There exists no accepted definition of what the “gothic” is. However, as we use this term as an adjective to describe architecture, literature and even cinema, we all have at least an idea of what it means. In the first place, when we think about gothic, we have in mind:
- Death
- Darkness
- Monsters
- Excess
- Etc.
At first, writing some terrifying stories was kind of a strange idea. Nonetheless, people ended up liking this kind of story telling; people enjoyed being scared and they still do as nowadays, this kind of practice has become an entertainment on an even larger scale than it already was. That is, there now exists an endless library of horror, suspense and fantastic movies, each containing some of the principal gothic elements.
What’s interesting is what gothic has become today… The American film industry, which mostly bases its productions on what the target audience wants to see, created many entertaining movies, for various age ranges. But let’s focus on two specific movies that have been created from gothic inspiration: Hotel Transylvania and Twilight. Oh yes.
Hotel Transylvania displays classic monsters from gothic literature, such as Frankenstein and Dracula, but also some zombies, momies, and many more! However, the animation movie targets a younger audience. Indeed, Hollywood transformed some gothic elements into something appealing for a younger public through this family movie; and they did it well since we must admit (or at least, I must admit) that the three Hotel Transylvania movies are awesome! Thus, even though it is far from creating fear of the viewers (it actually creates happiness and laughs), Hotel Transylvania can still be considered a work from gothic inspirations.
Now on a cheesier note… Twilight. What a classic for teenagers, even more for teenage girls. And yet, it is clearly inspired from gothic art. Indeed, vampires and werewolves are two types of monsters and thus, are linked to the gothic. Of course, there are other gothic elements displayed in the movies from the saga, such as darkness and curse, but those are the more obvious ones. Why was it such a success with teenagers? It is quite simple actually: love story. A love story is always a winner to attract the young female audience; it works every time. Moreover, I must add, there are some pretty amazing looking monsters… who could resist? We went from Dracula to Edward Cullen, could we say it’s an improvement? Who knows, some will agree, some others won’t. The most important thing is that the sexy vampire did produce the expected result on the business level, even though it did not in terms of horror and terror…
I agree that those two movies are most probably not the real gothic fans’ favorites, but still, for some others, they are enjoyable, and as they present some pretty strong gothic elements, there is no shame in mentioning them here, right?
By the way, are you a more Edward or Jacob type of person? 😉
DelphineC
R&D Gothic Discoveries 