![]() In the latter half of 20 th century and 21 st century Gothic, this black-and-white demarcation often begins to blur, portraying reality more as it is – complex, messy, with a multitude of perspective of goodness, and a lack of absolute truth, rather than the way people often wish it to be. The split between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ characters in some Gothic stories, especially the 19 th and 20 th century Gothic fiction, offers a psychological experience of imagining a world where what is clearly not good can be identified – often through vision, such as by regarding the deformity of the living human form in the undead zombie. The reality is often gray and complicated, and there are few things that people crave more than to try to simplify it – to figure out concrete answers to what is good, what is ethical, what is right, and what is wrong. In a way, the simplistic analogy of the monster, the deformed, the evil provides a black-and-white framework for the world, making it easy to identify who is friend and who is foe. The analogy of a monster is easily readable and relatable. ![]() The struggle against grotesque and powerful monsters is a simplistic representation of difficult struggles people encounter in life. Yet when the supernatural (e.g., spectre, werewolf, etc.) can use its power for violence, it is also terrifying, and mirrors experiences of fear and existential helplessness people feel when struggling with a foe that feels so much bigger and so much more powerful, whether that is a serious illness, past traumatic events, or sudden loss. Is that really just an antique comb? Or is it a key to a tomb of someone very important, filled with treasures and ancient mysteries? Is this window just another place in the house, or is it a spot where the filmy fabric between different worlds blends, allowing for the possibility of communing with spirits of those who have passed? The Gothic promises excitement in a world where anything can be more than it seems anything could be special or magical and the mysteries seem endless. The uncanny creates the potential of the imagination to imbue anything – ordinary experiences, places, and items – with a potential for magic and mystery. Existential psychology theories suggest that humans crave a sense of awe, a connection to something more powerful or greater than oneself – a sense of such a connection can be exciting and thrilling. One possibility is that the Gothic themes of the sublime provide a connection to the extraordinary, mysterious, and magical. Why do the sublime and the uncanny attract people’s gaze, even when mixed with horror or fear? We can’t speak for everyone, of course, but here we will share a few insights on this subject. However, the awe might also be free from terror, if one is glorifying some aspect of a Gothic personage without fearing them. The awe could be mixed with terror and horror, if one marvels, even envies, the powers of a supernatural creature, such as a vampire. Another common theme is exploration of the sublime – something extraordinary, on the edge between natural and supernatural almost, something that inspires awe. A house – a structure that is familiar and ordinary – may hold a terrible, violent haunting or be a home to a ghost, sad and haunted itself, but not necessarily threatening. However, common elements still exist that unite different forms of Gothic stories.įirst, a typical unifying theme in Gothic stories is the uncanny – the supernatural, mysterious (which also could be monstrous and frightening) nature of something that at first seems ordinary and commonplace. There is no one unifying Gothic narrative anymore, although themes and tropes overlap in different versions of this genre. Why does the Gothic genre continue to attract and fascinate us? Why do the worlds of the uncanny, the monstrous, the grotesque continue to draw people in – in film, literature, dance, and music? The Gothic genre has grown and expanded over the last century and a half and what are left with now is a multiplicity of Gothic outgrowths and permutations – queer Gothic, feminist and post-feminist Gothic, sci-fi Gothic, and so on.
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