Image Credit: Esme Rose Mathialahan

The shadows draw in closer, in the year’s approach to its last curtain call. Autumn, the start of the new academic year, has long been an important time for personal reflection. But autumn is a paradox – both a symbol of maturity, in its harvest and in the reaping it alludes to its incipient decline. 

Whilst students start exciting new challenges in September, Autumn as the ‘Fall’ depicts a contradictory sadness. This is because falling is a visual illustration of loss, as though the leaves decline in beauty or in value as they change. Losing leaves and the light of the sun is symbolic of death. The name of season’s ‘fall’ fixates on endings, hopeless and unrelenting finish lines. Rather than the stunning reality of life’s variation, vibrant colours shifting and mixing along the breeze. Autumn is misunderstood. The name, ‘Fall’, which is so often plastered across TikTok, is an inaccurate depiction of my favourite season. 

Autumn is popular for its cozy and comforting traditions – pumpkin spiced lattes and knitwear – but for me, autumn resembles something more profound. It stirs an unnameable, yet tangible feeling. For once this year, it isn’t the fever I like to call ‘the back to school anxiety,’ but instead a heady tincture of hope and nostalgia that spices my hot chocolate. Even though I’m starting the third year of university, and so the first day of lectures will become the ‘first of the lasts,’ I am excited for this autumn. Dappled sunlight, walking on a cold morning and bronzing leaves drifting. Soft jumpers, longer evenings, and with it all the drama, mystery and intrigue the dark of night invites. I covet autumn, because in images of harvest and nature aging, endings are celebrated and renewal is encouraged. In its darkened eves, Mother Nature’s wardrobe transforms and with it, we as individuals are inspired to change. Like a tonal shift in life’s melody, autumn drives a stronger ambition to make changes to my habits and hobbies than any New Year intentions. I will be celebrating my autumn with this resolution: to cultivate and maintain my own autumnal traditions. Such as the particularly special feeling on a cold night as you watch a dark tale twist and unfold. There is a strange comfort in a narrative’s paradoxical mischief and melancholy. Almost as if it was a perfect choice for celebrating the contradictions of autumn? 

The Witches of Eastwick (1987) 

Three small-town friends, Alexandra (Cher), Jane (Susan Sarandon) and Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer), unknowingly form a coven. Each woman has been abandoned by their respective husbands. They are courted by the mysterious out-of-town stranger Daryl Van Horn (Jack Nicholson) and must learn the power of their friendship and their authority as witches.  

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) 

Gary Oldman stars in a retelling of Dracula alongside Winona Ryder and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Although the story features your typical vampire slaying cast of characters like Van Helsing and Jonathon Harker; under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola, Dracula’s obsession with Mina Harker is not what you might expect. 

Seven (1995)

Dark, violent and deadly. This thriller is unmissable, if not for its hold upon popular culture then for its classic appeal in scare factor! Retiring Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) joins forces with newly transferred David Mills (Brad Pitt) to investigate a string of grisly murders.  

True Blood

HBO’s early 2000s vampire TV show True Blood, is a sultry and naughty binge watch. Globally, ‘Vampires are out of the coffin’ living amongst humans (at night of course). A synthetic blood substitute has been made called True Blood, allowing vampires a human-free diet. The story starts with Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) a psychic bartender in Louisiana, who falls in love with the vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and consequently has her life upended. 

Stranger Things

This Netflix series is my most anticipated release this year. Therefore a rerun of seasons 1-4 in preparation for Season 5 Part 1 on November 26th is essential. For anyone living under a rock or who need to organise their priorities: Stranger Things is about a group of young friends (Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will), led by a psychokinetic girl (Eleven) investigate strange happenings, such as the supernatural and government conspiracies in their town Hawkins, Indiana. With a 1980s aesthetic, this show doesn’t disappoint. Reminiscent of old school classics like the Goonies, E.T, and Stand by Me. 

Storytelling’s role as satisfying entertainment and nourishment of the imagination,  is enhanced by the atmosphere it was consumed in. Therefore, narratives that simultaneously investigate themes of death, magic, decay and hope sustain an audience’s fascination especially when situated in the heart of the paradoxical season that is Autumn. 

Grief is expected in summer’s fading glory because we are chased by Time. He sprints, nipping quickly on our heels, as we race from season to season. But autumn’s contradiction as both a time of change and a preparation for endings, is a forced pause in the fast pace of life. A turning point in a student’s growth and a power that sustains the cycle of renewal. Constantly pushing forwards, Nature, as much as a good story, commands us to refuse to ‘fall’, to lose sight of beauty and curiosity.