![]() ![]() ![]() The writings covered to by the umbrella term “Gothic” are so varied in style, thematic interests, and narrative effects that an overarching definition becomes problematic and even undesirable. Either the monster deserves his fate, or our long-held belief in redemptive suffering must be called into question. The possibility that this might not be true is may be the most horrifying thing that we as human beings could be made to face. We believe, innately, that all suffering results in redemption, that all stories have a happy ending. The fact that we, as consumers of monster stories, do not recognize monsters as victims and cannot pity them is due to our cultural belief in redemptive suffering. The persistent presence of violent trauma at the birth of the monster, as well as a violent death at his end, implies that these monsters were purposely created as a way to manage society, as examples of how not to act in the face of overwhelming personal catastrophe. It would appear that monsters, most specifically the undead monsters such as vampires, zombies, and Frankenstein, are merely hyperbolic representations of human post-trauma symptoms. This paper analyses the monster as victim by comparing the symptoms of monstrosity to the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. When surveying the vast pantheon of monstrous incarnations, from Frankenstein’s creation to Godzilla, it is nearly impossible to find a creature in the definitive works of fictional monstrosity that doesn’t, in some way, owe its creation to a violently traumatic event. I conclude that the synergy of the literary gothic, stage melodrama, and Expressionism that characterises Gothic film now finds its purest form in the films of Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro. The paper also considers period revivals such as Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh (1994), as well as more contemporary Gothic film, in particular the current trend for franchised vampires. ![]() Murnau’s Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), and James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935). The full entry includes close readings of Robert Weine’s influential and often imitated Das Cabinet des Dr. Ainsworth Thomas De Quincey John Polidori Regency Tales of Terror Monster Movies Richard Matheson.) This is an historical overview of the form from early European and American silent adaptations of Gothic novels and Victorian theatre to the hyper-real twenty-first century Hollywood product, via Expressionism, Universal Studios, Hammer Films, Mario Bava, and Roger Corman’s ‘Poe Cycle’ for American International. (Other entries: David Cronenberg Hammer Films W.H. Smith eds, Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Gothic 2 vols. ![]()
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