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The Legend I Am

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The Legend I Am
The Legend I Am Dystopian genres characterize upon the concept of a dehumanized and frightening world. Quintessential ideals that associate with this genre demonstrate themes such as fear, totalitarianism, loss of history, and the individual (Explore-Science-Fiction-Movies). It is the general aspect of what molds and shapes someone, or something to continue throughout their course of action. These characteristics capitalize upon another genre, horror fiction, in which Richard Matheson employs both these genres to build upon curiosity, suspense, and emotional distress in this dystopian world (Carroll 54-55), Matheson utilizes an angle of horror in I Am Legend to build upon the “last” survivor of the world. Matheson capitalizes upon the belief of survival of the fittest in order to depict the cause and effect of every action. Matheson constitutes a parallel between normal human life that we are accustomed to, and the dystopian latter to show how easily they can flip on one another. I Am Legend seeks to emphasize the possibility that society itself can easily become a dystopia through its gritty, raw portrayal drawn from the horror genre. Distributing fear about isolation and a spur lifestyle within the text. Matheson’s use of illusionary reference to our own world, toys with one’s mind and vicariously shows what may await human future. By stripping the companionship of all other living things from the protagonist of I Am Legend, the significance of human relations and contact is realized. The so-called hero, Robert Neville is represented as a victim and ironically also as a hunter. Forced into a slippery slope of emotions, Neville’s complex personality is exemplified in intimate and heart gripping scenes. Such an instance would be when he journeyed to a crypt in another city to mourn for his wife, Virginia. With his sense of time crippled, Neville is often found reminiscing on what was lost and toils in regret. There are moments that are prolonged and drawn out


Cited: Matheson, Richard. IAM LEGEND. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., 1954.17-24. eBook. . TV Tropes Foundation. Literature: I Am Legend N.p., N.d., Web. 20, February 2013. . Carroll, Noël. The Nature of Horror. 1st ed. Vol. 46. N.p.: Blackwell, 2010. Blackwell Publishing on Behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics, 5 Dec. 2010. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. Explore-Science-Fiction-Movies.com. "What Is a Dystopian Society?" Explore Science Fiction Movies. N.p., Summer 2008. Web. 5 Feb. 2013. Spurling, Richard. "How to Make Horror Story" Fiction Factor. Fiction Factor. Web. 6 Feb. 2013. Wigins, Bobby. "Dystopia Research and Work" Dystopia Research and Work. Student OU, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2013. Biodrowski, Steve. "Cinefantastique Online." Cinefantastique Online I Am Legend 1954 A Retrospective Review of the Novel Comments. Cinefantastique Online, 3 Apr. 2008. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. "A Dark Night 's Dreaming" Google Books. Ed. Tony Magistrale and Michael A. Morrison. University of South Carolina Press, 1 Jan. 1996. Web. 2 Feb. 2013.
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