Gothic Historical Television Dramas

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar

Description

Two-hour online lecture and discussion, 10am-12 noon, 7pm-9pm GMT.

Historical dramas on television can take on many modes: romances, comedies, swashbucklers, and the Gothic. While there have long been examples of Gothic historical dramas adapted from Gothic literature, or Gothic representations of the Victorian period, the Gothic mode can also be found used for a range of other historical periods. Think Regency-set Taboo, or Peaky Blinders in the 1920s and 30s, or the 1940s America of The Terror: Infamy, or, arguably, the Roman Republic of Starz’ Spartacus. These productions share aspects of aesthetics, tone, and concern with historical trauma that can be seen as still being active and having repercussions in the present. In doing so, these productions emphasise a past that was not glorious and attractive, but full of hardship and exploitation and subjugation.

This session will outline what is meant by the Gothic historical television drama, and work through examples to suggest its current significance. We will discuss how the Gothic historical television drama can be understood as challenging some of the received ideas of period drama on television. We will also consider what this means in terms of changing engagement and conceptions of the past, and why it might be that this Gothic mode seems to be a currently popular way of engaging with our pasts, and the ways that they echo in the present.
Period01 Oct 2022
Held atRomancing the Gothic, United Kingdom
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Television
  • Gothic
  • HIstory
  • Historical drama

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