I did not intend to watch Netflix’s Fall of the House of Usher but, once upon a midday dreary, as I pondered weak and weary, there came a rapping at my door.
Let me begin by saying, I am truly astonished by anyone who can read Poe without an open Google window or a set of encyclopedias nearby. In the volume I’ve possessed since wretched youth, now sadly long gone, many stories commence with quotes in French, Latin, German etc., from such well-known sources as Buckhurst’s Tragedy of Ferrex & Portex. If you’re like me, you have to decipher the opening quotes before reading a story. And then you have to figure out why the author picked that particular quote which means more investigation of the source. In Poe’s case, I’ve found some interesting rabbit’s holes to get lost in.
Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher is actually a series of flashbacks. I won’t go into details about each episode, but they are interesting rifts on Gold Bug, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Tell Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death and the Pit and the Pendulum with many references to Poe’s poems thrown in for fun. The fact that they are set in modern times with cell phones, Tiktok, podcasts, designer drugs, (and even Fox News!) makes the Usher family’s depravity contemporary and therefore much more perverse*. In Poe’s day, decadent families rotted behind the walls of crumbling mansions. Now they can go on social media, have millions of followers, corrupt more innocent young lives, and ultimately become the kiss of death for decency and honor!
In my opinion, the series is too preachy. Verna, a character who is either an avenging angel or soul-seeking devil … it’s hard to say which, gives each of the Usher children the chance to change the likely trajectory of their lives. But do they care about the environment, the cruelty of animal testing, medical ethics, the plight of animals in shelters etc, etc? No and so guess what happens to them?
And then there’s that ending …
* Perverse is an adjective Poe used extensively. If you were perverse, you were willfully going against what you knew was healthy for you and for others. Perversion led to suffering and death.
* Interesting fact: Harry Clarke (1889-1931), the illustrator of the above images, also created stained glass windows for churches. He was apparently a deeply religious man who really believed in heaven …. and hell.
Anyway, the next midday dreary that comes along I think I’ll clean out the closet or bake chocolate chip cookies. No more Netflix series’ to remind me just how perverse it’s becoming out.
Saying nothing in particular 
Maybe Poe peered into The Oblivion, and it peered back.
“Hello Darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.”
I’m sure he did. Good way of putting it.
I agree. There’s enough bad news and perversity intruding on our lives without looking for more. I vote for cleaning the closet and then baking those chocolate chip cookies. 😉
No one can underestimate the healing power of a really good choc chip cookie on a gloomy day!
So true.
Bake it’s safer that cleaning…
You never know what lurks in the back of dark recesses do you? The cooky monster though diliterious to your waistline is much more fun 💜💜🎃🎃🎃
So true! 🍪🧑🍳
💜😕😕😕💜💜💜💜
I preferred Vincent Price’s version. At least he had a nice suit
I met Vincent Price once – he was such a sweetie! Definitely one of my favorite people!
Get you!!:such a groupie
I don’t have Netflix but I’ll take your word for it. A little Poe goes a long way.
😉
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s worth the $$
My mother adored Poe stories, but I am not so charmed by them. They all seem perverse, maybe truthfully so, but creepy.
He’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea but he did inspire many other writers, which I find interesting.
No more Netflix for me. I knew it was the right decision.
Yeah, that’s wise. Poe could be didactic but not quite so blatantly. He probably would have been horrified by all the nudity and foul language. I caught a bit of Vincent Price’s portrayal of Roderick Usher – he played him as a neurotic, and prissy hypochondria mortified by bad manners and lack of decorum.
Oh my
Big smile on my face, Jan, your dry humor got me again.
Thank you!
Fab post Jan, thank you!
I don’t get Netflix, so looks like I’ll miss out.
Awwww…. 🙄🤭
My H’we’en movie tonight is “Tremors”.
EeeeeeeeeeeK! 🧡🎃🖤
Thanks Resa! Enjoy your H’we’we movie!
Will do!
I haven’t seen this series. You have me interested. I tried to figure out that French quote using my very juvenile knowledge of French, but I wasn’t successful in getting it to makes sense. I was kind of close. Who doesn’t have a moment to live, or less than nothing to… ( didn’t know the last word.) Rabbit hole! 🙂 Thanks for leaving a comment on Hugh’s post.
Hi Marsha! As Netflix series go, House is definitely not the worse one I’ve seen. That quote is from something written in 1676 and so the exact meaning has probably been lost. My hat’s off to people who like to decipher Poe … it’s too much of a task for me! Too many rabbit holes!
So you would not recommend Netflix’ take on Poe? He’s been so… ill produced in most movies or TV films I am often very cautious…
Happy Hallowe’en
I believe that Poe was an extremely complicated and delicate person who would have been shocked by how his work has been translated but that’s something no writer can control.
Delicate? I’d never have thought but you’re right. A very keen sensitivity. And no writer should ever be confronted with film rendition of their work. 🙄
Even classical theatre, particularly French, though the text is preserved, the direction, costumes and production are often a disaster. It would seem that directors’ egos don’t allow them to stick to the original…