An Analysis of Gothic Elements in Corpse Bride

Abstract

Gothic is a style of art characterized by terror, death, Castle and curse. The combination of Gothic and movies not only enriched people's audio-visual experience and psychological feelings, but also inherited and developed Gothic culture. Director Tim Burton is a representative of the Gothic film. His animated films are different from the traditional mainstream animated films. His animation is dominated by darkness, horror, absurdity and exaggeration. The film uses a lot of Gothic elements, especially the movie Corpse Bride is a classical work that embodies Gothic culture.

This thesis takes Corpse Bride as the research object and analyzes the Gothic elements in the film. The first part mainly introduces the plot of the film. The second part is a brief introduction to Gothic. The third part introduces the core of the Gothic  elements in the Corpse Bride: dark fairy, exaggerated style of expressions, and non-mainstream animation themes. The fourth part analyzes in detail the Gothic elements of the juvenile, animals and skulls in the film. The fifth part explains the significance of using Gothic elements in the film. This thesis aims to provide some references for development mode and style characteristics of Chinese films by analyzing the Corpse Bride .

Finally, this thesis draws the following conclusion: The Gothic elements of Corpse Bride are mainly expressed in melancholy juvenile, weird animals and lonely skulls. Beside, this movie using abundant of dark colors and medieval music. The application of these Gothic elements has not only changed people's traditional aesthetics but also expressed concern for marginalized people.

Key words: Corpse Bride; Gothic; Tim Burton