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Southern Gothic

January 26, 2024

For other uses, see Southern Gothic (disambiguation).

Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction, country music, film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed, disturbing, or eccentric characters who may be involved in hoodoo,[1] decayed or derelict settings,[2] grotesque situations, and other sinister events relating to or stemming from poverty, alienation, crime, or violence.

Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Origins edit

Elements of a Gothic treatment of the South were first apparent during the ante- and post-bellum 19th century in the grotesques of Henry Clay Lewis and in the de-idealized representations of Mark Twain.[3] The genre was consolidated, however, in the 20th century, when dark romanticism, Southern humor, and the new literary naturalism merged in a new and powerful form of social critique.[3] The thematic material was largely a reflection of the culture existing in the South following the collapse of the Confederacy as a consequence of the Civil War, which left a vacuum in its cultural and religious values. The resulting poverty and lingering bitterness over the loss of the Civil War in the region during Reconstruction exacerbated the racism, excessive violence, and religious extremism endemic to the region.[citation needed]

The term "Southern Gothic" was originally pejorative and dismissive. Ellen Glasgow used the term in this way when she referred to the writings of Erskine Caldwell and William Faulkner. She included the authors in what she called the "Southern Gothic School" in 1935, stating that their work was filled with "aimless violence" and "fantastic nightmares". It was so negatively viewed at first that Eudora Welty said: "They better not call me that!"[4] Another prominent feature in Southern gothic is its relation to voodoo and hoodoo.

Characteristics edit

 
Seward Plantation House, Independence, a strictly fantastical one.[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 gives us 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 by Flannery O'Connor, such as "Good Country People" and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own", giving us a blurred line between victim and villain.[4]

Southern Gothic literature set out to expose the myth of old Antebellum South, and its narrative of an idyllic past hidden by social, familial, and racial denials and suppressions.[6]

Authors edit

 
Eudora Welty was labeled a Southern Gothic author, though she disliked the label
 
Cherie Priest has been identified as a modern Southern Gothic writer

Some have included Eudora Welty in the category, but apparently, she disagreed: "They better not call me that!", she abruptly told Alice Walker in an interview.[10]

A resurgence of Southern Gothic themes in contemporary fiction has been identified in the work of figures like Barry Hannah (1942–2010),[11] Joe R. Lansdale (b. 1951),[12] Helen Ellis (b. 1970) and Cherie Priest (b. 1975).[12]

Other media edit

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 edit

Television series edit

Video games edit

Music edit

Main article: Gothic country

Southern Gothic (also known as Gothic Americana, or Dark Country) is a genre of country music rooted in early jazz, gospel, Americana, gothic rock and post-punk.[29] 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's Nebraska (1982) was influenced by the writings of Flannery O'Connor.[30] Athens, Georgia–based alternative rock band R.E.M. displayed a Southern Gothic influence with their third album, Fables of the Reconstruction (1985).[31] J.D. Wilkes, frontman of the band Legendary 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."[32] Ethel Cain's music has been described as "Southern Gothic Pop,"[33] 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.

Photographic representation edit

The images of Great Depression photographer Walker Evans are seen to evoke the visual depiction of the Southern Gothic; Evans claimed: "I can understand why Southerners are haunted by their own landscape".[34]

Another noted Southern Gothic photographer was surrealist Clarence John Laughlin, who photographed cemeteries, plantations, and other abandoned places throughout the American South (primarily Louisiana) for nearly 40 years.[citation needed]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Merkel, Julia (2008). Writing against the Odds. pp. 25–27.
  2. ^ Bloom, Harold (2010). The Ballad of the Sad Cafe – Carson McCullers. pp. 95–97.
  3. ^ a b Flora, Joseph M.; Mackethan, Lucinda Hardwick, eds. (2002). The Companion to Southern Literature. pp. 313–16. ISBN 978-0807126929.
  4. ^ a b c d e Marshall, Bridget (2013). Defining Southern Gothic. Critical Insights: Southern Gothic Literature: Salem Press. pp. 3–18. ISBN 978-1-4298-3823-8.
  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. ISBN 978-1-4298-3823-8.
  7. ^ Hughes, William (2013). Historical Dictionary of Gothic Literature. p. 14.
  8. ^ "The Toll By Cherie Priest". Macmillan Publishing official website. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  9. ^ Smith, Allan Lloyd (2004). American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction.
  10. ^ Donaldson, Susan V. (September 22, 1997). "Making a Spectacle: Welty, Faulkner, and Southern Gothic". The Mississippi Quarterly.
  11. ^ Merkel, Julia (2008). Writing against the Odds. p. 31.
  12. ^ a b Don 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, ISBN 9780810877283, p. 171.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wigley, Samuel (January 20, 2014). "10 great Southern Gothic films". British Film Institute. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Oliver, James. "10 Southern Gothic films you need to watch". Reader's Digest. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  15. ^ Canby, Vincent (January 16, 1975). "Screen: 'Macon County Line' Arrives". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Gibron, Bill (May 19, 2010). "More than Just Gore The Macabre: Moral Compass of Lucio Fulci". PopMatters. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  17. ^ Gibron, Bill (October 15, 2007). "Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981)". PopMatters. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  18. ^ "20 Best Southern Gothic Movies". Taste of Cinema.
  19. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 12, 1986). "Crimes of the Heart". RogerEbert.com. Chicago Sun-Times.
  20. ^ "20 Best Southern Gothic Movies". A Taste of Cinema.
  21. ^ "Review: 'Jug Face' opts for more dread than gore". Los Angeles Times. August 8, 2013.
  22. ^ Hemrajani, Sara (October 12, 2015). "Del Toro subverts gothic romance gender expectations in 'Crimson Peak'". reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  23. ^ "Tom Ford mines Texan roots for Southern Gothic styling of Nocturnal Animals". The Sydney Morning Herald. November 9, 2016.
  24. ^ "The twisted horror of the American South". BBC Culture.
  25. ^ "Building a Southern Gothic". The Wall Street Journal. April 24, 2013. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  26. ^ "A Supernatural Southern Gothic Superhero Show". UrbanDaddy.
  27. ^ "Review: Outcast Premiere". EW.
  28. ^ "'Lovecraft Country' Trailer: Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams Unleash HBO's Big Summer Series". IndieWire. May 2020.
  29. ^ Johnson, Aaron Loki (January 29, 2015). "Yes, there is a 'Denver Sound,' and here's a brief history". CPR. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  30. ^ "At 40, Springsteen's "Nebraska" Holds Up as a Harbinger of Rural Despair | History News Network". historynewsnetwork.org. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  31. ^ Wisgard, Alex (September 3, 2010). "R.E.M. 'Fables of the Reconstruction (Deluxe Edition)'". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  32. ^ Oksenhorn, Stewart (February 21, 2006). "Shack*Shakers get back to the roots of Goth". The Aspen Times. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  33. ^ "Ethel Cain Is Making Southern Gothic Pop Music for the End of the American Empire". FLOOD. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  34. ^ Merkel, Julia (2008). Writing against the Odds. p. 57.

External links edit

  • The Southern Literary Trail website features the major fiction writers from the South during the 20th Century

January 26, 2024
southern, gothic, other, uses, disambiguation, artistic, subgenre, fiction, country, music, film, television, that, heavily, influenced, gothic, elements, american, south, common, themes, include, storytelling, deeply, flawed, disturbing, eccentric, characters. For other uses see Southern Gothic disambiguation Southern Gothic is an artistic subgenre of fiction country music film and television that are heavily influenced by Gothic elements and the American South Common themes of Southern Gothic include storytelling of deeply flawed disturbing or eccentric characters who may be involved in hoodoo 1 decayed or derelict settings 2 grotesque situations and other sinister events relating to or stemming from poverty alienation crime or violence Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Contents 1 Origins 2 Characteristics 3 Authors 4 Other media 4 1 Films 4 2 Television series 4 3 Video games 5 Music 6 Photographic representation 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksOrigins editElements of a Gothic treatment of the South were first apparent during the ante and post bellum 19th century in the grotesques of Henry Clay Lewis and in the de idealized representations of Mark Twain 3 The genre was consolidated however in the 20th century when dark romanticism Southern humor and the new literary naturalism merged in a new and powerful form of social critique 3 The thematic material was largely a reflection of the culture existing in the South following the collapse of the Confederacy as a consequence of the Civil War which left a vacuum in its cultural and religious values The resulting poverty and lingering bitterness over the loss of the Civil War in the region during Reconstruction exacerbated the racism excessive violence and religious extremism endemic to the region citation needed The term Southern Gothic was originally pejorative and dismissive Ellen Glasgow used the term in this way when she referred to the writings of Erskine Caldwell and William Faulkner She included the authors in what she called the Southern Gothic School in 1935 stating that their work was filled with aimless violence and fantastic nightmares It was so negatively viewed at first that Eudora Welty said They better not call me that 4 Another prominent feature in Southern gothic is its relation to voodoo and hoodoo Characteristics edit nbsp Seward Plantation House Independence a strictly fantastical one 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 gives us 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 by Flannery O Connor such as Good Country People and The Life You Save May Be Your Own giving us a blurred line between victim and villain 4 Southern Gothic literature set out to expose the myth of old Antebellum South and its narrative of an idyllic past hidden by social familial and racial denials and suppressions 6 Authors editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed September 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp Eudora Welty was labeled a Southern Gothic author though she disliked the label nbsp Cherie Priest has been identified as a modern Southern Gothic writerV C Andrews 1923 1986 Dorothy Allison b 1949 Ambrose Bierce citation needed 1842 1914 Poppy Z Brite citation needed b 1967 7 Larry Brown 1951 2004 Erskine Caldwell 1903 1987 Truman Capote 1924 1984 early works Fred Chappell b 1936 Brainard Cheney 1900 1990 Harry Crews 1935 2012 who has been called the Hieronymus Bosch of Southern Gothic James Dickey 1923 1997 William Faulkner 1897 1962 Tom Franklin b 1962 William Gay 1941 2012 William Goyen 1915 1983 Davis Grubb 1919 1980 Joe R Lansdale b 1951 Charlaine Harris b 1951 Harper Lee 1926 2016 Robert R McCammon b 1952 Cormac McCarthy 1933 2023 Carson McCullers 1917 1967 Michael McDowell 1950 1999 Flannery O Connor 1925 1964 Breece D J Pancake 1952 1979 Walker Percy 1916 1990 Edgar Allan Poe work usually described as Dark Romanticism 1809 1849 Cherie Priest b 1975 8 Anne Rice 1941 2021 particularly The Feast of All Saints and The Witching Hour Frank Stanford 1948 1978 specifically The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You John Kennedy Toole 1937 1969 Jesmyn Ward b 1977 Eudora Welty 1909 2001 Tennessee Williams 1911 1983 9 Thomas Wolfe 1900 1938 Some have included Eudora Welty in the category but apparently she disagreed They better not call me that she abruptly told Alice Walker in an interview 10 A resurgence of Southern Gothic themes in contemporary fiction has been identified in the work of figures like Barry Hannah 1942 2010 11 Joe R Lansdale b 1951 12 Helen Ellis b 1970 and Cherie Priest b 1975 12 Other media editMain 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 edit Haunted Spooks 1920 Swamp Water 1941 13 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 13 The Night of the Hunter 1955 13 Baby Doll 1956 13 Written on the Wind 1956 13 The Fugitive Kind 1960 The Young One 1960 13 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 13 Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964 Mudhoney 1965 14 Hurry Sundown 1967 14 The Beguiled 1971 13 Deliverance 1972 The Legend of Boggy Creek 1972 Macon County Line 1974 15 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 Eaten Alive 1976 Ode to Billy Joe 1976 The Town That Dreaded Sundown 1976 The Evictors 1979 Wise Blood 1979 13 A Day of Judgment 1981 The Beyond 1981 16 17 Southern Comfort 1981 18 The Color Purple 1985 Crimes of the Heart 1986 19 Angel Heart 1987 13 Near Dark 1987 Pumpkinhead 1988 Wild at Heart 1990 Fried Green Tomatoes 1991 Flesh and Bone 1993 Interview with the Vampire 1994 Sling Blade 1996 Eve s Bayou 1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 1997 13 George Washington 2000 O Brother Where Art Thou 2000 Frailty 2001 20 Big Fish 2003 Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus 2003 The Skeleton Key 2005 13 Black Snake Moan 2007 In the Electric Mist 2009 Winter s Bone 2010 13 Bernie 2011 Killer Joe 2011 2012 The Paperboy 2012 Mud 2012 Lawless 2012 Beasts of the Southern Wild 2012 Jug Face 2013 21 Beautiful Creatures 2013 Joe 2013 Stoker 2013 Jessabelle 2014 Cold in July 2014 Crimson Peak 2015 22 Nocturnal Animals 2016 23 The Beguiled 2017 Mudbound 2017 The Peanut Butter Falcon 2019 The Devil All the Time 2020 24 May December 2023 Television series edit In the Heat of the Night 1988 1995 American Gothic 1995 96 Justified 2010 15 The Heart She Holler 2011 American Horror Story Coven 2013 2014 American Horror Story Freak Show 2014 2015 Rectify 2013 16 25 The Originals 2013 2018 True Detective seasons 1 2014 and 3 2019 Bloodline seasons 1 2015 and 2 2016 Preacher 2016 2019 26 American Horror Story Roanoke 2016 Outcast 2016 2018 27 Ozark 2017 2022 Hap and Leonard 2016 2018 Outsiders 2016 2017 True Blood 2008 2014 Sharp Objects 2018 Cloak and Dagger 2018 19 The Act TV series 2019 Outer Banks TV series 2020 Lovecraft Country 2020 28 P Valley 2020 Interview with the Vampire 2022 Mayfair Witches 2023 Video games edit The Adventures of Bayou Billy 1989 Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers 1993 Night in the Woods 2017 Resident Evil 7 Biohazard 2017 Red Dead Redemption 2 Chapters 2 and 3 2018 Hunt Showdown 2019 Kentucky Route Zero 2020 Norco 2022 Music editMain article Gothic country Southern Gothic also known as Gothic Americana or Dark Country is a genre of country music rooted in early jazz gospel Americana gothic rock and post punk 29 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 s Nebraska 1982 was influenced by the writings of Flannery O Connor 30 Athens Georgia based alternative rock band R E M displayed a Southern Gothic influence with their third album Fables of the Reconstruction 1985 31 J D Wilkes frontman of the band Legendary 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 32 Ethel Cain s music has been described as Southern Gothic Pop 33 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 Photographic representation editThe images of Great Depression photographer Walker Evans are seen to evoke the visual depiction of the Southern Gothic Evans claimed I can understand why Southerners are haunted by their own landscape 34 Another noted Southern Gothic photographer was surrealist Clarence John Laughlin who photographed cemeteries plantations and other abandoned places throughout the American South primarily Louisiana for nearly 40 years citation needed See also editAfrican American literature American Gothic fiction Dark romanticism Ghost story Gothic Western Magic realism Southern literature Southern Renaissance Southern Ontario Gothic Space Gothic Suburban Gothic Tasmanian Gothic Urban Gothic Weird WestReferences edit Merkel Julia 2008 Writing against the Odds pp 25 27 Bloom Harold 2010 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe Carson McCullers pp 95 97 a b Flora Joseph M Mackethan Lucinda Hardwick eds 2002 The Companion to Southern Literature pp 313 16 ISBN 978 0807126929 a b c d e Marshall Bridget 2013 Defining Southern Gothic Critical Insights Southern Gothic Literature Salem Press pp 3 18 ISBN 978 1 4298 3823 8 Bjerre T 2017 June 28 Southern Gothic Literature Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature Walsh Christopher 2013 Dark Legacy Gothic Ruptures in Southern Literature Critical Insights Southern Gothic Literature Salem Press pp 19 33 ISBN 978 1 4298 3823 8 Hughes William 2013 Historical Dictionary of Gothic Literature p 14 The Toll By Cherie Priest Macmillan Publishing official website Retrieved July 12 2019 Smith Allan Lloyd 2004 American Gothic Fiction An Introduction Donaldson Susan V September 22 1997 Making a Spectacle Welty Faulkner and Southern Gothic The Mississippi Quarterly Merkel Julia 2008 Writing against the Odds p 31 a b Don 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 ISBN 9780810877283 p 171 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wigley Samuel January 20 2014 10 great Southern Gothic films British Film Institute Retrieved March 13 2014 a b Oliver James 10 Southern Gothic films you need to watch Reader s Digest Retrieved November 24 2022 Canby Vincent January 16 1975 Screen Macon County Line Arrives The New York Times Gibron Bill May 19 2010 More than Just Gore The Macabre Moral Compass of Lucio Fulci PopMatters Retrieved July 26 2015 Gibron Bill October 15 2007 Lucio Fulci s The Beyond 1981 PopMatters Retrieved July 26 2015 20 Best Southern Gothic Movies Taste of Cinema Ebert Roger December 12 1986 Crimes of the Heart RogerEbert com Chicago Sun Times 20 Best Southern Gothic Movies A Taste of Cinema Review Jug Face opts for more dread than gore Los Angeles Times August 8 2013 Hemrajani Sara October 12 2015 Del Toro subverts gothic romance gender expectations in Crimson Peak reuters com Reuters Retrieved October 11 2023 Tom Ford mines Texan roots for Southern Gothic styling of Nocturnal Animals The Sydney Morning Herald November 9 2016 The twisted horror of the American South BBC Culture Building a Southern Gothic The Wall Street Journal April 24 2013 Retrieved May 6 2014 A Supernatural Southern Gothic Superhero Show UrbanDaddy Review Outcast Premiere EW Lovecraft Country Trailer Jordan Peele and J J Abrams Unleash HBO s Big Summer Series IndieWire May 2020 Johnson Aaron Loki January 29 2015 Yes there is a Denver Sound and here s a brief history CPR Retrieved November 20 2022 At 40 Springsteen s Nebraska Holds Up as a Harbinger of Rural Despair History News Network historynewsnetwork org Retrieved December 5 2023 Wisgard Alex September 3 2010 R E M Fables of the Reconstruction Deluxe Edition The Line of Best Fit Retrieved November 15 2023 Oksenhorn Stewart February 21 2006 Shack Shakers get back to the roots of Goth The Aspen Times Retrieved November 22 2022 Ethel Cain Is Making Southern Gothic Pop Music for the End of the American Empire FLOOD Retrieved January 8 2023 Merkel Julia 2008 Writing against the Odds p 57 External links editThe Southern Literary Trail website features the major fiction writers from the South during the 20th Century Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Southern Gothic amp oldid 1195820772, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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