Welcome to the Darkness

Welcome To The DarknessA Cinematic Perspective

Technology & the Darkness :The Emergence of the Creative Class

Welcome to the DarknessA Cinematic Perspective


Grunberg, C 1997, Gothic - Transmutations of Horror in Late 21st Century Art in The Gothic, (p38-44)

Gothic art today speaks of the subjects that transgress society's vague definitions of normality, discreetly peeling away the pretences of outmoded conventions and transversing the amorphous border between good and evil, sanity and madness, disinterested pleasure and visual offensiveness, The Gothic reacts aggressively against thecurrent 'anti-intensity emotionology', as Peter N, Stearns has termed the protective withdrawal from authentic expression and display of profound affections.

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The Dark CodeContemporary Art & The Digital Network




It challenges the anxious adherence to smooth operation and undisturbed functionality, and to 'the requirement of a corporate, service oriented economy and management structure; small-family size, with emphasis on leisure and sexual compatibility between spouses; consumerism; andanxiety about hidden forces within the body that might be disturbed by emotional excess‘.



Technology & the DarknessThe Emergence of the Creative Class


Dark Exposure : Music, Fashion, Hair and the 1980’s Goth Scene

Siouxsie & the BansheesBromley London, 1976

The CureCrawley, West Sussex, 1976

Joy DivisionSalford, Manchester, 1976



• The movement away from the mainstream in themusic scene created a niche of vital contextualelements that would later be picked up in other areasof popular culture.

• In late 1970’s and early 1980’s cinema, as audiencesexpanded and the notion of the “blockbuster” wasinvented, the subtext of the mainstream fair was darkand the retro stylings of the “other” had an air ofnostalgia.

• References abound for the exploitation of the visualiconography of the “gothic”, of “horror”, and of the“surreal” and the “fantastic “.

Cinema and the rise of the Darkness



Technology & the DarknessThe Emergence of the Creative Class


Dark Reflections : Gothic Horror, Camp Nazi Regalia, Leather & Whips

JawsSpielberg, 1975

Raiders of the Lost ArkSpeilberg, 1981

Star WarsLucas, 1977

Mad MaxMiller, 1979

Apocalypse Now,Coppola, 1979



• This would be fabulously exploited two decadeslater by a much more pervasive and influential force: (Hollywood/ Blockbuster) cinema

• The most obvious manifestation of this tendencycan be seen in the “rebooted” comic strips producedby the Hollywood studio system of the early 21C

• In particular the Batman & Superman franchises.However, this can also be seen in the more recentrenderings of Spiderman & the Incredible Hulk





• If we take for a moment this macro perspective on the comic book genre of Hollywood adaptation we will see some recurring elements which marked a distinct shift in style and the co-opting of “new gothic” properties :

• Obvious “dark” colour & texture shadings to the production design

• Gothic architecture, brooding locations and retro costuming

• Character Introspection resulting in self doubt and at times self loathing

• Steam punk technology in science fiction and contemporary metaphysical settings

• The anxiety attack - the recoil from the calamity of the modern well stitched urban environment and prosaic society





Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Iconography


Superman (Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, Ohio, USA)

Superman first appeared in 1938 and in person at the New York World Fair in 1939. It drew influences from early science fiction pulp novels (costume) and its location and modernist tendencies from Metropolis (Lang, 1930).





Frosty Flakes Commercial | Kelloggs | circa 1950sSuperman | George Reeves | 1951





Superman was produced for TV in the 1950s and had its first faithful reproduction on film in 1979 by director Richard Donner. It appeared again on TV in 1997 as Lois & Clark (ABC), before it was reconfigured for cinema again in 2006 by Bryan Singer. In the same year it was developed into a brooding comic book form by Donner, which has been sited as the precursor for a darker version due for a 2010 release.







Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Colour & Texture


Batman (Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, USA)

First appeared in May 1939 and like Superman, the crime fighter grew out of the hard boiled pulp fiction publisher Detective Comics. In the 1960s Batman was camped up for television before it was returned to its dark origins at the hand of Frank Miller in the mid 1980s.





It was Frank Miller’s dark interpretation as an adult graphic novel which has become the template for the new series of films byChristopher Nolan which epitomise “the darkness” which pervades contemporary cinema. It’s gothic origins of course are best represented by Tim Burton’s classic telling of the Batman saga in his 1989 version.





Batman | Adam West & Burt Ward | 1966 Batman | Burton | Michael Keaton | 1989












Through this lens – beyond the iconography of comic book mythology – we can also discern recurring “Neo Gothic” themes in a variety of other films.

• Otherness

• Steam Punk

• Cyber Punk / Identity Theft

• Internal Anxiety (The Self)

• External Anxiety (The Woods)




Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Otherness


American Psycho | Harron | 2000 Edward Scissorhands | Burton | 1990

The Incredible Hulk | Lee | 2003



Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Steam Punk


Sleepy Hollow | Burton | 2003 Time Machine | Wells | 2002

The Matrix | Wachowski | 1999



Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Steam Punk


The Matrix | Wachowski | 1999



Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Cyber Punk / Identity Theft


Minority Report | Spielberg | 2002Bladerunner | Scott | 1982 Brazil | Gilliam | 1985




“No longer concerned with the production of grand or majestic terror, the Gothic sublime today reflects a hesitant and apprehensive state of mind obscured by a deep fear of the unfamiliar future:

'It is the threat of the apocalypse that is the spectacle of the sublime; it is the threat of self extinction and "self-dissolution" that forces the subject to retreat back into the comfortable frame of the beautiful'.

In a final ecstatic danse macabre. we are slowly waltzing towards the end of the millennium, verging upon the edge of an eternal abyss, closer and closer until swallowed by an all-consuming vortex. It is the year 2000 - and we are still here.”




Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – Internal Anxiety


Donnie Darko | Kelly | 2000American Beauty | Mendes | 2000 The Ice Storm | Lee | 1996



Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – External Anxiety


The Village | Shyamlayan | 2004

Safe | Haynes | 1995

Pan’s Labyrinth | Del Toro | 2006



Cinema and the rise of the Darkness – External Anxiety


The Village | Shyamlayan | 2004




• This mix of the “ancient” and the “supermodern” - visible in the lace and leather and steel and steam-punk of the “new gothic” - permeates the subtext of a whole genre of 21C cultural output.

• Seemingly at odds with any notion of definition, this subtext precedes a certain tendency towards darkness via a complex range of psychological and behavioural characteristics.

• As seen in the characterisations on film this also manifests itself across a whole range of disciplines, which find venues on the page, in the gallery and online.


Herzog & the Monsters | Lesley Barnes | Glasgow School of Art | 2006




• And so to embellish the “modern gothic aesthetic” - struggling within their own obvious contradictions - the dark is codified by …

• Future shock / “The Rushing”

• The Exotic

• The Amoral / Antisocial

• Vigilance (to a personal code)

• Internal Conflict (with that code)

• The (Sexual) Allure of the other

• This subtext – or rather the visible absence of the subtext – is the trauma of the darkness.

• Its potential to be brought to the surface via unresolved tension, personal conflict or intervention is the dramatic nerve centre which gives the “new gothic” its allure and immense narrative potential.



Easton Ellis, B 1991 American Psycho in The Gothic, (p76-77)


This was what I could understand, this was how I lived my life, what I constructed my movement around, how I dealt with the tangible.

This was the geography around which my reality revolved: it did not occur to me, ever, that people were good or that a man was capable of change or that the world could be a better place through one's taking pleasure in a feeling or look or a gesture, or receiving another person's love or kindness.

‘



Easton Ellis, B 1991 American Psycho in The Gothic, (p76-77)


Nothing was affirmative, the term 'generosity of spirit' applied to nothing, was a cliché, was some kind of bad joke. Sex is mathematics. Individuality no longer an issue. What does intelligence signify?

Define reason. Desire - meaningless. Intellect is not a cure. Justice is dead. Fear, recrimination, innocence, sympathy, guilt, waste, failure, grief were things, emotions, that no one really felt anymore. Reflection is useless, the world is senseless. Evil is its only permanence. God is not alive. Love cannot be trusted. Surface, surface, surface was all that anyone found meaning in ... this was civilization as I saw it, colossal and jagged...”

American Beauty | Mendes | Dreamworks | 2000

“The most beautiful thing I have ever seen…”

Donnie Darko | Kelly | Pandora Cinema | 2001

“The Lifeline” Sequence

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Welcome to the Darkness