Luigi is no longer second banana in the GameCube cult classic Luigi's Mansion (2001). In this episode, we talk about doubling, haunted portraits, haunted houses, ludic space, and so much more. Will video games be the next frontier of storytelling and critical research? Is Luigi, a plumber from Brooklyn, a working class hero? Let's talk about it on Ghosts Were People Too.

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Bibliography

“Ludic Space in Horror Fiction” by Onni Mustonen, in Mediating Vulnerability

“The Great Staging of Luigi's Mansion” by B-Mask“Haunted Houses” in Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore by Diane E. Goldstein

“What Makes Luigi’s Mansion So Special?” by DuoStuff/Game Over Analysis

Luigi’s Mansion (2001) – Game Footage

Gothic Tropes: Animate Portraits and Tapestries by The Gothic Library, https://www.thegothiclibrary.com/gothic-tropes-animate-portraits-and-tapestries/

Haggerty, George E. “Gothic Portraits.” The Eighteenth Century, vol. 57, no. 1, 2016, pp. 141–44. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/eighcent.57.1.141.

Kamilla Elliott. Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction: The Rise of Picture Identification, 1764–1835, Portraiture and British Gothic Fiction. JHU Press, 2012

Cartoons and ghosts go way back, from spooky magic lantern shows to Disney's first spooky-scary Silly Symphony. In this episode, we talk about the relationship between scary and funny, as well as the roles ghosts play in contemporary cartoons, particularly select episodes of Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time.

Episodes Discussed

• Spongebob Squarepants, “Scaredy Pants” (S1E13a)
• Spongebob Squarepants, “Graveyard Shift” (S2E16a)
• Spongebob Squarepants, “The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom” (S11E5)
• Adventure Time, “Heat Signature” (S2, E26)
• Adventure Time, “Ghost Fly” (S6E17)
• Adventure Time, “Blank-Eyed Girl” (S7E19)

Also Mentioned

• Spongebob Squarepants, "Shanghaied" (S2E13a)
• Spongebob Squarepants, "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost" (S1E11b)

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

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Bibliography

Dark Places by Barry Curtis

“Horror and Humor” by Noël Carroll. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol. 57, No. 2, Aesthetics and Popular Culture (Spring, 1999), pp. 145-160 (16 pages)

Tonight we lead by counter-example as we explore Noël Coward's 1941 play Blithe Spirit by way of its movie adaptations. They could have been better, and that's interesting!

Hour 1: After discussing David Lean's challenges in making the 1945 film adaptation, including limitations of Hays code-era filmmaking, Annabelle gives a scathing review of the newly "liberated" 2020 Edward Hall version. Hour 2: Quest offers his theatrical expertise to lead a conversation about Blithe Spirit's value as a live performance and how the play is uniquely suited to the stage. We also discuss gender roles, category crisis (presence and absence, skepticism/belief, monogamy/polygamy), class hauntings, and sexuality.

There will be spoilers, but we hope they won't discourage you from seeking out a script, performance, or (maybe) a cinematic version of this wonderful play about marriage, mediumship, and of course, ghosts.

Note: This episode is marked explicit for some mild cursing and a very brief discussion of sexual content.

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

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Bibliography

Noel Coward and Radclyffe Hall: Kindred Spirits by Terry Castle

‘Blithe Spirit’ Review: Flat, Dated Resurrection of Noël Coward Farce Proves Some Things Are Better Left Dead," Guy Lodge for Variety (2020)

In this episode, Annabelle talks about spirit photography and its connections to the history of photography as a technology and artistic medium. We also discuss the infamous Mumler trial and how it is a great example of 19th-century attitudes toward skepticism, faith, and death. Finally, we wrap up our discussion of Spiritualism (for now) with reflections on the scale of the Spiritualist movement (hint: it was huge) and why it still matters today. Also, if you listen to the end, Quest, by popular demand, tells you what was up with D.D. Hume and those Russian emeralds.

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

[email protected]

Bibliography

• The Apparitionists by Peter Manseau
• Calling the Spirits by Lisa Morton, Chapter 4: The Victorians and Spiritualism; or, The Seance is Born
• Looking Askance: Skepticism and American Art from Eakins to Duchamp by Michael Leja
• “The Medium on the Stage: Theatricality and Performance in the Spirit Séance” from Supernatural Entertainments by Simone Natale
• “Where Paranoid Meets the Paranormal: Speculations on Spirit Photography” by Louis Kaplan May 2014Art Journal 62(3):18-27

Links and Further Reading

• Conrad Young, Contemporary Tintype Photographer in Southern California: https://www.conradfilm.com/
• Last Photo of Abraham Lincoln: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/12/28/lincoln-death-photo/
• Vice on ghost photography: https://youtu.be/Xsx6xqi0vzU
• (Our Queen) Caitlin Doughty on spirit photography: https://youtu.be/BNuV6bRStXU
• More on Death and the American Civil War: This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

In part one of this two-part series on Spiritualism, the medium is the message. We talk about the history of the 19th-century Spiritualist movement and its significance in American culture. Quest explains how seances were performed and tells us about big names in the business such as the Fox sisters, the Davenport Brothers, and D.D. Home.

Tune in to part two for a continued discussion of Spiritualism and its connection with the development of the technology and art of photography.

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

[email protected]

Bibliography

“Chapter 4: The Victorians and Spiritualism; or, The Seance is Born” from Calling the Spirits by Lisa Morton

“The Medium on the Stage: Theatricality and Performance in the Spirit Séance” from Supernatural Entertainments by Simone Natale

Spectres of the Self by Shane McCorristine (Ch 5 and Epilogue)

Ghosts of Futures Past by Molly McGarry (Ch 1)

In this episode, Annabelle and Quest introduce themselves and explain the mission of this podcast. We ask the question "What is a ghost?" and discuss some foundational theories that will guide us in the ensuing episodes including a brief history of ghosts, types of ghosts, Monster Theory (by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen), gothic literature, and abjection. 

Make contact:

@ghostswerepeopletoo

[email protected]

Bibliography

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” published in Monster Theory: Reading Culture, ed. Cohen

“To Be Haunted” by Jessie Lynn McMains

Chapter 1: Introduction and Chapter 2: What Are (And Are Not) Ghosts? from Ghosts: A Haunted History by Lisa Morton

“Introduction: Conceptualizing Spectralities” from The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, ed. María del Pilar Blanco and Esther Peeren

“The Gothic-Theory Conversation: An Introduction” and “Abjection as Gothic and the Gothic as Abjection” from The Gothic and Theory, ed. Jerrold E. Hogle and Robert Miles

Goddu T. A. (1997). Gothic America: Narrative History and Nation. Columbia University Press.