Poltergeist demonstrates how gothic

LHUM 1305 Online W20
Final Exam
This exam has three parts.
Part A Multiple Choice
10 questions x 1 mark each = 10 marks
Part B Short Answer
3 short answer questions x 5 marks = 15 marks
Part C Essay
1 essay question x 25 marks = 25 marks
The exam is out of 50, which is converted into a mark out of 20.
Good luck!
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Part A Highlight the correct answer.
1. Poltergeist demonstrates how gothic/horror can both instill fear and entertain, and at
the same time
a) critique society
b) suggest how to build suburbs more effectively
c) critique the entertainment industry
d) all of the above
2. Match the following plot description with the correct film: A large old house is
haunted by the ghost of a child who died there or nearby.
a) The Amityville Horror
b) The Orphanage
c) The Changeling
d) b and c
3. All but which of these horror films involves the inviting of a priest, medium, etc. to
“get rid of” or “communicate with” the presence that is haunting/possessing:
a) The Exorcist
b) The Changeling
c) The Innocents

d) The Amityville Horror
4. Place the following plot elements of “Wolf-Alice” in the correct chronological order:
A Alice finds a mirror and sees her reflection for the first time B Peasants shoot Alice’s
wolf mother and send Alice to live in a convent C Alice jumps into the Duke’s bed and
licks his wounds D The nuns at the convent can’t manage Alice so they send her to live
with a werewolf called The Duke.
a) ABCD
b) BDAC
c) CABD
d) BACD
5. The following plot summary describes which of Carter’s stories best? A Romanian
countess-vampire who wears her mother’s wedding dress regularly uses Tarot cards. She
feeds on the blood of male travellers, burying them in her garden. One day a British
soldier, a virgin, appears in the Countess’s neighbourhood. He does not believe in the
supernatural. The Countess is injured and the soldier kisses her wound, eventually
causing her death. The soldier rejoins his regiment.
a) “The Bloody Chamber”
b) “The Lady of the House of Love”
c) “Wolf-Alice”
d) “The Company of Wolves”
6. Jordan Peele, director/writer of the recent films Get Out and Us has clearly been
influenced by early gothic writers because his films also include:
a) entrapment and doubles/doppelgangers
b) entrapment and self-propelling wheelchairs
c) religious-based revenge plots
d) religious-based exorcisms
7. Like other horror movies of the early 1970s (e.g. Carrie), The Exorcist, as critics have
noted, could be interpreted as a reaction to society’s
a) disillusionment with politicians
b) disillusionment with religion
c) discomfort with the rising power of non-Christian religions
d) discomfort with the rise of feminism and its increased freedoms for women
8. Which of the following Atwood stories from Stone Mattress is not about a woman who
kills a man:
a) “Lusus Naturae”
b) “The Freeze-Dried Groom”

c) “Stone Mattress”
d) none of the above
9. Like Carter before her, in “Lusus Naturae” and “The Freeze-Dried Groom” Atwood
ties gothic themes to women’s concerns through the metaphor of the
a) cold, snowy city
b) wedding dress
c) ghost
d) storage locker
10. Atwood’s Stone Mattress can be considered a “meta-” or “postmodern” gothic fiction
in the sense that her stories are often about
a) monsters
b) werewolves
c) writers who have published successful gothic/fantasy books
d) writers who have been murdered
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Part B Choose three questions. Type your answers beneath the
questions.
1. Gothic culture exists not just in films and fiction. Explain the presence of “the
gothic” in two other cultural products.
The Gothic tradition came into being in Europe in the 18th century after a
wave of rapid and far-reaching social, cultural and theological change. Written in
this tradition are linked inherently with the social context in which they are
created. Two examples of gothic as seen in cultural products are gothic
architecture and gothic festivals. Gothic architecture, the European architectural
style from the mid-12th to the 16thcentury, in particular the masonry style that has
cavernous areas. The Whitby Goth Weekend is a festival with a strong Gothic
pedigree. It takes place twice annually in April and October. Goths from all over
England and the world flock to Halloween for two days of concerts, nightclubs
and more in Whitby every year.
2. Why have almost all the films we’ve watched had children at their center? What’s
“gothic” about children? Use at least two of our films in your answer.
Children can function for social anxieties as a microcosm. You are mostly
negated by 'a voice' (especially if you are a child), or when they have a 'voice'
they are skewed by the 'youth inexperience,' which may sound innocent.
Poltergeist, "1-2 — Freddy is coming, 3-4 — Better lock your door." — Elm
Straight and Dead People "— The 6th Sense; these can be some examples. Many,
especially some very common, horror films include children as a central part of