preacher Harry Powell tells the "love and hate" story connects to Southern Gothic criteria #2 (there is usually confusion about good and evil). When you are presented with a preacher, you would usually think that they are well beings and are against evil. In this movie, Harry Powell is a preacher, yet he is an evil man. When he find outs Johns and Pearls dad left the money [he stole] somewhere, he goes out and find his widow. He soon brain-washes her into thinking he loves her and soon marries her. Another example showing confusion between good and evil is after Harry kills the wife. He goes to the drugstore to tell the owners the bad news, making up that she "ran away" and making the whole situation into a sob story so he would look good. In Night of the Hunter, there are many examples of southern gothic but the main criteria that caught my eye during the film was the battle between the good and evil.
ReplyDeleteIn Night of the Hunter, the scene where Harry is in the bedroom with the Mom and is going to kill her, is an example of Southern Gothic criteria 6. While Harry is talking to the woman, although it is clear that he does not have her best interest in mind she keeps raising him. She then lays very still after seeing him lift up a knife in the only light spot in the room. she responds with light answers to heavy situations, therefore taking a normal response and making it drastically different. This scene is so different then what one would expect to hear in the situation that many may perceive it as unrealistic. This movie had many examples of Southern Gothic, but this one tend to be a theme throughout the movie making it hard to believe many of the actions taking place.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most memorable scenes was really interesting. The night before the wedding, the mother tried to seduce the priest (assuming it was necessary). The scene showed how even the most innocent being can be seductive. Her reaction to everything was very minute and dramatic. When she found the knife of the priest, she assumed that it was unthreatening and normal. She was completely oblivious of the situation and the stature of the priest. The priest was disgusted with her for being lusty. He disregards his actions and thought to be reasonable and righteous. The scene showed the opposites of the character’s intended personality.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie "Night of the Hunter" there are several scenes that show southern gothic. My scene relates to # 1 and 6. The scene where the kids are in the boat and Mr. Powell comes chasing the kids to the boat by the shore and instead of run jumping into the water that is not deep at all he just stands there and does not do anything. also in the scene where the kids have already ran away and they go into a random lady's barn to sleep for the night and Mr. Powell is just riding by signing on a horse. Both these scenes show the chilling terror and spookiness of the movie. These scenes also show the sensible and realistic things are just like thrown out the window.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie Night of the Hunter, one scene displays the dead mother sitting in the car at the bottom of the river. This scene is a showcase of southern gothic. It also falls under the category of rule number one. The scene shows a terrifying scene that is still yet beautiful, but fills the viewer with a chilling sense of terror.
ReplyDelete