An Overview of Chicano/a Gothic: Final Project

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For my final project, I made a tumblr (http://chicanaogothic.tumblr.com/) about the Chicano/a Gothic. My tumblr acts as a companion to our class, featuring information on five of the six books we have read, as well as work towards defining what Chicano/a Gothic is. Essentially, it follows my process of deducing what Chicana/o Gothic Literature is and how the works we have read in class fit into this definition.

I chose to use the social blogging website tumblr.com because it allowed me to interact with other blogs by reblogging information from them and tagging my posts, making them accessible through tag searches. This medium, paired with posts working on the definition of Chicano/a Gothic, allows people who view my blog to quickly grasp the definition and ideas pertaining to this genre, and potentially spark a dialogue about it. While I have not received any comments or questions, some of my posts have been reblogged and a number of people have followed/subscribed to the blog.

 

For each book, I made blog posts listing the Chicana/o features, the Gothic features, a brief synopsis, images relating to the novel, and a short essay pertaining to an interesting facet of the novel.

The following lists detail the posts that were unique to certain books:

 

Calligraphy of the Witch

  • Notes from Alicia Gaspar de Alba’s interview
  • A close read of the poem by Sor Juana featured in the novel and how it informs COTW
  • Short Essay Topic: Concepcion’s adoption of a male identity (Riddle Wolf) and how this is informed by Sor Juana’s poem

 

Bless Me, Ultima

  • An argument for whether Ultima is a witch or a curandera
  • Production stills from the movie adaption
  • Short Essay Topic: Antonio as a classic Gothic hero

 

The Hungry Woman

  • Classical tragic elements in THW
  • Information on La Llorona myth and how it informs the play
  • Information on Medea myth and how it informs the play
  • Information on the Hungry Woman myth and how it informs the play
  • Production photographs
  • Short Essay Topic: a further look into the Medea myth and how it informs the play

 

Gods Go Begging

  • Brief introduction to the Vietnam War
  • Pictures from the Vietnam War
  • San Francisco and Vietnam as Gothic settings
  • Short Essay Topic: Sexual violence as an allusion to war

 

What You Seen In the Dark

  • Synopsis of the film Psycho
  • Gifs from the film Psycho
  • Similarities between WYSITD and Psycho
  • Tropes of a Serial Killer
  • The meaning of the title
  • Short Essay Topic: The mothers of Psycho and WYSITD (Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Bates)

Comments

An Overview of Chicano/a Gothic: Final Project — 2 Comments

  1. The tumblr you created was awesome and really shows how much time and effort you put into your project. It takes a lot of creativity to come up with the amount of work that you did. It also takes a lot of commitment to build the online relationships you did in a matter of a semester. I think tumblr is a great blogging resource which allows your ideas to grow through reblogging. I found the Antonio as Gothic Hero the most interesting because there were so many valid points brought up. The mother os Psycho essay was also great, especially the comparison between Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Bates. Overall, this was my favorite project to go through!