Contemporary Gothic

Modern Gothic culture alternately fascinates, horrifies, or bewilders many of us. We cringe at pictures of Marilyn Manson, cheer for Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer , and try not to stare at the pierced and tattooed teens on the streets. But what is it about this dark and morbidly morose aesthetic that has enthralled today’s pop culture? In this groundbreaking new study, Catherine Spooner probes into the reasons behind the prevalence of Gothic in popular culture and how it has inspired innovative new work in film, literature, music, and art. Spooner traces the emergence of the Gothic subculture over the past few decades, and examines the various aspects of contemporary culture that revolve around the grotesque, abject, and artificial. She reveals the continual re-situating of the Gothic in different spheres of culture, exploring the transplantation of the street Goth style to fashion looks by haute couture fashion designers and illuminating the connections between such high-brow literary writers as Toni Morrison and Peter Ackroyd and mass-market authors such as Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite. In her engaging analysis, Spooner argues that Gothic culture balances between a number of contradictions - the grotesque and incorporeal, authentic self-expression and campiness, mass popularity and cult appeal, comfort and outrage - and these contradictions make Gothic culture a crucial expression of contemporary cultural currents. Whether seeking to understand the stories behind the TV show Supernatural or to extract deeper meanings in modern literature, Contemporary Gothic is a lively and virtually unparalleled study of the modern Gothic sensibility that pervades popular culture today.