The Attractions of Modern Horror

Taking inspiration from Fred Botting's notion of
"the Disneygothic", this course will examine the
transformations of Horror and Gothicism as they've
saturated American markets, defined identities,
and remixed transgressive, and at times
status-quo, politics. Through screenings,
presentations, discussions, readings, and visiting
lecturers, Disneygothic will approach the
histories of Horror film, literature, and art,
both as mass-market phenomena and niche
subcultural material. We will question what,
besides simply fear, draws us to Horror. Students
will compare the Horror of today with precedents
such as: Poe's House of Usher, Lang's Metropolis,
Benjamin Christensen's Häxan, Carter's feminist
fairy tales, and Jewell Gomez' Afrofuturist
vampires. We'll review CalArts Horror history from
Tim Burton's rise to our very own labyrinth of The
Main Building. We'll discuss Shelley's
Frankenstein and its media legacy, Shirly
Jackson's parallel practice of horror and comedy,
and the seeds of today's Black Horror since
Blacula's fight for studio funding right up to the
last half-decade with Jordan Peele's game-changing
endeavors in the form. We'll focus on how and why
Horror is different today. What is finally out in
the open, and what remains repressed? How did the
transgressions of clandestine woman authors shape
this genre, and how can Horror tell non-extractive
stories about race? Is Horror still used as a
hegemonic and colonial resource? What changes when
Horror migrates from fan-scene to the mainstream?

Disneygothic can be thought of as a survey
featuring projects in writing, art, and community
engagement. We will critically address the
proliferation Horror ploys, such as theme park
rides, theater gimmicks, tie-in merchandise,
endless sequels, reality TV, True Crime podcasts,
Final Girl Mania, Prestige Television, and the
genericizing of holidays and marginalized faiths.
Students will maintain a Disneygothic Archive of
contemporary Horror tropes, media, or art (scary
or not) from day-to-day life, on which we'll base
weekly discussions. The course is structured to be
especially accessible to all métiers; we will
approach film, music, fashion, architecture,
writing, and more, to be determined by student
interest. Disneygothic is explicitly not a course
about the grizzliest or most extreme Horror, but
it will include some depictions of violence.