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Compare And Contrast American Horror Story Hotel And The Shining

1092 Words5 Pages

In this essay I am going to discuss and compare, using my knowledge of the Gothic in Contemporary Culture, the gothic culture and uncanny which is present throughout American Horror Story Hotel (season 5) and The Shining. Both of these stories have similar aspects in common although the main concept behind both is completely different, both stories are set in hotels in the United States. American Horror Story is set in Hotel Cortez and The Shining is set in the Overlook Hotel, both hotels contain a very dark history which is an essential part of the stories plot, each hotel’s history seems to immerge from its past to the present throughout the story. I am going to focus mainly on how each hotel is used as a “haunted house” figure which is a key ingredient in creating a creepy feeling in most gothic stories.
Hotel Cortez contains a very busy atmosphere throughout the series, the storyline is presented through an uncanny approach. This approach in this series gives us the viewers a sense of fear through many scenes of horror and terror, the uncanny is the fundamental element of most supernatural and ghost stories. AHS Hotel uses many different characteristics to make the uncanny and sense of fear present. Costume, setting, music, makeup, camera angles/movement, lighting etc. are just some …show more content…

In comparison to AHS Hotel, the hotel used in Stephen King’s horror novel “The Shining” has many similar elements to Hotel Cortez which are all included in its elements of the haunted house figure in this novel/film. The Overlook hotel is the main location setting throughout this novel/film which too also has a dark past which emerges as the story progresses. Having a history with numerous deaths and curious occurrences, the Overlook Hotel assumes a part of a haunted house in the Gothic novel/film The Shining. Its various rooms, entryways and entries all set the atmosphere for this novel/film. Figure : The Overlook in Stanley Kubrick 's The

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