Appropriations from the 19th Century and the Topic of Death in Modern Gothic Narratives: Edward Gorey, Walt Disney, and Tim Burton

• Other Authors: Bailey, Katherine R. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Humanities
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-5496

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.