Gothic Genre

Introduction

The gothic style originated in Europe during the 12th to the 18th century. It applied to medieval styles of art and architecture, particularly buildings such as cathedrals and other churches. The gothic genre is a type of movie, and novel that includes lots of darkness, haunting, evil spirits, death, and other scary factors. Two movies that fall into this genre are “The Grudge,” and “The Exorcist.” Every movie had their strengths and weaknesses pertaining to elements of the gothic genre in each. Although the movies are based on the same genre, they have remarkably different styles of depicting the gothic genre.

Discussion

The gothic genre is abundant with stereotypical characters, including the human, the supernatural and the monstrous. The human characters are usually a heroic male and a 'damsel in distress' a maiden in frequent need of rescuing by the male protagonist. Fatal character flaws are emphasized and can lead to the hero's downfall. The characters are often isolated and trapped, either physically or psychologically. There can also be a villain, who persecutes the lead characters and can intimidate the weak female through his power. Supernatural characters are prominent in gothic literature, can include ghosts, vampires, and magicians. Monsters such as werewolves and Frankenstein also feature in these novels. The choice of characters is essential to gothic texts as they develop the mystery, and create fear through the use of dangerous, inhuman creatures. These novels explore the ugly and repulsive to increase the reader's sense of dread and to make use of the fear of the abnormal. Gothic fiction also utilizes the concept of the 'doppelganger', or evil twin to represent the evils of society, such as in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Along with the archetypal characters and sinister settings of the genre, it is further characterized by distinctively gothic situations and themes (Cantor, 283).Gothic literature is a genre that shows the attitudes of the time, with the popularity of romanticism and Walpole's novel.

The forms and ideas contained within the gothic convention are specifically suited to the society of its time, who discovered the pleasure of the thrill of horror, and found this genre to be new and exciting. The gothic revival of architecture was popular at the time, and it made sense for literature follow suit. Along with this, it has been stated that the gothic movement was a direct reaction to the terror of the French revolution. (Cantor, 283)

“The gothic vision, characterized by an awareness of the pain and suffering of characters, and the narrative action on the genre is dominated by the discovery that any attempt to escape this human condition is doomed to failure”. The gothic vision creates an atmosphere of terror through both the character of the women, her attempt to escape the pain and suffering that she knows awaits her, and the careful choice of language used once more by Boynton. “Oh God, oh God, oh God, she cried. Out she darted at once”. The woman is quick to realize that her attempt ...