The New Southern Gothic: Gothic Tropes in Resident Evil 7

By Taylor Ward

The Resident Evil franchise has gained lots of notoriety in the past two decades, as a horror game franchise (and films, tv shows, novels, and comics) that deals with mutation and human testing experiments gone wrong, resulting in zombie and monster-like enemies to face. While the storylines of the games are hard to explain or understand to those with no prior knowledge of them, having played many of the games or watched other people’s playthroughs of them, the games seem to draw you in more and more as you play them. The last two in particular have always reminded me of Gothic aesthetics and tropes, with the seventh game submersing me in the swampy gothic horrors of the south and the eighth game absolutely immersive me in the European gothic tropes of werewolves, castles, and vampires. They were especially immersive as the player sees everything through Ethan’s eyes, in the last two games, making it feel as if it is actually you being forced to face everything alone.

Though the first 6 games have a relatively similar and connected storyline, Resident Evil 7 introduces new protagonists and characters in a very different space. Most of the other games, not counting RE 7 and Resident Evil 8 Village, have taken place in bigger cities and in laboratories/Umbrella Corporation bases. However, in Resident Evil 7 the player is instead thrown into a horrific maze of a house in the swamps of Louisiana.

From the start of the game, it can be fairly easy to tell that they are really playing up the aesthetics and tropes of the southern gothic. From an isolated house framed by the eerie Spanish moss-covered swamp that surrounds it to the uncivilized (cannibalistic) “hicks” that they use as enemies against a “city boy,” it is easy to see the ways that they played up gothic and horror tropes of southern-based media. The real gothic framing comes out once the main character Ethan finds himself trapped in a run-down swamp shack, as he seeks out his missing wife, and must fight to find a way out against the pursuit of the crazy, mold-infected Baker family.

Similar to Shirley Jackson’s, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the house in Resident Evil 7 becomes a sort of personified character itself. Just like in Jackson’s novel, the house becomes a sort of prison for Ethan, even though it also occasionally helps to protect him from the family’s attacks, just as the house did for Merricat and her sister. Parallel to this, is the fact that the Baker Family views the house as a protective barrier from the outside world and the corrupt people that live there, considering they ironically believe that they are pure and “perfected” unlike the people outside of their household and family. This ends up playing on the tropes of “us versus them”, just like the mob’s mentality in the novel, which is the main conflict within the video game.

The Baker family uses the setting of the house to their advantage, considering it is their own house, as they chase Ethan throughout his chances to escape his “simple” prison, toying with him in the process. They push him through the areas they wish, even allowing him to “kill” them (they cannot die and essentially regrow), all to add in their sadistic toying with him. However, the house also seems to be one of the main reasons that Ethan is able to survive and get away from the family’s attacks on him. The house offers him ample places to hide away from the family’s advances, as well as supplies him with all of the tools and weapons he needs to fight against the family and escape the nightmare he has unfortunately found himself within.

There is even a specific line in the game at one point where Ethan, after finishing a “puzzle” and opening a secret door that revealed a hidden hall for his escape, quite literally says “Who builds this shit?” This is most likely what the player is thinking as this maze of a house was shown in the beginning to be a simple swamp shack. Not only do the actual lives, or deaths, of the Baker family make the player think, but also the fact that the house comes across as a mystical sort of unexplainable entity in itself.

The fact that it is not only the horrors of the mold-infected, crazy cannibals of people in the house that both the player/Ethan are faced with, but also the psychological gothic horrors of the house playing tricks on you and giving you puzzles to complete, makes this game in particular especially gothic in my eyes. The tropes of Southern Gothic aesthetics and ideas have and continue to show unsettling settings and messages in all forms of media, literature or not.

This entry was posted in Multimedia Gothic. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to The New Southern Gothic: Gothic Tropes in Resident Evil 7

  1. Elli Batchelor says:

    Hi!
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post, especially as someone who has never ventured into the Resident Evil franchise! I’ve never played any horror games at all but I just might be persuaded to check it out! You have a lot of great things going on in your post and clearly chose something you’re interested in. Your enthusiasm and extensive knowledge translate really well in your analysis, so that as a reader I feel equally knowledgeable and interested. I especially like that you connected the swamp atmosphere and other elements of the setting to the Southern Gothic specifically. It adds another layer since it’s so easy to just point out the generally eerie characteristics of a horror game and draw comparisons to the gothic. It moves beyond death and supernatural elements. I also appreciate how the game, and your description of it, hug the line that separates horror from gothic. It provides a nice segue into the We Have Always Lived In the Castle comparison, which I also used in my blog post! We both happened to focus on the function of houses in the Gothic. Lots of your points about Jackson’s house I made as well but your connection to the Baker’s house is so strong. The idea of the house as a mysterious, sentient entity is evident in both texts; they have many shared functions. Your description of the house both working for and against the Bakers is so interesting that I want to see examples for myself, even as someone who can’t usually stomach horror media. Honestly, your blog post might inspire me to watch a playthrough so I can share in your obvious enthusiasm!

  2. Dorian says:

    Taylor,
    I love love love love RE7, so, of course, I had to check out your wonderful post. I love the point you made about the franchise drawing you in more as you play, which is completely true. I feel like the lore is so absolutely bonkers you can’t help but continue to wade through it all. (I don’t think I need to mention Albert Wesker’s character as a whole.) But RE7 absolutely changed the franchise with its storytelling and commitment to the Gothic genre. I think they tried to play with the concept in RE4, but it came off more as a caricature of Eastern Europe than a genuine investigation of witchcraft. Again. I don’t need to mention Leon’s dialogue… Anyway, the point you make about RE7 rescuing the franchise is so correct, and I think it has to do with the complete indulgence of American Gothic.
    Also! Thank you for picking up on the rural versus urban theme. That’s such an important theme in rural horror. I studied I Spit on Your Grave rather in depth this semester, and it focuses on the brutality of the country versus the clueless sophistication of the city. However, the urban characters are corrupted by the rural environment, often turning out to be as vicious as their attackers. I think it implies a deeper, primal, brutality underlying everyone that urban areas often blame solely on rural citizens.
    The house helping the Baker family is also a great point, and what makes the beginning of the game the scariest. I’d argue Jack is the scariest enemy you have to fight. Of course, the franchise has a tradition of including Mr. X-type figures, but they seldom replicate the terror of the original character. Jack, however, has his own unique horror to him through the fear of being hunted down. He’s slow, but he’s confident. The way he walks through the house implies he doesn’t need to run to catch the player, he already knows where they will go. It puts you on edge the entire time you’re in the Baker house. I remember I accidentally ran into Jack when going into a second-floor room, screamed, paused the game, and didn’t touch it for days.
    Anyway, I’m really glad you picked this topic. You articulated your points wonderfully and picked great details that lend themselves to the most horrific parts of the game. Also, your screenshots are hauntingly perfect. Amazing work!
    X,
    D

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *