The Inherent Queer and Political Nature of Gothic Art and Media

Abstract

This dissertation aims to show that the Gothic as a genre, primarily through art and media is inherently a queer and political genre. It discusses art as a very broad term, covering paintings, literature, music, fashion and film, as well as discussing subculture.  
This analysis has been done by looking at books and thesis’ by researchers into different aspects of the Gothic such as Catherine Spooner, John Robb, Paul Hodkinson and Charles Mueller.  
This work begins in Chapter 1 by discussing the start of the Gothic, from the ancient Germanic tribes, working its way into a discussion of the start of Gothic art as a genre, covering The Garden of Earthly Delights (1480-1505). Then, in Chapter 2 it moves into discussing another Gothic revival, that of Gothic literature in the 18th/19th century and its inherent queer underlining. It analyses The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) and Dracula (1897), discussing queerness and Nosferatu (1922) before moving onto German expressionism and queerness in Weimar Germany. In Chapter 3, contemporary Goth subculture is analysed in its relation to queerness before discussing what the contemporary Gothic and contemporary Gothic is, defining it before discussing the installation ‘Gone, yet still’ (2005) by Terence Koh.