This study investigates the presence of some anachronistic "forms of woe" in 20th and 21st-century Gothic narratives, their roots in the 19th century and particularly in the Victorian Celebration of Death, and their function as part of an evolving symbolic language in a branch of Gothic characterized by its approach to death through a dynamic tension between unease and humor. In particular, this last tension -- a psychological dance between the grim and the absurd, between a strong emotion and its release, between incorporation of an unbearable reality and deflection of it -- allows contemporary American audiences in what has been termed a "death-denying" culture to approach and normalize death. The study incorporates a comparison between the cultural space allotted to death and mourning in the Victoria era and in 20th-century America, discussion of the suitability of the Gothic genre for a modern approach to the subject of death, and analysis of the work of Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, and the Haunted Mansion ride as examples of a particular subgenre of Gothic. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / January 17, 2012. / Death, Edward Gorey, Gothic, Haunted Mansion, Tim Burton, Walt Disney / Includes bibliographical references. / John Fenstermaker, Professor Directing Dissertation; William Cloonan, University Representative; Lauren Weingarden, Committee Member; Eric Walker, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183338 |
| Contributors | Bailey, Katherine R. (authoraut), Fenstermaker, John (professor directing dissertation), Cloonan, William (university representative), Weingarden, Lauren (committee member), Walker, Eric (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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