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Students move through a comparative analysis of monsters in Coraline and Frankenstein, examining social fears about gender norms.
Miss Forcible [straining to see]: Oh look, April. Pink ladies!
Coraline: Actually, its just lemonade.
-FROM CORALINE
COURSE INTRODUCTION
In January 2016, I began teaching English language arts at an all-girls school and was eagerly anticipating the start of the senior-level course I had created on Gothic literature and film. After completing a graduate program on Gothic literature only a few months earlier, I was excited to introduce students to some of my all-time favorite monsters, such as the infamous Creature of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley and the Other Mother of Neil Gaiman's pop culture phenomenon, Coraline.
I decorated my classroom with posters: on one wall, a Lisa Frank(ensteined), Boris Karloff-inspired portrait of the Creature; on the opposite, an image of the Other Mother's sinewy hands attempting to affix buttons to Coraline's eyes. And as I sat down to admire my handiwork, the images reminded me of my intent for the course: to study evolving depictions of monstrousness in popular culture by using Frankensteins impending bicentennial to consider the impact of a canonical novel on more recent literary monsters.
Soon, though, my mind drifted to another important anniversary: the recent centennial of our school and concurrent celebrations of its longstanding traditions. At the time, a local paper had called attention to the school's 101-year-old practice of requiring graduates to wear white dresses and flower hats to their commencement. They indicated that several members of the class of 2015 had protested the dress code since it made some feel uncomfortable, especially those who did not identify as female. Yet according to the article, protesters were informed that the school would not consider changing the regalia, and all students were required to wear a white dress to graduate ("Students' Protest").
I wondered how my incoming seniors from the class of 2016 would feel about these views regarding "appropriate" feminine presentation and how we might respond by integrating discussions about gender binaries, norming, and performance into our English language arts classroom. In short, the answer was right there on the wall: the monsters! I already knew from my studies of Gothic literature the rich possibilities...