CP6010 Week 5 - Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination (exhibition at the British Library)

As part of my dissertation studio about narrative and storyteling, I visited the Terror and Wonder exhibition at the British Library on 29th October. Here are some notes on the displays, films and pictures that appealed to me the most:

Ortransky zamek (1979), short Czech film about The Castle of Otranto's gruesome plot. The film features cut-out animation segments. The narrative is shown in both animation form and live action form.

Tintern Abbey in Wales (near Chepstow, see fig 1). By the 18th century, it was made one of Britain's most picturesque ruins. Although I have fond memories of visiting the ruins when I grew up in Wales, the exhibition did not indicate why it was significant in gothic narrative.

Fig 1: Thomas, J.L. (2009). Tintern Abbey viewed from the south [Online]. Available at: http://www.castlewales.com/tintern.html (Accessed: 2nd November 2014).

James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is one of many film adaptations of Marry Shelley's Frankenstein. Other versions are Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974) and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (1984, 2012, see fig 2).

Fig 2: No creator (2012). Frankenweenie (Film poster). [Online]. Available at: http://www.disney.co.uk/frankenweenie/# (Accessed: 2nd November 2014).

Penny Dreadfuls were comics sold in the Victorian times that featured horror stories and only cost a penny, hence the name.

Sweeney Todd made his first appearance in The String of Pearls, a penny dreadful series that ran from 1846 and 1847.

The Tell Tale Heart (1955, see fig 3) is a cartoon based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story about a murderer's descent into madness. It was the first cartoon to receive an X rating in the UK.

Fig. 3: John Cusack (1953, uploaded in 2006). Tell Tale Heart Animation [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4s9V8aQu4c (Accessed: 2nd November 2014).

Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005, see Fig 4) is based on the legend of the werewolf. It is also a pastiche of Frankenstein (1931), King Kong (1933) and Dracula (1958). The transformation scene in the clip show is based on An American Werewolf in London (1981).

Fig 4: No creator (2005). Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit (Film poster). [Online]. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312004/ (Accessed: 2nd November 2014).

A Christmas Carol, Pride and Prejudice, Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Jane Eyre have all been mashed up with zombie series, which is a good example of playing around with narrative.

In the 1950s there was a moral panic around horror comics despite their moral stories.

Neil Gaiman's novel Coraline (2002) was adapted into a stop-motion film in 2009 (See fig. 5).

Fig 5: No creator (2009). Coraline (Film poster). [Online]. Available at: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/coraline/images/11184735/title/coraline-photo (Accessed: 2nd November 2014).

In Stephanie Meyer's novel Eclipse (2007), Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a recurring theme, thus giving the implication of a novel within a novel.

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