Gothic in Contemporary Culture

To talk about gothic one must define it.  Now many people have many different definitions for the topic, however we’ll stick to just one.  I came across a pretty good definition that we can base it off of. 

Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines the elements of both horror and romance. (Link to definition: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Gothic_fiction.html)

So if its about the mix of horror and romance, there are many things that this can cover.  Could this refer to someone’s romance of horror, as in their lust for it?  Would this imply that these two characteristics and any mix between them would constitute Gothic?

Well if that is indeed the case, contemporary culture has many things that can fill that role.  One that I think stands out is something that has been around for a decently long time.  Way back before I was born, during the 1970s, there was a rule set released for a table top war simulator.  This simulator was heavily based on the fantasy realms.  It was called Dungeons and Dragons.  Many people consider Dungeons and Dragons fantasy, however only its rule set is fantasy, players come up with the story.

Now what’s contemporary about this and how is it Gothic?  Well seeing as how even today it is played many places, I would still consider it contemporary.  As for gothic, the stories that players create to use the rule sets for tend to be Gothic.  There is ususally some princess or idea that one must defend that would fall under the lines of the romance, and the trials and tribulations that the party of players has to overcome would be the horror.  Seldom do you hear of a Dungeon Master that makes his story so that the horrors they experience make the characters look good.  Nope the horrors that are created for the players usually are there to disgust or scare the players.  Its usually about the unknown scares and creatures that are lurking.

It may be a bit of a stretch but I believe that having something that’s alive would be a good example. I know I’ve been apart a handful of adventures that definitely fall in line with Horror and Romance.