Abstract
From the inception of the Gothic literary genre in the 1760s to contemporary Gothic literature, television, and film, the genre has proven itself finely attuned to the art of subversion, critique, and reversal of the most tightly held social ideologies. Because of its talent for illuminating the ugly nature of reality, the Gothic has been used as a tool to call out and dismantle systems of oppression. The genre relies on horror, shock, and feelings of unease, making it well-suited to exploring issues of identity, power, and oppression. By its very nature, the Gothic is a powerful medium with the ability to amplify marginalized voices and bring to light the most unspeakable and ugliest truths about human society. Through a thematic analysis of boundaries, the body, and monstrosity and transformation, this thesis analyzes the Gothic’s critique and subversion of patriarchy, racism, and heteronormativity in both familiar and contemporary works of film and literature. The works explored here have been carefully selected to demonstrate the genre’s tradition of challenging norms from the late 1800s and onward. As the Gothic genre has expanded into film, movies will be analyzed alongside literature.