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Resource type: Web Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed BibTeX citation key: Paccosi2017 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: "Hellboy", Adaptation, Bachtin. Michail M., Canon, Film adaptation, Horror, Intertextuality, Literature, Lovecraft. Howard Phillips, Mignola. Mike, USA Creators: Paccosi Collection: Fantastika Journal |
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Abstract |
This article analyses the comic book series Hellboy, created in 1993 by American artist and writer Mike Mignola, and the films Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (2008), by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, in order to shed some light on the nature of the Lovecraftian in the graphic novel and film medium. Using the theories elaborated by Mikhail Bakhtin in his book Rabelais and His World (1965), I will demonstrate how the niche nature of the Lovecraftian can be mixed with other genres and modes in order to make it more appealing to a mainstream audience, without destroying its core element, but turning them into a new reading of the Lovecraftian. In my analysis I will consider the Lovecraftian not as a genre, but as a mode that has some specific characteristics which give to each genre a ‘flavour.’ This approach will allow me to demonstrate how Hellboy’s comics and films, despite being very different from what is considered the ‘Lovecraft canon,’ are still texts which belong to the Lovecraftian and use its elements in order to renovate it. Moreover, these case studies will help setting the foundations for future studies on canon revisions and the necessity of having one at all.
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