Trauma In Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House

The cultural issue of trauma is a central theme in both Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House, and Mike Flanagan's 2018 Netflix adaptation. The theme of trauma is represented in both versions through the exploration of the psychological impact of past traumas on the characters' lives. In both the novel and the adaptation, the characters are haunted by the past, unable to escape the trauma they have experienced. The theme of trauma is presented in a different way in each version, but the message remains the same: past traumas can have a lasting impact on individuals and their families.

Jackson uses specific literary techniques to demonstrate the theme of trauma in the novel. One technique she uses is foreshadowing. From

Metatextuality is a film’s self-reflexive commentary on its own construction, drawing attention to the medium itself. This allows a sense of awareness in the viewer, inviting them to question their own assumptions as well as expectations. Film fragmentation is basically breaking down different elements of a character or scene and reassembling them in a new way, which we see quite often in Hill House. The automatic difference is the difference is medium. An adaptation of a novel is “automatically different” from the book because on is on paper and one is on screen, the automatic difference can create a sense of disorientation or rupture the viewer’s perception. Together, these techniques can be used to recontextualize a text by forcing the audience to form new perspectives and

Flanagan puts his own twist on the original story in many ways, one being the constant flashbacks and the switching from past to present in the Netflix adaptation. Robert Stam refers to this as film fragmentation, he states, “... the cinematic character is a uncanny amalgam of photogenie, body movement, acting style… all amplified and molded by lighting and music.” (Stam p.60). Stam is highlighting the difference between the construction of characters in novels versus in film. The term fragmentation in film refers to the way these different elements are combined to create a character; the characters appearance and mannerisms contribute to the character-building aspect of fragmentation, but the timeline contributes to the fragmentation of the plot. The fragmentation shown in the Netflix adaptation of Hill House shows the trauma the Crain children experienced and its effects on their adult lives. By breaking down the traditional narrative structure of the story, Flanagan creates a sense of disorientation and confusion that mirrors the psychological trauma experienced by the Crains by the use of frequent flashbacks revealing different layers of trauma that all the family members have experienced. He emphasizes the generational impact of familial trauma, highlighting how past traumas can be passed down from generation to generation. He also expands