Somnambulism in the City
The
Gothic movement in literature first took hold during the late eighteenth century
with the publication of Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. Over the
following century, books exploring the dreadful and horrific became popular
forms of entertainment, with the literary value of gothic titles such as The
Monk still acknowledged today. It is stated on the official Red Garden
website that the macabre texts of Poe, Byron, Shelley and their peers provided
great inspiration to the series team during production. Thematic gothic influences
are undeniably present in Red Garden but as this is a far more specific
article, one that focuses on the gothic and its ties to Lula, I will have
to save a blanket general exploration for another time. If you are unfamiliar
with the basic thematic constructs of the gothic genre, I recommend that before
you read this article further, you brush up on genre archetypes. With that
said, this is not intended to be anything beyond a base exploration of thematic
gothic staples and their links to Lula and Red Garden; it does not
examine the more obscure depths of the genre.
the supernatural
One of the staples of gothic literature is the inclusion of occult elements in texts. The supernatural in gothic novels frequently includes witchcraft, monsters, spirits, curses and everything beyond. There was a certain rebellion against the staunch teachings of Catholicism during the seventeenth and eighteenth century in England and this is reflected in the textual indulgence of dark, almost satanic expressions of un holiness and terror found within the gothic. In Red Garden the supernatural plays an important role- the curses that divide the Doral and Animus were invoked by the use of occult tomes, deceased characters are revived by unnatural means to once again walk among the living and the super-human abilities seen in both clans can be attributed to their monstrous leanings.
Anything that falls beyond the realm of basic human understanding can be terrifying. If we cannot comprehend what we are experiencing our fear heightens and we seek explanation. Both Red Garden and traditional gothic literature use the supernatural as a means to induce and explore the nature of terror for the purpose of entertainment.
ancestral curses
An archetypical gothic scenario involves a pursued heroine caught in the physical confines of a mansion or castle, haunted by an ancestral curse brought upon her by either familial origins or the supernatural home. Often a heroine will be forced to trial by the uncanny for crimes committed by ancestors (generally in the home she has entered/inherited/etc.) although she herself is innocent of any wrongdoing. Curses can be invoked justly (as seen in Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables) but keeping with the pursued innocent theme, curses can frequently seem like senseless throw-backs to injustices of the past that have no direct relation to the heroine. A curse can take many forms; physical transformation, supernatural confinement, plagues (mental, physiological) and even death.
In Red Garden, there are two curses invoked hundreds of years before the series start by two warring tribes. The Animus cursed the Doral and in return, the Doral cursed the Animus back. Bringing forth the curses only required possession of one of two tomes however, to break these curses one must be in possession of BOTH books. The problem we see in the series, is that each clan has one book.
The two curses manifest themselves differently in the clans. The Dorals suffer from an unpredictable illness that is inherent in their biological make-up but far stronger in female members of the family. At some point in his or her life, a Doral will violently mutate into a dog-like creature (their body adjusts to walking on all fours, their eyes turn pure white and they are gifted with great speed). The cost of this transformation is a Doral's consciousness and they become mere rabid shells for their former selves. There is no way of knowing when this will happen and there is no cure, once a Doral transforms he/she will never return to who they once were.
The Animus were hit with an equally devastating curse- all the original clan members became conscious beings trapped in immortal (but immobilized) bodies. The true Animus have a method for reviving the dead to act as their physical agents however, this method can only work on women and thus the clan itself is comprised solely of females. A reanimated being (the heroines, Lula, Lucy, etc.) is considered to be a member of the clan once they have been revived but their bodies are cursed similarly to the original Animus- they are unable to die unless they are expressly killed. In true gothic style, even if the Animus were to repossess both books they would not be spared- the elders would die but their reanimated followers would continue to live forever, their memories erased.
In "exchange" for being given a second life, Lula works for the Animus elders. As a funerl director she is involved in procuring and reviving new clan members, assigning them pseudo-militant duties in the war against the Dorals. The curse plays a big part in Lula's existence, it is her personal inability to accept the curse that keeps her from revealing its true nature to the heroines. More than a fear of losing her life should the Animus "lose", Lula is terrified of losing her memory should the Animus "win".
The loss of memory/the descent into insensibility is one of the many terrors visited upon innocents in gothic texts. Locke's school of thought suggested that in order for an individual to construct self-identity, they must be able to envisage themselves along a time continuum. Any disruption to the memory would in turn cause disruption to the individual's sense of self.
Lula is a haunted character, unable to shake the fears that plagues her. If she were to lose her memory then she would not remember JC, a point that becomes key after JC dies. To be burdened by a loss of self and past would be one thing if JC were there to aid in her recovery, with JC gone the one person Lula loves exists only within memories. It is through Lula's personal devastation and gloom that the Animus' curse can be viewed for what it is- a terrifying ancestral scar that cannot be erased, even if one were to seemingly triumph over it.
Books (particularly in the gothic period) are considered to be a physical embodiment of memories. For the Animus then, gaining "memory" causes memory itself to be lost.
body snatching
Many things relating to the dark and grotesque were explored in eighteenth/nineteenth century gothic works, body snatching and the art of grave robbing were certainly not exceptions to this rule. During the period, medical experts would often dissect bodies to garner knowledge from the deceased's system, making grave robbing for such purposes a common occurrence. The practice was not popular with society in general however, as the stealing of a cadaver was viewed as a great blasphemy against the Christian burial ritual (in conjunction of course, with the terrible sense of personal invasion). In Shelley's Frankenstein, it is through the pilfering of fresh corpses that Victor is able to assemble his creature for eventual re-animation. This is not viewed as a "pure" scientific pursuit but instead a gory, unholy, single-minded quest.
In Red Garden, the Animus steal the corpses of dead women to reanimate them in uniquely crafted replicas of their original bodies, bringing them into the clan's service as a trade-off. These new bodies are flawed to a certain degree (which we see with the girls being forced to drink lemon juice to quench their thirsts) but they are capable of most human functions (including reproduction) as well as a few inhuman ones (heightened physical dexterity, for example). Instead of being overjoyed at having their lives restored, the heroines feel a great sense of burden and violation because they had absolutely no choice in the matter. They lash out at Lula for reviving them but are unaware that Lula herself experienced the same physical desecration after her own death.
Body snatching in Red Garden is not glorified, even though it is essential to the survival of the Animus. It is a great encroachment on the personal, with revived characters maddened by the loss of their true physical form in favour of "puppet" bodies created by the Animus. Lula encourages the heroines to value their reclaimed lives even if they are not ideal, it is through a desire to live that they are able to continue. Should an Animus cease wanting to live they will die once again. Although the heroines were revived by questionable methods, the series goes to some length to prove that this does not negate their agency.
metamorphosis
Generally a grotesque transformation that goes against the laws of nature. A gothic metamorphosis can be as simple as a character growing to resemble another (Ligeia) or as complex as the blurring of a single identity (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). In Red Garden, we see two kinds of transformation, each born of a curse- the Doral into their lycanthropic form and the Animus into their revived bodies. As each of these transformations is a perversion of the natural, they are painful, violent and bizarre. Hervé calls the Animus monsters that are disobeying the laws of science by simply existing, on the other side the Doral are a distortion of the human form with their degeneration into hounds.
We see the gradual process of mental transformation as the heroines accept their new (though wholly unnatural) bodies. Lula is the result of this metamorphosis, a living corpse with the functionality of a human and agency retained from her previous life.
necromancy and revenants
Conversing with the dead or returning the dead to life by mystical means. Necromancy is usually used as a form of divination (although it is somewhat removed from other forms of divination due to its use of the black arts). In gothic literature, the dead were summoned to perform tasks for the living, varying from fortune-telling right through to murder. The Animus in Red Garden revive the dead not for divination, but for use as agents in the living world. This makes the characters restored by the Animus pseudo-revenants, beings that are revived from death (or a death-like state). True revenants in gothic texts tend to be transient ghosts or monstrous figures (incubus, vampire, etc.) so the label can only be loosely applied to the revived characters in Red Garden. Still, the idea of conversing with and using the dead to benefit the living remains largely intact.
Revenant characters like Lula are similar to the wandering jew archetype; revived from death only to suffer from the burden of immortality. Characters adhering to this archetype are melancholy creatures who suffer almost perpetually, finding themselves exiled from humanity as either punishment for a crime or by some great tragedy. Lula carries her burdens in a similar manner to the wandering jew- in a physical sense, exiled from humanity due to her revenant status, living in a mobile home amongst the depths of a forest. But beyond her altered physical state, Lula's exile is a deeply psychological one- she is unable to truly assimilate with humanity as a whole, choosing instead to work with the dead on a professional level (which tragically serves to isolate her further). Just like the wandering jew Lula seeks relief from her miserable state of un death, more so after she loses JC (and therefore the link to her human past), but quite unlike the archetype, Lula does eventually find the relief she so desperately seeks- her torture ending with a true state of death (and the potential for rebirth).
claustrophobia
Both physical and mental entrapment, the feeling of fear and helplessness as one is encased. In traditional gothic texts, the pursued heroine would often find herself locked in a confined space (cupboard, coffin, etc.) and be overcome by feelings of panic. Gothic literature as a whole plays with the claustrophobic leanings of its audience by making the textual terror so consuming that it groans with an overall mood of vulnerability and horror.
There is little in the way of physical confinement displayed in Red Garden but the mental entrapment, the inescapable feeling of dread is unmistakable. One of the main elements of appeal in gothic literature is the employment of terror over horror to capture the reader in a maze of emotion mirroring the encased fear of the pursued heroine. In Red Garden true terror can be found as the heroines feel trapped in their new bodies, fearful of their inescapable destiny, surrounded by unfamiliar, selfish and grotesque beings that have them enslaved. On more specific terms, a claustrophobic feeling of doom haunts Lula, she knows that either death or a lonely rebirth await her and it is her dread of these trappings that holds her prisoner for much of the series.