I found this documentary presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon very interesting and eye opening to a lot of aspects of the Gothic horror era that I had not really thought about before. Dixon explains how influential and inspiring this era has been on new-age art, architecture and films such as 'The Exorcist'. The storyline consists of a malevolent spirit, which possesses a young girl. This would have been a fear even before the gothic horror period as religion reigned, and science was yet to be discovered. I was also interested to hear about how the stories influenced the artist Francis Bacon "snarling mouths, bodies in basements, blood everywhere." was the description Dixon gave in relation to his artworks. Showing the influence the gothic had on his creative processes. The documentary series, although toughing on it, did not focus on the literature produced in the gothic era, but more on the entirety of the period in time itself, looking at the culture, art, fashion and buildings produced around this time as well as historical movements such as the industrial revolution. Which gave me a much broader knowledge of the period and genre. This series has been very useful for my own research, as I have taken in new information about the discovery of sciences and how this impacted the stories told in the gothic horror period and the idea of science getting out of control. In the documentaries Dixon also spoke of the portrayal of the monsters from the gothic era becoming reflections of the state of the 20th century, for example, that vampires represent the capitalism and consumerism of the population through the lust for blood and ability to overpower. This series will defiantly aid in the creation of my final character production as well as future projects that could be based in this era.
Documentaries:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mj17l/episodes/guide
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