Despite the lack of castle, the story retains some of the elements of a true Gothic novel. You try and put a castle into a 21st century America setting. Twilight is set in the 21st century, while most other examples mentioned are set before or during the industrial revolution. The castle is just one of the elements that set the scene. As far as having no castle involved in the storyline goes, I think it does not matter. I wouldn't even categorize 'Twilight' as literature.Īs much as I hate Twilight, I am forced to admit that it does contain many of the features that would make up a gothic fiction. Twilight just doesn't have the fluent, "classic" tone that gives the Gothic books the heavy, anticipatory atmosphere. The language use is completely different. It's not just the Gothic elements such as setting and romance that makes a book Gothic. I appreciate that twilight is not true gothic literature but it's still a great book. So Twilight is, I guess, considered gothic fiction. In other words it's a child's movie, not something we older fans of Gothic literature would consider Gothic. It's the type of literature and movie that I would present to my 11 year old child to give her baby steps into the culture Mommie is in without exposing her to a lot of death, meaning I wouldn't have to explain the meaning of evil and the meaning of death right away. (Because they can be in the sun without withering away meaning they are more hardy than vamps of the past, yet delicate in a different way because they actually sparkle like a little girl). It breaks the tradition of burning in the sun and replaces it with something a little less intense because it wants you to fall in love with the vampire, making him paradoxically less delicate. The context is Gothic (vampires and werewolves), however it lacks depth and a sense of culture which saturates most Gothic literature. It certainly doesn't appeal much to the more seasoned goth, but think about the setting: Dark, gloomy and cold. I think "Twilight" can be considered gothic for the baby goths. I like the dark, mysterious style, but not corsets or SM! These two are out of my own Goth style! Twilight only has romance and supernatural, and that alone does not gothic literature make. After studying it with three English teachers and an actual author (grey griffons, anyone?), no. There are certain elements that have to be in each of the genres of gothic literature: dark romance, romance, supernatural and horror. It's dark, supernatural and there is death and horror and also women in distress. Thing is, I'm doing a presentation and want to show elements of gothic in a rather "fun" way and since my audience is between 20-25, I thought everyone one might know the show. So, could I just throw "The Vampire Diaries" in the mix and ask for your opinion on whether or not it is considered "goth"?
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