The Theory:
New Historicism is a school of literary theory, grounded in critical theory, that developed in the 1980s, primarily through the work of the critic Stephen Greenblatt, and gained widespread influence in the 1990s.
New Historicists aim simultaneously to understand the work through its historical context and to understand cultural and intellectual history through literature, which documents the new discipline of the history of ideas. Michel Foucault based his approach both on his theory of the limits of collective cultural knowledge and on his technique of examining a broad array of documents in order to understand the episteme of a particular time. New Historicism is claimed to be a more neutral approach to historical events, and to be sensitive towards different cultures.
H. Aram Veeser, introducing an anthology of essays, The New Historicism (1989), noted some key assumptions that continually reappear in New Historicist discourse; they were:
• that every expressive act is embedded in a network of material practices;
• that every act of unmasking, critique and opposition uses the tools it condemns and risks falling prey to the practice it exposes;
• that literary and non-literary "texts" circulate inseparably;
• that no discourse, imaginative or archival, gives access to unchanging truths, nor expresses inalterable human nature;
• that a critical method and a language adequate to describe culture under capitalism participate in the economy they describe.
(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Historicism)
The Story:
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Ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and his psychic assistant Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) lead a team on a mission to capture a spirit called the Juggernaut. Several men are killed, including Cyrus. However, the team is able to catch the ghost. Cyrus's nephew, Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), a widower, is informed by Cyrus's estate lawyer, Ben Moss (JR Bourne), that he has inherited a mansion. Financially insecure, Arthur decides to move there with his two children, Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts) and their nanny Maggie (Rah Digga).
Dennis meets the family as they tour the mansion. The residence is made entirely of glass with Latin phrases etched on it. Dennis warns Arthur that there are 12 violent ghosts imprisoned in the house, held captive by the Latin phrases, which are actually magic spells. Moss accidentally activates a mechanism that seals the home and begins to release the ghosts; he is killed shortly after. Bobby disappears and encounters several ghosts, including the Withered Lover, who is revealed to be the ghost of his dead mother, Jean. Dennis manages to use a pair of spectral glasses - which allow the wearer to see into the supernatural realm - to convince Maggie of the ghosts. Shortly after, Dennis discovers that the Jackal has been released, meaning they are in grave danger.
Kathy puts on a pair of the spectral glasses that she saw and took in the bathroom and sees the Jackal, who viciously attacks her. She and Arthur are saved by Kalina Oretzia (Embeth Davidtz), a spirit liberator, who is attempting to free the ghosts. Kathy suddenly disappears; Kalina explains that the home is actually a machine built by Cyrus, powered by the spirits of 12 ghosts and opens the "Ocularis Infernum" (Eye of Hell) that allows its user to see everything in the past, present and future, thus making the user the most powerful being on earth. Arthur's children are in grave danger, and the only way to ensure their safety is for Arthur to sacrifice himself as the 13th ghost - a ghost created out of pure love, which would destroy the machine.
Arthur and Dennis attempt to find the kids. When the Juggernaut is released and comes after the two men along with the Hammer, Dennis sacrifices himself and traps Arthur behind a wall. Arthur watches helplessly as the Juggernaut brutally kills Dennis. Cyrus is revealed to be alive, having faked his death to lure Arthur to the house; Kalina is his secret partner. Cyrus has orchestrated the abduction of Kathy and Bobby so that Arthur will become the 13th ghost, which will not stop the machine, as Kalina had claimed, but trigger its activation. Cyrus kills Kalina and summons the ghosts to activate the machine.
Arthur arrives at the main hall and witnesses all 12 ghosts around a rotating crest of metal rings, his children at the center. Arthur and Cyrus have a violent confrontation while Maggie disrupts the machine's controls, freeing the ghosts of their trance. The ghosts hurl Cyrus into the rings, slicing him to pieces. The walls of the house shatter, freeing the ghosts. The ghost of Arthur's wife, Jean, appears before the family completely healed without any burn marks, without the monitor, or with hospital clothes, but just with regular clothes and tells them that she loves them. Dennis's ghost smiles at Arthur, who has saved his children at last.
(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Ghosts)
The Criticism:
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| courtesy of: http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111223175525/13ghosts/images/0/0b/Mansionbasement.jpg |
The movie is about a family lured into a house bequeathed to the father. What they do not is that they have been tricked into entering a machine containing 12 violent ghosts, and one of them will be the thirteenth, opening the Eye of Hell.
The mythos behind the tormented souls in “Thir13en Ghosts” covers a time span as far back as 1675, effectively justifying the actuations and distinct personalities of each of the contained ghosts through richly-detailed back stories. Almost all of the captive ghosts are locked up against their will, and are merely being used as instruments for the fulfillment of Cyrus’s diabolical plan to open the Ocularis Infernum, making him the most powerful person on Earth if it succeeds. The ghosts seem to be as innocent as Arthur and his family, drawn into the house under the pretenses of them inheriting the magnificent fiberglass structure. Each back story of each ghost and how they came to be that way can be fully extended into literary works that both explain their origins while completely keeping connections with events that led them to being imprisoned within the confines of the Eye of Hell.
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