Examples Of Gothic Conventions

Adeleine Dauray
Ms. Nadler
English 12
February 5, 2017 The conventions of the Gothic that we have talked about so far this year are things such as masks, pointed architecture, the supernatural, haunted spaces, and young girls who are innocent and weak. A specific TV series on Netflix comes to my mind when I hear of gothic conventions: The Vampire Diaries. The Vampire Diaries is very much about the supernatural. The main character, Elena, is a young teenager who lost both of her parents in a car accident. She is very weak, young, and a girl, relating to innocent girl theme. She falls in love with a much older man, who is 162 years old. Since he is a vampire, he appears a lot younger. His name is Stefan, and his older brother, Damon, is a villain. Villain’s are another gothic convention. He is very evil and dark with supernatural powers. Even more supernatural things in the Vampire Diaries include werewolves, witches, ghosts, and hybrids.
Another theme of the gothic conventions is a lack of a mother figure.
Often times there is a step mom who isn’t nice, or no mother figure at all. This is the case with The Vampire Diaries and the main character Elena, who doesn’t have a mom or a dad. She is the only one who survives the car accident they got into, and now is an orphan with her brother trying to survive high school. They are very “innocent”, which is very gothic, and have to learn to take care of eachother on their own. They have an aunt, Jenna, who comes to take care of them, but she is still at college and neglects them so they are still on their own. The lack of the mother figure adds to the weakness and innocence of Elena and her brother, forcing them to deal with their high school problems alone at a young
age. From the title, this show clearly involves vampires. There is a lot of fighting, death, blood, and evil. Blood is a very important element in The Vampire Diaries. Stefan and Damon, the brothers who are constantly fighting for the affection of Elena, are the two vampires. Since they are vampires and vampires survive from blood, there is a lot of fighting and eating. They often kill and eat the regular humans in the series, which can lead to more drama. Stefan feeds on animals in the woods. The werewolves, woods, and full moon add strong gothic elements to the series. Lastly, the tomb in The Vampire Diaries may be the most gothic and mysterious of all. The tomb is something no one has opened, and it is very mysterious for the viewers to watch because no one has been able to open it. It is where all of the vampires are trapped. It is very old, rusty, and mysterious which could fit in with the architecture. The vampires are constantly trying to release the other vampires inside. Overall, The Vampire Diaries fits into my ideal or first thoughts of gothic conventions. A lot have remained the same with it being a modern show, and the only thing that changes are the social problems and aspects that the main characters face. The vampires and the common assumptions of vampires in the show remain the same.