Gothic horror is the revival of past superstitions dating back to the medieval times. Victorians were obsessed with the dead and monsters.
The castle of otranto marks the start of the gothic revival
Labyrinths - were a theme recurring in books at the start of the gothic horror revival often the settings of books were in places that people could get lost in and not find their way out, like a maze such as castles and monasteries. And were often Scenarios of imprisonment and claustrophobia.
There was a new approach to nature and the admiration of the power of nature - the sublime - which was considered Best enjoyed at a distance. I.e through a painting.Art can have danger without risk.
Hidden desires
The themes of gothic horror books gradually changed from castles and monasteries to being the people that are the form of terror.
The victorians had an obsession with terror which was fed by the events of the french revoloution and the horror that was occurring during that period in time.
The monk - mathew lewis
The industrial revoloution - Victorian cities were becoming urbanised and Science was becoming a new fear and terror creating new scenarios of horror such as frankenstein. Science was destroying the human capacity for wonder - everything was being explained. The Mind as the greatest terror was now becoming a prevalent theme in gothic horror books.
The city became the subject of fear - poverty crime and violence raged in the streets of London and the unknown was the people that lived there. For example the people who would have moved to London would have been from small towns where everyone knew everyone. The move to a big city with hundreds of thousands of people would have been intimidating and within that many people there is bound to be a rise in crime and poverty where the upper classes would take all the money and the lower classes would have had very little.
Post mortem photography - also known as 'Momento Mori' The Victorians were obsessed with the dead. This resulted in photographs being taken after the death of a loved one. They were also very superstitious. The family would mourn the death of a loved one by placing black material over mirrors to stop the spirit being trapped after death behind the glass and would often sit with a body for up to a week before the burial. The body was not allowed to leave the sight of the family.
Spirit photography was also a common ritual the Victorians used to commemorate the dead using double exposure when developing photographs in order to make the photo seem like the spirit of the family member was watching over them and ever present. These spirit photographs emerged as a form of comfort and evidence in the afterlife.
(Watch programme write short review)
No comments:
Post a Comment