Elective Spotlight: Gothic and Horror Literature

Mr. Jon Bennett

If you love scary movies and want to learn more about horror, then Gothic horror is the English elective for you!

Taught by Mr. Jon Bennett, the course explores how horror films and books impact our lives. Throughout the semester, students will get an overview of many works that fall under the Gothic/horror genre. You may be wondering what types of works fall into this category. That’s one of the questions this course explores, identifying and analyzing literary conventions common to the genre.

Students spend time evaluating horror books and films, looking at the fears addressed, analyzing how the author alludes to anxieties, and, in the end, determining what the writer is attempting to convey about life and human nature. Themes that often emerge from the texts are horror and dread, spirituality, and psychology.

One of the coolest parts of this class is that students get to watch some horror movies during school. Who wouldn’t want to watch a scary movie at school?

 Some of the movies are listed below:

• The Mist

• The Ring

• Night of the Living Dead

• Get Out

• Insidious

• Cabin in the Woods

While it’s awesome to watch scary movies, another feature of the class is that you will get the opportunity to write your own short horror story. You can write stories on Dracula, zombies, mutant bugs—anything you think is scary. Another cool aspect of this class is when you learn about different types of phobias and what makes a jump scare in horror films.

You will also delve into four different types of Gothic horror:

• Historical (set in the past without supernatural events);

• Natural (appears to be supernatural but is explained);

• Supernatural (unnatural beings and forces exist in violent ways);

• Equivocal (events are uncertain).

The Gothic horror class provides an in-depth exploration of many parts of the genre, and it is definitely worth a look for juniors thinking about their class schedules next year.