Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Art of Tragic Romanticism

The purpose of The Art of Tragic Romanticism is to explore the meaning behind the symbols, themes and metaphors of Gothic art, literature and film. I am presently working on two projects that parallel one another.

The Queen of Wonderland project attempts to explain, in plain language, the meaning behind the themes and metaphors that can be found in popular Gothic fantasies such as the Twilight series and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. It also contains references to other popular Gothic fantasy series that are available on DVDs. My basic premise is that the same cultural influences that inspire intuitive individuals to create Gothic fantasies are the same influences that inspire a naïve adolescence to go on a healthy diet that turns into anorexia nervosa. In other words, the Gothic heroine’s struggles with vampires can be interpreted as a metaphor for an anorexic’s struggles with the demons of anorexia nervosa.

The Art of Tragedy explores these same themes and metaphors, but in the context of Jungian Analytical Psychology.

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