Postmodern Gothic 1 "It Was Just Like a Movie."

The Defining Features of Postmodern Gothic

In Modernism, reality used to validate media. In Postmodernism, the media validates reality. If

you don't believe this, just think how many times you've described some real event as being

"just like a movie." (Brad Holland)

Postmodern Gothic is a very particular kind of Gothic. It is a fairly new development in the

nearly 300-year-old life of the Gothic fiction; Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House

from 1959 may be one of the earliest examples of postmodern Gothic but even Hamlet can be

considered a postmodern progenitor in that it plays with language and form. Even though it is

relatively new as a genre it is actually a perfect fit because "some of the issues that are

explored separately in Gothic and postmodernist fiction, are one and the same, namely: crises

of identity, fragmentation of the self, the darkness of the human psyche, and the philosophy

of being and knowing" (Belville 2009, 53). However, it becomes important to define the

postmodern Gothic to establish a line where postmodern Gothic ends and Gothic-

postmodernisma very similar, but different genrestarts. This is the aim of this essay.

To this end this essay is divided into two parts: the first part briefly explains the

similarities between the terms Gothic and postmodernism before bringing them together and

highlighting the key features of postmodern Gothic as opposed to the similar Gothic-

postmodernism. The second part demonstrates the different features with regard to two texts

and two movies, namely Bret Easton Elllis' Lunar Park, Mary Harron's adaption of Ellis'

American Psycho (2000), the short story "Gemcrack" by Jayne Anne Phillips, and John

Carpenter's alien invasion movie The Thing (1982).

Postmodern Gothic 2 Part I: Defining Postmodern Gothic

From the Gothic to Postmodernism

The term Gothic is old enough to have established a relatively stable, though broad,

definition but in light of its relationship to postmodernism it requires some attention. In her

book on the Gothic-postmodernism, Maria Beville analyzes "Gothic in terms of oppositions

and confrontations: life and death; good and evil; human and monstrous; male and female;

self and other; past and present; fiction and reality and so on [] The Gothic functions to

blur the distinctions that exist when oppositions such as these are presented" (2009, 41).

Although it is possible to find binary oppositions in almost all literary genres and critical

approaches, Beville's statement shows Gothic's deeply rooted connection with

postmodernism, which, also, "erodes binary oppositions" (Pinedo 1996, 18), or in Hutcheon's

words: "we hear of discontinuity, disruption, dislocation, decentring, indeterminacy, and

antitotalization. What all of these words literally do [] is incorporate that which they aim to

contestas does, I suppose, the term postmodernism itself" (1988, 3).

Furthermore, the Gothic genre "was a prelude to both psychoanalytic and

deconstructive theories, rallying behind the dispersal of constructed systems of meaning that

function to impose hierarchies of being based on difference and silence. It became the true

voice for that which is unspeakable; unrepresentable" (Beville 2009, 41), which is an idea

that the postmodernist Jean-Franois Lyotard took one step further by saying that "it is not up

to us to provide reality but to invent allusions to what is conceivable but not representable"

(1992, 24).

These allusions, then, take the form of monsters in Gothic fiction, at first distanced

"from everyday life by locating them in an exotic time or place" (Pinedo 1996, 19) but later,

as postmodernism started to influence the Gothic, the monster could be found "in a

Postmodern Gothic 3 contemporary American city, sometimes a small town, thus drawing the danger closer to

home" (Pinedo 1996, 19), "and in doing so, the dark underside of humanity is put on display

with all its hate, greed and prejudice laid bare, for the 'human' reader who is often unaware of

his or her own monstrosity. Gothic discourse can subsequently be seen as giving a voice to

this dark side of what could be termed our collective unconscious" (Beville 2009, 41-42).

This links in to the postmodern idea of "the breakdown of moral clarities" (Todd Gitlin

quoted in Pinedo 1996, 17), which, in turn, refers back to Hutcheon's "discontinuity,

disruption, dislocation, decentring, indeterminacy, and antitotalization", i.e., the breaking

down of boundaries, categories, master narratives, and institutions (Pinedo 1996, 17-18), all

of which are markers of postmodern culture. The cycle is complete with Belville's remark

that "Gothic literature has over the centuries, developed its own subversive language, or

'counter-narrative'" (2009, 41), which is the equivalent to the decentralization and the loss of

grand narratives. Now that the key similarities between the Gothic and postmodernism are

explained it is, paradoxically, vital to dissect them again in order to make out what belongs to

the postmodern Gothic and what is deemed Gothic-postmodernism.

Postmodern Gothic Versus Gothic-Postmodernism

At first sight it might seem like both terms denote the same genre but Belville makes an

important observation by saying that "Gothic-postmodernism is not, although it is closely

related to, the 'postmodern Gothic'" (2009, 51). She notes that "'Gothic' is the adjective of the

term" (2009, 51) Gothic-postmodernism, and, in turn, 'postmodern' can be considered the

adjective of the term postmodern Gothic. The difference established by switching the terms is

quite significant. Gothic-postmodernism, with its descriptive term 'Gothic', "functions to

fulfil the expression of the darkness of postmodernity" (Belville 2009, 16); it is a genre that

encompasses all "literary postmodernist texts that are distinctly Gothic" (Belville 2009, 51).

Postmodern Gothic 4 Postmodern Gothic, on the other hand, is first and foremost a Gothic text, which includes

strong postmodern features. Its purpose is not primarily to "[voice] the terrors of

postmodernity" (Belville 2009, 8) but rather to voice the terrors and fears of 'self' towards

'other' in a postmodern culture that serves to fill the gap between the 'self' and the horror.

Belville adds that "awareness of terror, terrorism and death via media representation has

become a source of cultural fear" (2009, 23) as well.

Here are three examples to make this distinction clearer: Paul Auster's City of Glass is

a perfect example of a Gothic-postmodern text; it would not be considered a Gothic text in

itself because it is primarily a postmodern novel but, as Belville points out, Auster

demonstrates "the deeper issue of the lingering emotion of terror as it relates to loss of reality

and self, and to death" (2009, 10), which puts this novel into the realm of the Gothic-

postmodernism.

On the other end of the scaleand it must be considered a scale because both terms

are too closely related to always be able to make out whether a text is either one or the

otherAmerica Psycho can easily be thought of as a postmodern Gothic example because it

belongs to the slasher film genre, which often features a psychopathic serial killer. However,

it relies heavily on postmodernism to illuminate the crisis of identity of protagonist and

psychopath Patrick Bateman, which makes this a distinctly postmodern Gothic text.

Belville points out Lunar Park as one example that "fluctuates between two genres

and its classification [] is dependent on the 'inbetweenness' achieved in this movement"

(2009, 58); at some parts it tends to be very Gothic and at other times it is totally postmodern.

Having distinguished between Gothic-postmodernism and postmodern Gothic the next step is

to define the key features of the latter.

Postmodern Gothic 5 Key Features of the Postmodern Gothic

Although Beville's book deals with Gothic-postmodernism, she strikes up a few points that

are just as important to postmodern Gothic. Significantly, there is the violation of boundaries,

the erosion of binary oppositions, and "a rejection of overarching concepts of truth and

reality" (2009, 23). This is fundamental to both Gothic and postmodernism, as well as both of

its joint terms. This will be the primary focus in the discussion of Lunar Park. Binary

oppositions such as reality/fiction, truth/lies, and Ellis as author/Ellis as protagonist are just

some of the major boundaries that are crossed oftenbut always with intention. Pinedo adds

some general boundaries that are crossed, especiallybut not exclusivelyin horror films:

the lines between "living and dead [vampires and zombies], normal and abnormal [body

horror], human and alien [The Thing], and good and evil [American Psycho] are blurred and

sometimes indistinguishable" (1996, 20). Overall, then, this feature "aims at leading the

reader to the general conclusion that truth, reality and experience are in essence purely

subjective and personal" (Beville 2009, 48).

A second feature of the postmodern Gothic draws heavily from postmodernism but

really comes to life in the realm of horror and Gothic. It can manifest itself as comical

exaggeration, parody, irony, or superficiality and usually privileges style over substance and

spectacle over seriousness; the overarching theme is one of playfulness. Interestingly, this

feature is at the heart of many horror movies, novels and comic books.1

All of this shows that "[t]he fiction of the creating subject gives way to the frank

confiscation, quotation, excerptation, accumulation and repetition of already existing images.

Notions of originality, authenticity and presence [] are undermined" (Crimp 1983, 53

quoted in Hutcheon 1988, 11). This postmodern playfulness is so at home in the Gothic and

horror genre because it really enables the authors, writers, directors, and even fans to play

with the original. Part of this feature are "open-ended narratives, minimal plot and character

Postmodern Gothic 6 development, and, relatedly, the difficulty of audience identification with undeveloped and

unlikable characters" (Tania Modleski quoted in Pinedo 1996, 18). Since this is quite a broad

feature it will be split between American Psycho and The Thing. The discussion of American

Psycho will focus on the elements of superficiality and parody, while open-endedness and

originality are the main focal point of the analysis of The Thing.

The third, and for this essay last, key feature is based on David Punter's concept of the

"sliding of location" (2005, 170). For him Gothic "has always had to do with disruptions of

scale and perspective" (2005, 170) and he suggests that "in the numerous conjunctions of

Gothic and the postmodern [there is] a certain sliding of location, a series of transfers and

translocations from one place to another, so that our sense of the stability of the map is

forever under further siege" (2005, 170). This can be taken quite literally in that, instead of

the Gothic castle, there now are hotels, suburban homes, and cities but on another level it

links into the crisis of identity and disruption of the 'self'. In the postmodern era "the

psychotic killer's inexplicable violent rampage has supplanted the traditional monster of

castles and closed ending" (Pinedo 1996, 20), which answers Punter's rhetorical question of

"what has happened to the Gothic castle" (2005, 170); it has moved into a contemporary

space and its horroror monsterlives on in the serial killer or psychopath. Jayne Anne

Phillips' short story "Gemcrack" is a perfect example of this feature as it dissects the location

known as New York City. Now that the major features of postmodern Gothic are explained

the essay moves to the second part to analyze four examples of postmodern Gothic, each with

regard to one specific feature.

Part II: Analyzing the Key Features of Postmodern Gothic

Violating Boundaries: Lunar Park's Struggle for Truth

Postmodern Gothic 7

Regardless of how horrible the events described here might seem, there's one thing you must

remember as you hold this book in your hands: all of it really happened, every word is true.

(Ellis 2005, 45)

Every word is true? Of course it is not. Ellis2 blurs the line between fact and fiction to such

an extent that it becomes an immense problem for the reader to make out what is true and

what is not. Pinter says that "[t]here are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is

unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or

false; it can be both true and false" (1977, 11). Analyzing Lunar Park's struggle for truth may

shed some light on this issue.

Throughout the novel Ellis spreads hints that question the truth of the entire story: "As

a writer, it was easy for me to dream up the more viable scenario than the one that had

actually played itself out [] you slant all evidence in favor of the conclusions you want to

produce and you rarely tilt in favor of the truth" (217).3 Does this mean that the story is

fiction, that not "every word is true"?

Adam Phillips says that "Ellis is more convinced than most contemporary novelists

that the real is what we want to turn away from, and that the reader, by the same token, will

only go on reading as long as the writer has made it all seem fake" (2005) but is this really

the case for Lunar Park? Unarguably, Bret attempts to make the reader believe everything

really happened, he says, "I've decided against wearing masks [] I want to be real honey

(46) but maybe he does not know the truth either, "You're not a fictional character, are you,

Mr. Ellis?" (185).

There is one passage, however, that comments on this constant interplay and,

probably, reveals more about the truth than all the other statements: "I realized the grim fact

that as hard as you try, you can hide the truth from children for only an indefinite period, and

Postmodern Gothic 8 even if you do tell them the truth, and lay out the facts for them honestly and completely,

they will still resent you for it" (241). Phillips asks, "can you keep the truth from yourself as

an adult?" (2005) and as it turns out this does not matter because Ellis makes it impossible for

the reader to establish truth because "[h]ow can a fictional thing become real?" (368).

In terms of metafiction Lunar Park ups the ante; Ellis the author writes the novel

Lunar Park, just like Bret the character writes the novel Lunar Park and on top of that Ellis

has created an alter ego for Bret which is just called "the writer" and serves to give additional

information, fill in gaps"something happened that I don't remember. The writer filled in the

blanks" (370)and frequently converses with him, often to reflect on something that Bret is

thinking about, e.g., "Hadn't you once wanted to 'see the worst'? the writer asked me. Didn't

you once write that somewhere? I might have. But I don't want to anymore. It's too late, the

writer said" (371). All of these layers of writing and fiction just reveal that Lunar Park's

struggle for truth is not a struggle at all, on the contrary, Ellis intentionally confuses the

readership to make them realize that there is no ultimate truth, a distinct feature at the heart of

postmodern Gothic.

Killing in Style: Parody and Superficiality in American Psycho

Look at that subtle off-white coloring; the tasteful thickness of it. Oh my God, it even has a

watermark. (American Psycho)

American Psycho is a very versatile movie that "leaks into differing categories,

demonstrating characteristics of comedy, autobiography, spoof horror, bleak social

commentary, conventional horror, and pornography" (Helyer 2000, 741). This movie, much

like the novel it is adapted from, touches on almost all major postmodern Gothic features but

it really shines in the way it parodies itself, consumer society, capitalism, and, of course,

Postmodern Gothic 9 horror narrative in general. Riquelme says that "[t]he tendency toward excess is typical of the

Gothic, which regularly comes close to parody or self-parody" (2000, 599) but parody is also

"a perfect postmodern form, in some senses, for it paradoxically both incorporates and

challenges that which it parodies" (Hutcheon 1988, 11). This roots parody equally strong in

both realms, which is why it is so at home in postmodern Gothic novels and, especially,

movies. The analysis of parody in American Psycho focuses on the way it reveals the

superficiality of a consumer society as well as the way in which it parodies horror narratives

generally and specifically.

At the beginning of the movie Patrick gives a detailed account of his facial hygiene

routine: "I use a deep-pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water-activated gel cleanser,

then a honey almond body scrub and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an

herb mint facial mask, which I leave on for ten minutes while I prepare the rest of my

routine". This is just part of his facial hygiene. He also "dresses impeccably in extortionately

priced designer clothing [] routinely exercises [and lives] in his exquisitely furnished

luxury apartment" (Helyer 2000, 735). He is completely obsessed with superficial things, or

as he puts it: "There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of an abstraction, but there is

no real me". This, obviously, goes back to the question of what is real and what is not but it

also shows that Patrick's identity depends wholly on outside influences; there is "an obsession,

with the relationship between surface and depth, exterior and interior" (Sderlind 2008, 64).

Throughout the whole movie "Patrick's only desire is to 'fit in'" (Sderlind 2008, 66), he

hangs out with equally superficial acquaintances, is obsessed with trying to get a reservation

for the 'hottest' restaurant, and almost explodes when he sees that Paul Allen has a much

better business card than he does; this is one of the many exaggerated scenes of the movie

that not just "borders [] on the comical" (Riquelme 2000, 600) but, more importantly,

criticizes today's obsession with superficial and material things; it criticizes consumerism.

Postmodern Gothic 10 The Gothic side of this movie is equally exaggerated, to the point where Patrick's

"frightening side is so excessive it can border on the comical" (Helyer 2000, 730) as well.

The violent acts "are so over the top, so filmic, even comic-book [sic] in the details that we

are given [e.g. the nail gun] that it seems like something he has taken from a book or a film"

(Storey 2005). A memorable scene is when the prostitute Christie tries to escape from Patrick,

while he is chasing her completely naked with only a chainsawan homage to The Texas

Chainsaw Massacre (1974), which he was watching earlier on: "In a poetic moment, he drops

the chainsaw at exactly the right moment, and watches as it falls to impale and tear through

'Christie' just as she is closest to actual escape" (Murphet 2002, 76).

Overall, "[t]he excesses of American Psycho might appear to put it in a class virtually

by itself or to make it a parody of horror narrative, like the movie Scream" (Riquelme 2000,

599). In a perfectly postmodern and Gothic fashion this movie shows that the "self [] is

identified by a label or logo that has the same meaningor the same lack of meaning

irrespective of to whom or what it is attached" (Sderlind 2008, 66). It is almost impossible

not to take part in the postmodern culture of consumerism but one should be careful that it

does not consume oneself.

"Gemcrack", or, Location, Location, Location

You see me everywhere. I spit on the surface of night, on the rattling backdrops of subway

gutter art. I suck you up like erasers. I am that glittering drop of mercury spilled out a broken

glass stick. Mark me in numbers and names of the dead. (Phillips 1981, 254)

The unnamed narrator and serial killer of Phillips' short story "Gemcrack" is particularly

interesting because of the way he identifies with the city of New York. Just like Patrick

Bateman, the serial killer in this story "connects his geographic location, the city, with his

Postmodern Gothic 11 state of mind" (Helyer 2000, 731) and his state of mind is fractured and broken; he seems to

be everywhere at the same time: "I know the accountant's language of knuckles and swivel

chairs, the jostling streets, the department store blues of floorwalkers and lyric radios, the

sweat of laundress scheming in powders and starch, the burger joints deemed blessed by girls

in their thin legs" (254). As he himself says: "Mostly I'm invisible" (261). He is everywhere

and nowhere. Punter says that "[t]he postmodern [] envisages a 'spatial subject'not, that

is to say, a subject which can pass through neutral space, whether hindered or unhindered, but

a subject that is indelibly composed of its own location, that cannot be separated from, or

separate itself from, its own 'background'" (2005, 171)in this case this background is the

city, which the narrator is unable to separate himself from.

It is very clear, then, that the city is bound to the narrator. He might have an

apartment but he also lives "in the gutters of dog manure, wine and urine" (255). He worships

the city like a god"we pray for these great states, for the Great states of the City of New

York" (253)but he also refers to it as garbage, "[t]he Bronx smelled of garbage left in a

heat, smelled of a whole city wasting" (264). It's a dirty and filthy location (Jarvis 2001, 193).

The narrator's unhealthy and mad relationship with the city makes it all the more clear that he

cannot "'get away' at all" (Punter 2005, 185). There is, however, one place that clearly stands

out, a location that does not belong to the city: home.

Punter's idea of the sliding of location refers primarily to the trope of the Gothic castle,

which represents the horror and haunting, but in this story the other side of this coin, namely

homethought of as a safe place, a sanctuaryslides as well. Instead of referring to his

apartment as his home he frequently associates death with home, "I turn, squeeze off a quick

shot and the girl half dazed on sidewalk falls over, lays down like she's home" (253). If death

can be considered a location, and the narrator certainly does, than this shows that he wishes

to be dead, "Sometime, someone will see and follow me. I'll say they found me with special

Postmodern Gothic 12 eyes; I'll say they have grown up in light" (265). What remains is a subtler but nonetheless

important part of postmodern Gothic, namely the fractured 'self'. The narrator of this story is

simply mad and crazy, his home is the afterlife, and although he is everywhere, he remains

invisiblemostly.

The Thing Has no End in Sight

Childs: What do we do now?

MacReady: Why don't we just wait here for a little while? See what happens. (The Thing)

It is very unlikely that MacReady and Childs are still sitting in the Antarctica, waiting for

something to happen but the more important questions is: What are they waiting for? Maybe

they are waiting for a sequel, or a remake, or, illogically, a prequel? As a matter of fact a

prequel with the same name, The Thing (2011), is supposed to come out at the end of 2011.

John Carpenter's movie, however, is already a remake of a movie from 1951,4 which is

already an adaption from a story by John W. Campbell Jr. The Thing is certainly not the only

franchise that "forces a reconsideration of the idea of origin an originality" (Hutcheon 1988,

11).

As already mentioned, the last decades gave rise to an enormous amount of spoofs,

spin-offs, remakes, prequels, sequels and so forth. They are all more or less successful,

otherwise there would not be this culture of remakes. This is a very postmodern feature that

"entrenche[s] the originals even more deeply within the canon of horror cinema" (Hantke

2007, 197). Every author, every director, puts their own spin on it, demonstrating a new

viewpoint or, much more often, just supplying the viewers with what they want to see. The

Friday the 13th franchise is most iconic in this regard, with over a dozen reincarnations. One

might say that "students will learn more about horror film in the first fifty years of the 20th

Postmodern Gothic 13 century than about the last twenty years" (Hantke 2007, 200), and it is hard to argue against

this, but the problem is that the classics are not as accessible and they almost always fail to

engage the channel-hopping and special-effects-addicted young crowd of this day and age.

With any luck, these remakes may lead the young audience to find joy in the old classics:

"Now is as good a time as any to revisit the originals" (Rabin 2011).

Postmodernism also brought with it the concept of the open-ended narrative. In the

case of The Thing "the studio asked Carpenter to film a happy ending, he never reportedly

never [sic] showed it to test audiences. Carpenter sadistically avoids giving audiences any

relief throughout the film; why would he change course at the last moment?" (Rabin 2011).

This open-endedness plays a crucial part in opening the gates to a flood of remakes, sequels

and prequels, suggesting that it is never just one story, just one movie, but rather part of a

whole web of stories, all interwoven and connected. Childs and MacReady do not have to

wait much longer before the prequel to their story begins but they will probably never see the

end of the entire series.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this essay has defined and analyzed the major features of postmodern Gothic,

namely parody, originality, violation of boundaries and the crisis of 'self'. This is not to say

that all the features were covered; intertextuality and self-referentiality, for example, are also

quite important but they belong more to the postmodern side than the Gothic side and hence

do not play a key role in postmodern Gothic, as opposed to Gothic-postmodernism where it,

surely, plays an important part.

This essay's title denotes a particular movement in postmodernism that moves the

Gothic from the book to the screen. Written stories, obviously, play an important part in

Postmodern Gothic 14 postmodernism but because postmodernism favors popular/mass/low culture over

artsy/niche/high culture the screen is a much more suitable choice for postmodern Gothic,

evident in the fact that there are almost always remakes, spin-offs, sequels and so on. Like

Bret says in Lunar Park, "I did not immediately turn away [] because it seemed fake, like

something I had seen in a movie" (401). Whether fake or not, fact or fiction, real or unreal,

postmodern Gothic is a perfect mix of two conceptseach of which with its own audience.

The evolution from Gothic to postmodernism makes sense and whether it manifests as

Gothic-postmodernism or postmodern Gothic is probably not as important as the fact that

both genres deal with a similar problem: the issues and problems of 'self' in the context of a

contemporary setting to reveal that the true terror is always within and not without.

Postmodern Gothic 15 Endnotes

1. Many of the successful horror movies of the last decades gave rise to remakes

(Dawn of the Dead from 1978 and 2004), prequels and sequels (Friday the 13th from 1980 to

2009), parodies of classic horror movies (Scream 1-4, 1996-2011) or even parodies of

parodies of classic horror movies (Scary Movie 1-4, 2000-2006) as well as spin-offs and

crossovers, for example with comic books (30 Days of Night graphic novel from 2002 and its

film adaption from 2007). With regard to novels the recent development of horror 'mash-ups'

of classic stories come to mind (Jane Slayre from 2010 or Sense and Sensibility and Sea

Monsters from 2009).

2. To avoid confusion the name Bret will be used for the character in the novel while

the name Ellis will be used with regard to the actual author.

3. From this point onward single page numbers will refer to primary texts while no in-

text quotations refer to the primary movies.

4. In a sarcastic fashion Hantke discusses the issue of The Thing franchise: "At what

must be considered the bottom of the slump, even remakes of remakes are possible now; the

recent announcement of a new version of 'John Carpenter's The Thing' in The Guardian, for

example, omits any reference to Christian Nybys The Thing from Another World (1951). As

the boundary between original and remake vanishes, all concepts of originality, genealogy, or

history go out the window as well. One wonders how long it will take, after this latest remake

has been released, until someone will begin thinking about remaking the remake of John

Carpenter's remake of The Thing from Another World. And after that, if the money's right,

remaking that one . . . and after that . . . sky's the limit!" (2007, 192).

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Primary Sources

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Phillips, Jayne Anne. 1993. "Gemcrack." In Black Tickets, 253-265 London: Faber.

The Thing. 1982. Directed by John Carpenter and written by John W. Campbell Jr. and Bill

Lancaster: Universal Pictures.

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Postmodern Gothic 17 Lyotard, Jean-Franois. 1992. The Postmodern Explained to Children, translated by Julian

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