Gothic

This post will be a short introduction to the Gothic.

But first have a look at this awesome Vine I found.

Hmm I actually wanted to post the video directly into this post but I can't figure out how.

So just click this link.

Gothic is very broad as they are Gothic literature, Gothic art, Gothic architecture, Gothic horror and then all those many subcultures when it comes to Gothic 'fashion'.

And I think I could spent hours here writing about everything which I don't want to do:) 

That's why I decided to only talk short about each category and just give some examples.

Gothic Literature:

• the Gothic fiction is largely dominated by the Gothic horror genre
• Gothic horror combines most of the time romance and horror, gives the reader a certain thrill
• leader in the Gothic horror fiction was Horace Walpole with his novel 'The castle of Otranto' from 1764
• other famous author's were: Mary Shelley- Frankenstein, 1818; Bram Stoker- Dracula, 1897; Ann Radcliffe- The Mystery of Udolpho, 1794; Emily Bronte- Wuthering Heights( I love this novel by the way), 1847; Oscar Wilde- The Picture of Dorian Grey, 1890; Robert Louis Stevenson- Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886; Anne Rice- Interview with the Vampire, 1976; Patrick McGath- Asylum, 1996, Charles Dickens- Great Expectations. 1861  and of course Edgar Allen Poe- The Masque of the red Death, 1842 ( and of course many many more)

I found these images from 'The Guardian' which tell the important key points of Gothic horror novels

all images are taken from here

• the key points of Gothic horror are: the uncanny, sexual power, crisis, the sublime, the supernatural and the real(ghost, vampire, other supernatural creatures), strange places/haunted houses/ Gothic architecture, terror vs horror, death, mystery, darkness
• Gothic authors got their inspiration from the medieval times, superstitions, rituals/occult, dark fantasies
• mostly set in the past and women are mostly the target

Gothic Architecture:

• key points of Gothic architecture: flying buttress, pointed arch, ribbed vaults, rose window, spire, at least one tower-often more- and of course gargoyles.

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Gargoyles

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• Gothic architecture in London: Big Ben, Palace of Westminster, St Pancras railway station, West Norwood cemetery and a lot of churches like the Sacred Heart church in Wimbledon or St Luke's church in Chelsea
• other famous Gothic buildings: Rheinstein castle in Germany, Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame de Reims
• evolved from Romanesque architecture and had its peak time during the mid-late medieval times
• originated in France in the 12th century and lasted into the 16th century
• the Gothic architecture during the Victorian time would later be called Gothic revival architecture

Goth Subcultures:

• this page has a nice and very cute overview of  the different subcultures within the Gothic
• when I started to have a look at it I didn't even know where to start as it is so broad and I had no idea that there were so many different sub genre as I only new the 'stereotypical Goth'
• here are some  sub genre I found on the already mentioned website: Medieval Goth, Hippie Goth, Vampire Goth, Mopey Goth, Tribal Goth, Romantic Goth, J-Goth (Japanese Goth) and of course the Victorian Goth
•  the Goth subculture is a contemporary subculture and established in the 1980's in England, with he start of Gothic rock
• a thing I also found while looking through the Goth subcultures was the fashion part, especially Haute Goth-> Karl Lagerfeld hosted in 1977 the Soirée Moratoire Noir party, specifying "tenue tragique noire absolument obligatoire" 
• but also designers such as Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, John Galliano, Christian Lacroix, Philipp Plein, Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier brought Gothic elements on the catwalk shows

Gothic Music:

• it is quite hard to find exact facts about Gothic music but it all started with the Gothic Rock which is a subgenre of alternative rock and post- punk
• established in early 80's late 70's
• origins are England and Germany 
• because I don't know much about Gothic music I had a look at the 20 best Goth records and I can't believe what I found. One of my favourite tracks! Haha I didn't know it was Gothic because I heard the song first in the Movie Elvis & Anabelle (starring Blake Lively  ♥-  I love her so much ^^). But yes as I am thinking about the movie now the movie definitely goes in the "Gothic Horror"( it is not a horror film but has key points of it ) direction as well. 

So therefore my first Gothic song will be 

Bauhaus- Bela Lugosi's Dead

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 And here is the version from the Elvis & Anabelle film

Bela Lugosi's Dead by Nouvelle Vague 

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And because this movie is so underrated I am gonna post a trailer to the movie here.

So go on and check it out! :D

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Now back to Gothic music

Next one is

Joy Division and the Closer Album

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The Cure- Faith (single)

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Sisters of Mercy- Alice

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Xmal Deutschland- Incubus Succubus 

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The Danse Society- There is no shame in Death

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I found those songs on the factmag.com website

But I think as there are so many different Goth subcultures , it depends really in which Goth subgenre you are when it comes to Goth music. I bet there is a huge variety as well. I just remembered Nightwish was also 'quite' popular and I think they are also Gothic.

Gothic Horror Films:

• I think when it comes to Gothic horror films Tim Burton is definitely in the first ranks, I seriously love his work-> Sleepy Hollow (1999), Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhand          ( 1990), Sweeny Todd( 2007), Abraham Lincoln- Vampire Hunter (2012) 
• Bram Stocker's Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1992)
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein directed by Kenneth Branagh (1994)
• Dread directed by Anthony DiBlasi ( 2010)
• Nosferatu directed by F.W. Murnau (1922)
• The Women in Black directed by James Watkins (2012)
• The Orphanage directed by Juan Antonio Bayona ( 2007)
• Rebecca directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1940)

I found a good video on YouTube which explains the history of horror films

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Then I was thinking about Gothic in music videos. Of course this could be part of the Goth music but I found a few music videos were the band is not doing Goth music but  have Gothic key points in their music Videos. At least I think they are kind of Gothic looking :)

Let's start with one of my favourite bands

RAMMSTEIN 

Is a German Neue Deutsche Härte/ industrial metal band and was founded in 1994.

I literally grew up with them as my dad is a huge fan as well and we were listening to them all the time. Even though I wouldn't suggest to let small children listen to their music :D

First song 

Rammstein- Ich Tu Dir Weh

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Rammstein- Engel

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Then there is also the Korean boy band Vixx . They had several music videos now which were kind of dark. Also the settings and concepts reminded me of Gothic.

Vixx- Hyde (the album was actually called Jekyll and Hyde- uhhhh! ^^)

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Vixx- Voodoo Doll

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김재중-MINE

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I also find that in a lot of J-Rock(Japanese rock) music videos the setting and clothes/makeup are very Gothic inspired.