On The importance of the item "Bluebeard" gives "Sally" in building the sense of horror (Q1)

Just kidding! This blog is going to psychoanalyze the sense out of the specific "terrible places" that appear in different versions of the story. Lets begin with a thorough examination of Perrault's Bluebeard. When Sally walks into the forbidden room, "At first she saw nothing, for the windows were closed. After a few moments, she began to realize that the floor was covered with clotted blood and that the blood reflected the bodies of several dead women hung up on the walls (these were all the women Bluebeard had married and then murdered one after another)." Call me twisted, but I didn't exactly cringe as I read this the first time. I blame rap music and Hulu (its an evil plot, to take over the world). I am going to overlook the fact that clotted blood (think scabs) is very non-reflective. I know the first phrase mentions how the windows were closed. But if the blood is reflective, it is obviously as light as day in Bluebeard's rumpus room. This room serves a very important function in the story as entering this room is apparently punishable by death. It is an important part of moving the plot along. But I think I see a boom mike hanging in the background. Final verdict? This room is messy, and a little surprising as we didn't expect to run into his ex-wives, but not really scary. Its shocking at best. From a psychoanalytical perspective, Bluebeard obviously has a tattoo of Blake's Red Dragon on his back.

Compare that to Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg." Bluebeard's forbidden chamber in this story is much more Utopian, and I mean that in the true "no place" sense of the word. Tartar will beck me up on this one. Atwood deliberately changed "the forbidden chamber of Bluebeard's castle into everything from Ed's enigmatic mind and his "new facility" to the anatomical cavities of the human heart and the keyhole desk before which Ed betrays his sexual infidelity." I think Atwood is trying to do too much with too little in this story. One thing she doesn't even attempt is horror. What I thought might have been suspense at the beginning turned out to just be bad writing from the 1980s. Where is the horror? Where is the blood? Ed isn't turning these women into hats, he is only using them as sexual objects. Foxnews is guilty of that! I think one could argue that portraying the "terrible place" like this, even if it is horror free, is an important function in the story. But I don't see it. And if Ed's sexual infidelity is the scary part of the story, then Desperate Housewives probably didn't belong in prime time. From a psychoanalytic prospective, I worry Ed hates his father and wants to eat his mother because he thinks she is his sister.

But forgive Ed his faults, and examine the "terrible place" in the Grimms' "The Robber Bridegroom." In this story, the castle is empty. In the basement, the setting of the "terrible place," we have one old woman (the staple of robber's dens), a large barrel, a pot of hot water, a table, some wine, a little salt, and at least one chopping instrument. Did I mention we are in a cellar? SCARY! Perfect horror props. We also get to witness a gruesome murder complete with flying body parts. The best part about this story is the level of gruesomeness is not the most important part. Sure, Sally needs the evidence of a finger and a eyewitness account for her story to hold up in court. But to me this tale seems to be more about how Sally saves the day for herself by getting out of a sticky situation. So while the actions that take place help move the plot along, the level of description (and horror) it looks like they are just elements to elaborate and entertain the audience. And it is obvious from a psychoanalytic perspective that Sally is afraid of water. I am proud of her for being able to overcome that.

Song of the blog: "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. Mostly for the gunshot noises.