Looks like the birthplace of Bela Lugosi : The Texas chainsaw massacre and films of the Southern Gothic

Abstract

Films depicting, made in, and recreating the American South are always categorized as other kinds of genres: horror, film noir, romantic epic, women’s pictures, etc. On the other hand, the literary tradition of the Southern Gothic is often referred to when categorizing certain kinds of Southern films, yet it is still a genre that is considered to be primarily footed in literature. In those films, the identification of the Southern Gothic is based upon the predetermined conventions of the literary genre, and is brought to life through visual and verbal clues. For the purposes of this thesis, I would like to convey how the literary genre of the Southern Gothic is also exemplified in the medium of cinema. I plan to do this by using examples from a selection of films which fall within the confines of the literary genre, but paying particular attention to the 1974 film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I hope to convince readers that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film which has its own set of predetermined genre tropes and history, might also be read in terms of the Southern Gothic literary tradition, and is a prime example of the way in which the literary genre is also cinematic. To do this I will use the 1939 film, Gone With the Wind as an example of the Old South, of which to base the opposing Southern Gothic ideals. My analysis will include case studies in which I analyze the way in which Southern hospitality is utilized in works of the Southern Gothic, and also how the Southern Gothic focuses on freakish characters to highlight the underbelly of the traditional Southern mythology.