Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2013 Gothic shadowplays : the evolution of Gothic film and its visual aesthetic from the Gothic novel to the cinema of Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman, and Tim Burton Langenbach, Juliane Abstract: This study traces the evolution of Gothic film and its visual aesthetic from the Gothic novel to contemporary cinema in an effort to provide a clear idea of the Gothic film. Its point ofdeparture was the observation that, in movie databases as well as the ever increasing number of both academic and non-academic publications on so-called Gothic horror films, “Gothic” seems to be a commonly used and widely accepted label for films – yet there is in fact no established definition of “Gothic film”or “Gothic cinema,” let alone of “Gothic film” as a cinematic genre. Existing attempts to define Gothic film are usually deficient and unsatisfactory. Analyzing why it is in fact so difficult tocomeupwitha suitable definition, this dissertation suggests a new and different approach: instead of seeking todefine Gothic film, it focuses on investigating its visual aesthetic and an underlying combination of certain interconnected concepts. The analysis of this visual aesthetic shall help to facilitate the identification of Gothic films, both retroactively and in the future, and thus form an important contribution tothefieldof Gothic cinema studies. More precisely, it shall allow films to be “tagged” as “Gothic.” In contrast tothe concept of “genre,” such a “tag” has a number of advantages. It is a descriptive rather than a defining label that can be given to a film along with other tags; that way, a western, a musical, or a science-fiction movie, for example, could all equally be tagged as Gothic. As such, a tag has an enriching rather than a limiting effect. The works of Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman, and Tim Burton, which thisstudy examines in great detail, nicely illustrate the flexibility of the tag “Gothic”: although the films ofthese three directors differ considerably from each other, not only in style, but also in mode, they nevertheless all adhere to the aforementioned combination of concepts that the Gothic visual aesthetic relies on and can thus be tagged as “Gothic.” Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgt die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Gothic Films und seiner visuellen Ästhetik von der Gothic Novel bis hin zum zeitgenössischen Kino, um so zu einem klaren Verständnis von Gothic Film zu verhelfen. Ihr Ausgangspunkt war die Beobachtung, dass sowohl in Filmdatenbanken als auch in ständig neuen akademischen und nicht- akademischen Publikationen zum sogenannten Gothic Horror Film „Gothic“ zwar eine allgemein akzeptierte und häufig verwendete Bezeichnung zu sein scheint, es jedoch bis heute keine etablierte Definition von „Gothic Film“ gibt, ganz zu schweigen von „Gothic Film“ als einem Filmgenre. Bestehende „Definitionen“ des Gothic Films sind meist unzulänglich und unbefriedigend. Diese Dissertation untersucht zunächst, warum es in der Tat so schwierig ist, eine geeignete Definition zu entwickeln und schlägt dann eine andere und völlig neue Herangehensweise vor: Statt eines Versuchs Gothic Film zu definieren, widmet sie sich der Untersuchung seiner visuellen Ästhetik und einer ihr zugrunde liegenden Kombination von bestimmten miteinander verknüpften Konzepten. Die Analyse dieser visuellen Ästhetik soll helfen, die Identifikation von Gothic Filmen sowohl rückwirkend als auch zukünftig zu erleichtern und somit einen wichtigen Beitrag auf dem Gebiet der Gothic-Filmwissenschaften leisten. Genauer gesagt soll sie es ermöglichen, Filme als „Gothic“ zu „taggen“ (engl. mit einem Etikett versehen). Im Gegensatz zum „Genre“-Konzept weist ein „Tag“ eine Vielzahl von Vorteilen auf. Es ist ein beschreibendes statt definierendes Etikett, mit dem ein Film zusammen mit anderen Tags versehen werden kann. Auf diese Weise können zum Beispiel ein Western, ein Musical oder auch ein Science-Fiction-Film alle gleichermassen als Gothic getaggt werden. Somit hat ein Tag eine bereichernde statt beschränkende Wirkung. Die Filme von Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman und Tim Burton, die in dieser Arbeit im Detail untersucht werden, verdeutlichen die Flexibilität des „Gothic“-Tags sehr gut: Obwohl sich die Filme dieser drei Regisseure sowohl stilistisch als auch in ihrem Modus erheblich voneinander unterscheiden, so halten sie sich doch alle an die zuvor erwähnte Kombination von miteinander verknüpften Konzepten, auf der die visuelle Ästhetik des Gothic Films basiert und können somit als „Gothic“ getaggt werden. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-164247 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Langenbach, Juliane. Gothic shadowplays : the evolution of Gothic film and its visual aesthetic from the Gothic novel to the cinema of Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman, and Tim Burton. 2013, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. 2 Gothic Shadowplays The Evolution of Gothic Film and Its Visual Aesthetic from the Gothic Novel to the Cinema of Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman, and Tim Burton Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Juliane Langenbach from Germany Accepted in the spring semester 2011 on the recommendation of Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Bronfen and Prof. Dr. Jörg Schweinitz ZSUZ Universitätsdruckerei, Zurich 2013 2 To Ferdinand, my family, and my American family 3 4 Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................7 1. Introduction: Towards a Definition of “Gothic Film”............................................................9 PART I: THE GOTHIC AND VISUAL CULTURE: A Short History of an Affinity 2. The Origins of Gothic Visual Culture ..................................................................................23 2.1. Visual Culture in the Romantic Era and the Rise of the Gothic Novel.........................23 2.2. Phantasmagoric Specter-cles: Early Techno-visual Performances of the Gothic .........33 2.3. Cinemagic Spectacles: Early (European) Cinema and the Rise of the Gothic Film .....40 2.4. American Gothic (and) Visual Culture..........................................................................50 2.4.1. The Rise of American Gothic Fiction ....................................................................50 2.4.2. The Origins of American Gothic Cinema: Early American Film, Hollywood, and the Gothic before World War II .......................................................................................62 3. Kingdoms of Shadows: Film and the Gothic – An Excursive Juxtaposition and Play of Thought on an Ideal Match.......................................................................................................77 PART II: THE GOTHIC ON THE AMERICAN SCREEN: The Cinema of Jacques Tourneur, Roger Corman, and Tim Burton 4. The (Early) 1940s and Jacques Tourneur’s Cinema of Shadows.........................................93 4.1. Screening the Monstrous Psyche: Cat People (1942) .................................................106 4.2. Voodoo Gothic: I Walked with a Zombie (1943) ........................................................122 5. The 1960s and Roger Corman’s Reinvention of Poean Gothic .........................................137 5.1. The Monstrous House: House of Usher (1960)...........................................................151 5.2. Falling into the Abyss: Pit and the Pendulum (1961) .................................................166 6. Recent Gothic Cinema and Tim Burton’s Fabulous Gothic Fantasies...............................181 6.1. Reinventing Frankenstein: Edward Scissorhands (1990)...........................................194 6.2. Reimagining the Legend of Irving’s Headless Horseman: Sleepy Hollow (1999)......209 7. Epilogue: The Gothic’s Adventures in Film Land .............................................................223 8. Bibliography.......................................................................................................................227 5 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank a number of people without whom the completion of this research project would not have been possible. First of all, although convention might dictate otherwise, I wish to express my deep- felt gratitude to Ferdinand, my parents, Philipp, and Ena for their unconditional love, their continuous support and encouragement, and for making everything possible. I will also be forever grateful to Bonnie and Michael, Mom and Pops, and Devin, Josh, and Caitlyn for opening up a whole new world to me and for helping me fan a spark into a fire. Moreover, I would particularly like to thank my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Bronfen and Prof. Dr. Jörg Schweinitz. Their great expertise and valuable feedback throughout the process were highly appreciated. I am also very grateful to them for introducing me to my fellow PhD students of the doctoral research colloquium at the English Department of the University of Zurich and to the peer-mentoring group FilmWissen; they were not only great peers and colleagues, but some of them have also become dear friends. Special thanks also go to Brigitte Lüönd, Anna Focà, and Ursula Kälin-Kluwick, not only for the careful proofreading of my dissertation and for providing helpful comments and feedback, but also for their friendship and encouragement.