I have a crush on ghosts... and this one is no
exception.
Poor fellow. He gave his best to scare the American minister
modern family, but when he got acquainted with the evil twins, the
pragmatic Washington, their materialistic parents and, more importantly, the impertinent, independent young Virginia, he had no
chance but to fall asleep once and for all. He was sympathetic in is
old fashion, poorly sophisticated in a charming way (I was just
thinking about the hours he would spend in front of the cupboard,
perfecting his outfits and building more or less terrifying
“characters”… all that effort in vain), though this wasn’t enough to
touch the discourteous Otis, who actually found it cool to have a
(preferably quiet) spirit meandering around in their
new place.Thus, the Canterville
ghost is
a character rich in sub-characters, all of them united in a
meta-personage with symbolic meaning. Old England is for sale, the New
World has come to invade the colonialist, respecting no blood colors.
Also the former romantic types of horror (based on fears inspired by
religion and antichrist-like figures) are threatened, so as the once
very talented "actor" represented by the phantom becomes outrageously
ridiculous in his performances. Poor old spectrum.
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