Gothic. Goths were eastern Germans who populated Central, Northern and Western Europe during the Roman period. Viewed by the Romans as barbarians, they were in fact sophisticated tribes. Early Gothic style, especially in
architecture,
pejoratively recalled these peoples' cultures in
France in the 12th century, and evolved into an eponymous late medieval style by the 16th century.
The reason the term 'Gothic' became synonymous with
today's counter-culture was precisely because it was originally considered to be the barbarous or rude northern and western 'other,' contrasting with the persistent influence of Romans' Mediterranean classicism. The latter was especially popular in its revived forms through the Renaissance and again through the 18th and 19th centuries. In other words, these two strands in European culture - the Gothic alternative and the Roman mainstream if you will - are perpetually brought back into fashion to compete with one another, in different ways and ever-new forms.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, a
Gothic Revival recalled medieval times and merged with the Romantic naturalist reaction against the cerebral, secular and neo-classicist
Enlightenment.
From that time until today, love stories have lent themselves to contemplation of these trends, because the lovers and supporting characters represent opposing sides to these arguments. The pinnacle of English
Gothic Romanticism must be the moment in
Emily Brontë's 1847 novel
Wuthering Heights when
Heathcliff embraces Cathy after death. Heathcliff represents raw, unbridled, violent and alien Romanticism. Cathy is a hybrid character who embodies Enlightenment ambitions and tastes, but she has a Romantic heart and soul. She dies as a result of her inability to reconcile these forces, her doomed love of Heathcliff becomes darkly Gothic.
Our contemplation of these forces continues. It is hard (and sad) to believe, but the lovers in
Twilight and that series'
sado-masochistic fanfic derivative,
Fifty Shades of Grey,
are the Millennial incarnations of Brontë's wild amorous protagonists.
Today, the
Countdown to Hallowe'en continues exploring horror angles of this blog's themes, from
love in the new Millennium, to the
revival of 1920s' and 1930s' ideas during the 2000s and 2010s respectively. Below the jump, a clip from a film which presents the lovers of the Gothic Romantic, recast through the
surreal lens of the 1930s. The film quoted is director
Luis Buñuel's Spanish-Mexican version of
Wuthering Heights,
Abismos de Pasión. Buñuel originally adapted Brontë's novel in 1931.
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