Gothic fiction combines elements of horror and romance to create a pleasing kind of terror. It originated in the 18th century. Conventional gothic images include:
Dramatic flashes of lightening - Heightens dramatic and frightening moments
Spooky full moons - Associated with werewolves and vampires who hunt at night
The Grim Reaper or mysterious hooded figures - Evokes fear of the unknown and makes you question who is underneath the hood.
Daunting castles reinforce the power of the villain and the impossibility of escape.
The Sublime - Overpowering nature contrasts with insignificant man. This creates feelings of doom and inevitable peril.
Punk Fashion
The Raven: E A Pope Trailer
Gothic Fashion - Vogue. The model is presented in a gloomy setting, dressed all in black. The harp looks archaic, giving the photograph a past.
Gothic Fashion - Vogue. The photograph has been taken in black and white which reflects the oppositions in the gothic genre. The model's white complection, justaposed with her black clothing shows the 'black and white' characters in the gothic - either pure and innocent heroines or dark, evil villains.
Gothic Fashion - Vogue. This model's expression is confident and powerful. This presents the idea in the gothic genre of a dominate woman heroine rather than a dominant male villain who overpowers the woman. The feathers in her hat reinforces this as they have the shape and appearenace of a crown.
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Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was a psychologist who established the Psychodynamic Approach to Psychology. He believed that the mind was made up of your conscious mind, unconscious mind, ID, superego and your ego. This is illustrated by the iceburd diagram abo0ve. Freud believed that your future beliefs and behaviour would be effected by your responses to stages everyone goes through during their childhood.
Freud believed that you have repressed desires in your unconscious mind and your conscious ideas (ideas you are aware of) in your conscious mind (see iceberg)
ID - the part of the mind which has all of your instinctual drives and your desires. Eg food, sex, drink etc.
Superego - the selfless part of the mind. A person with a dominant superego will have neurotic personalities. If you do not have a superego this means you have a psychotic personality because you do not feel guilt about the things you do. Eg murderers or rapists who do not feel remorse for what they have done. The absense of a superego means that you will have a dominant ID. In the gothic this personality is shown in villains like vampires, warewolves and witches.
