Gothic and War, 1930‒1991

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
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Serval ID
serval:BIB_DC259E3A3AFB
Type
A part of a book
Publication sub-type
Chapter: chapter ou part
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Gothic and War, 1930‒1991
Title of the book
The Cambridge History of the Gothic. 3. Gothic in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries
Author(s)
Soltysik Monnet Agnieszka
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Address of publication
Cambridge
ISBN
1-108-62426-X
1-108-47272-9
Publication state
Published
Issued date
29/08/2002
Editor
Wright Angela, Spooner Catherine, Townshend Dale
Chapter
3.5
Pages
99-117
Language
english
Abstract
The period from 1930 to 1990 saw an extraordinary development in the use of Gothic and horror to tell narratives about war and combat, mainly for two main purposes: first, to reveal and accentuate the horrific damage caused to bodies by combat, usually in order to denounce and demystify war; and second, figuratively to depict the less visible ways in which combat and war violence affect soldiers and civilians on a psychological level, especially through fear and trauma. A third form of War Gothic involves the dehumanisation of enemies by portraying them as monsters. All three forms are concerned with the ways in which war robs humans of their humanity, though the first two are largely critical of war while the third is basically a form of militaristic jingoism. This chapter focuses on a selection of texts from the first Hollywood zombie film, White Zombie (1932), to Jacob’s Ladder (1990), focusing especially on the Second World War and its veterans, and the literature and cinema of the Vietnam War. It ends with a brief discussion of War Gothic in the film and video game representations of the First Gulf War.
Keywords
War Gothic, Battlefield Gothic, Vietnam War, Second World War, Zombie movies, Veterans, Dehumanisation, Combat violence
Create date
21/09/2021 19:32
Last modification date
02/03/2022 7:34
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