Gothic vs. Horror?

Question:

Gothic vs. Horror?

What's the difference between Gothic art/media and Horror? How do I tell whether or not something has been influenced by the Gothic tradition? Is it a matter of atmosphere, setting, plot, etc? What makes something Gothic?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I think that horror is necessarily influenced by the gothic tradition, since generally prior to the publication of Horace Walpole's "The Castle of Otranto" scary stories were mostly cautionary folk tales. That was one of the first books published by a contemporary author (although under the pretense of being an old book translated) that was written and read purely for the thrill of a scary story. That was in 1764, so it is pretty tame by today's standards. Later came Victor Hugo, Lord Byron, Mary & Percy Shelley, Stoker, and Pollidori, who wove a darker influence into the Romantic movement of literature and art.

Some themes which frequently in Gothic works, in addition to the general tragedy around which the plot revolves, are sublime, mysitical, or supernatural experiences, the presence of a flawed hero or a villain we might sympathise with, and something exotic, ancient, or unknown. How these things might manifest can vary greatly from one work to another. You are meant to think, and there are few easy answers as to whose side you are meant to be on. It may be dark, but the issues addressed are not simply black-and-white.

I think of horror as being more grisly, without so much of the philosophy and thoughtfulness. I would include both slasher-type themes where the protagonists are basically innocent good, fighting for survival against some purely destructive evil thing, and psychological examinations of the inner workings of a killer's mind, which tend to focus on the gory details of the process of dismemberment as much as the actual mindstate that could lead a person to do such things. Basically anything that makes you say, "Eww! How horrible!"