The Gothic-culture dynamic

Review: McGuire, A. and, Buchbinder, D. (2010) ‘The Forensic Gothic: Knowledge, the Supernatural, and the Psychic Detective.’ In Canadian Review of American Studies 40,(3 ), p289-307. McGuire and Buchbinder (2010, p290) provide an interesting angle on the why shows like Medium and Supernatural are in current circulation. For McGuire and Buchbinder the meaning and content of these shows are grounded culturally (p.292). There shared narrative structure and cultural concerns suggest these shows are doing similar cultural work (p.296). This exchange is enhanced by the nature and structure of the Gothic that enables societal concerns to be addressed (p. 292). The very nature of the Gothic enables natural themes to be addressed through the supernatural. For example, the Gothic separates the boundaries between the real and unreal blurred (p291) and allows structures of feeling to be addressed due to the foreign nature of the subject matter (p293). This enables, as argued by Gordon (on page, 292), for social dynamics to be confronted and analysed as they appear removed. Even character profiles and the relationships within these shows tread a line between the challenging and the stable which allows for cultural concerns to be addressed (p.304). The general model of the Gothic is aware of the anxieties around boundaries. This effects what subject matter and social dynamics are addressed. Both Medium and Supernatural create a space in which cultural concerns can be addressed, partly, due to the genre of these two shows. For McGuire and Buchbinder (2010, p295) Medium, addresses concerns over the moral structure of the nation where, Supernatural addresses concerns over the States vulnerability to terrorist attacks and the decay of the familial. Both of these shows are “[s]eeking the source of moral and physical threat to the States” (p295). In conclusion there is a dynamic within culture that can and is addressed through the Gothic. All references are from the above article.