Wikipedia

Southern Gothic

(Redirected fromSouthern gothic)
For other uses, seeSouthern Gothic (disambiguation).

Southern Gothicis an artistic subgenre offiction,country music,film,theatre, and television that are heavily influenced byGothicelements and theAmerican South.Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing, oreccentriccharacters sometimes suffering from physical deformities or insanity; decayed or derelict settings andgrotesquesituations;[1]and sinister events bred from poverty,alienation,crime, violence, forbidden sexuality, orhoodoomagic.[2]

Marlon BrandoandVivien LeighinA Streetcar Named Desire(1951).

Origins

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Elements of a Gothic treatment of the South first appeared during theante- and post-bellum19th century in the grotesques ofHenry Clay Lewisand in the sardonic representations ofMark Twain.[3]The genre was consolidated, however, in the 20th century, whendark romanticism,Southern humor, and the newliterary naturalismmerged in a new and powerful form of social critique.[3]The themes largely reflected the cultural atmosphere of the South following the collapse of theConfederacyin theCivil War,which left a vacuum of cultural and religious values as well as economic devastation. The poverty and bitterness during the post-warReconstructionera exacerbated the racism, everyday violence, and religious extremism endemic to the region.[citation needed]

Like the original artistic term "Gothic",the term" Southern Gothic "was at first pejorative and dismissive. In 1935,Ellen Glasgowcritiqued the writings ofErskine Caldwell,William Faulkner,and the "Southern Gothic School", stating that their work was filled with "aimless violence" and "fantastic nightmares". The connotation was at first so negative thatEudora Weltysaid: "They better not call me that!"[4]

Characteristics

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Seward Plantation House, Independence, a strictly fantastical representation of a plantation.[5]

The setting of these works is distinctly Southern. Some of these characteristics include exploring madness, decay and despair, continuing pressures of the past upon the present, particularly with the lost ideals of a dispossessed Southern aristocracy and continued racial hostilities.[4]

Southern Gothic particularly focuses on the South's history of slavery, racism, fear of the outside world, violence, a "fixation with the grotesque, and a tension between realistic and supernatural elements".[4]

Similar to the elements of the Gothic castle, Southern Gothic depicts the decay of the plantation in the post-Civil War South.[4]

Villains who disguise themselves as innocents or victims are often found in Southern Gothic literature, especially stories byFlannery O'Connor,such as "Good Country People"and"The Life You Save May Be Your Own",giving the reader a blurred line between victim and villain.[4]

Southern Gothic literature set out to expose the myth of the oldAntebellum Southwith its narrative of an idyllic past that covered over social, familial, and racial denials and suppressions.[6]

Authors

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A resurgence of Southern Gothic themes in contemporary fiction has been identified in the work of figures likeBarry Hannah(1942–2010),[7]Joe R. Lansdale(b. 1951),[8]Helen Ellis(b. 1970) andCherie Priest(b. 1975).[8]

Other media

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Main page:Category:Southern Gothic films

A number of films and television programs are also described as being part of the Southern Gothic genre. Some prominent examples are:

Films

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Television series

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Video games

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Music

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Main article:Gothic country

Southern Gothic (also known as Gothic Americana, or Dark Country) is a genre ofcountry musicrooted in earlyjazz,gospel,Americana,gothic rockandpost-punk.[25]Its lyrics often focus on dark subject matter. The genre shares thematic connections with the Southern Gothic genre of literature, and indeed the parameters of what makes something Gothic Americana appears to have more in common with literary genres than traditional musical ones. Songs often examine poverty, criminal behavior, religious imagery, death, ghosts, family, lost love, alcohol, murder, the devil, and betrayal.[citation needed]

Bruce Springsteen'sNebraska(1982) was influenced by the writings of Flannery O'Connor.[26]Athens, Georgia–basedalternative rockbandR.E.M.displayed a Southern Gothic influence with their third album,Fables of the Reconstruction(1985).[27]J.D. Wilkes,frontman of the bandLegendary Shack Shakers,described Southern Gothic music as "[taking] an angle that there’s something grotesque and beautiful in the traditions of the South, the backdrop of Southern living."[28]Ethel Cain's music has been described as "Southern Gothic Pop,"[29]often focusing on themes such as intergenerational trauma, Christianity, grotesque violence, poverty, and abuse, and she often credits inspiration to the works of Southern Gothic writers such as Flannery O’Connor.

Theatre

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The Southern Gothic genre comes to the stage in many different ways.

Southern Gothic fiction writers likeCarson McCullersandZora Neale Hurstonadapted their own work for the stage in language-heavy productions ofThe Member of the WeddingandSpunk.

Playwrights likeTennessee Williams,Beth Henley,andJacqueline Goldfingertranslated elements of Southern Gothic aesthetic to the stage and added theatrical elements such as stylized movement, dialogue, and design. Examples of Southern Gothic plays include the Pulitzer Prize winnerA Streetcar Named Desire(1948), the popularThe Jacksonian(2014), and the Yale Prize winnerBottle Fly(2018).

In addition, many Southern Gothic novels and short stories have been adapted for the stage by artists who are not the original authors. The Tony Award winning musicalThe Color PurplebyAlice Walkeris a prime example of this approach to theatricalization of the Southern Gothic genre.The Color Purpleis an adaptation of the novel with music byBrenda Russell,Allee Willis,Stephen Bray,andMarsha Normanwhich has been performed around the country constantly since its world premiere at theAlliance Theatrein Atlanta in 2004.

Photographic representation

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The images ofGreat DepressionphotographerWalker Evansare seen to evoke the visual depiction of the Southern Gothic; Evans claimed: "I can understand why Southerners are haunted by their own landscape".[30]

Another noted Southern Gothic photographer wassurrealistClarence John Laughlin,who photographed cemeteries,plantations,and other abandoned places throughout theAmerican South(primarilyLouisiana) for nearly 40 years.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^Bloom, Harold(2010).The Ballad of the Sad Cafe – Carson McCullers.pp. 95–97.
  2. ^Merkel, Julia (2008).Writing against the Odds.pp. 25–27.
  3. ^abFlora, Joseph M.; Mackethan, Lucinda Hardwick, eds. (2002).The Companion to Southern Literature.LSU Press. pp.313–16.ISBN978-0807126929.
  4. ^abcdeMarshall, Bridget (2013).Defining Southern Gothic.Critical Insights: Southern Gothic Literature: Salem Press. pp. 3–18.ISBN978-1-4298-3823-8.
  5. ^Bjerre, T. (2017, June 28). Southern Gothic Literature.Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature.
  6. ^Walsh, Christopher (2013). ""Dark Legacy": Gothic Ruptures in Southern Literature ".Critical Insights: Southern Gothic Literature.Salem Press. pp. 19–33.ISBN978-1-4298-3823-8.
  7. ^Merkel, Julia (2008).Writing against the Odds.p. 31.
  8. ^abDon D'Ammassa:The New Southern Gothic: Cherie Priest's Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Wings to the Kingdom, and Not Flesh Nor Feathers.In: Danel Olson (ed.):21st-Century Gothic: Great Gothic Novels Since 2000.Scarecrow, 2010,ISBN9780810877283,p. 171.
  9. ^abcdefghijklmWigley, Samuel (January 20, 2014)."10 great Southern Gothic films".British Film Institute.RetrievedMarch 13,2014.
  10. ^abOliver, James."10 Southern Gothic films you need to watch".Reader's Digest.RetrievedNovember 24,2022.
  11. ^Canby, Vincent (January 16, 1975)."Screen: 'Macon County Line' Arrives".The New York Times.
  12. ^Gibron, Bill (May 19, 2010)."More than Just Gore The Macabre: Moral Compass of Lucio Fulci".PopMatters.RetrievedJuly 26,2015.
  13. ^Gibron, Bill (October 15, 2007)."Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981)".PopMatters.RetrievedJuly 26,2015.
  14. ^"20 Best Southern Gothic Movies".Taste of Cinema.December 17, 2014.
  15. ^Ebert, Roger(December 12, 1986)."Crimes of the Heart".RogerEbert.com.Chicago Sun-Times.
  16. ^"20 Best Southern Gothic Movies".A Taste of Cinema.December 17, 2014.
  17. ^"Review: 'Jug Face' opts for more dread than gore".Los Angeles Times.August 8, 2013.
  18. ^Hemrajani, Sara (October 12, 2015)."Del Toro subverts gothic romance gender expectations in 'Crimson Peak'".reuters.com.Reuters.RetrievedOctober 11,2023.
  19. ^"Tom Ford mines Texan roots for Southern Gothic styling of Nocturnal Animals".The Sydney Morning Herald.November 9, 2016.
  20. ^"The twisted horror of the American South".BBC Culture.
  21. ^"Building a Southern Gothic".The Wall Street Journal.April 24, 2013.RetrievedMay 6,2014.
  22. ^"A Supernatural Southern Gothic Superhero Show".UrbanDaddy.June 13, 2016.
  23. ^"Review:OutcastPremiere ".EW.
  24. ^"'Lovecraft Country' Trailer: Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams Unleash HBO's Big Summer Series ".IndieWire.May 2020.
  25. ^Johnson, Aaron Loki (January 29, 2015)."Yes, there is a 'Denver Sound,' and here's a brief history".CPR.RetrievedNovember 20,2022.
  26. ^"At 40, Springsteen's" Nebraska "Holds Up as a Harbinger of Rural Despair | History News Network".historynewsnetwork.org.October 28, 2022.RetrievedDecember 5,2023.
  27. ^Wisgard, Alex (September 3, 2010)."R.E.M. 'Fables of the Reconstruction (Deluxe Edition)'".The Line of Best Fit.RetrievedNovember 15,2023.
  28. ^Oksenhorn, Stewart (February 21, 2006)."Shack*Shakers get back to the roots of Goth".The Aspen Times.RetrievedNovember 22,2022.
  29. ^"Ethel Cain Is Making Southern Gothic Pop Music for the End of the American Empire".FLOOD.RetrievedJanuary 8,2023.
  30. ^Merkel, Julia (2008).Writing against the Odds.p. 57.
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