All things Gothic

ART

American Gothic by Grant Wood-1930
Oil painting on Beaver wood
A classic image that most people would know. What I like most from this image is how it portrays the sadness in the facial expressions the outfits are very gothic and the womens hair is victorian center parting hair off the face and tied back into he bun. Looking at this image makes me think why is he holding a that is it to do with his job. At first glance the house behind them looks like a church and is very gothic looking also why are they sad? people usually smile for photos and the necklace is that the type of death locket have they just lost a family member? this is why I love art it questions you and makes you think. 

http://uk.phaidon.com/the-art-book/articles/2012/august/24/expressionism-explained/

The scream-Edvard Munch, between 1893 and 1910 Expressionism concentrated mainly in Germany, and was a prevalent artistic force from 1905 to 1930. I like this painting as you can see that hes screaming but are unsure why? he's looking off into the distance which makes me think what is coming towards him the fear of the un known is properly one of the biggest fears so I feel this art work fits in perfectly with the gothic horror theme

Literature
Dracular 
http://literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/
is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker the famous story of the vampire Count Dracula attempt to move from Transylvania to England  so he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. I admire the story as its the bases of every horror its the iconic image and has influenced all horrors and so many films have been re created from the idea of count Dracula
  

charles dickens

Charles Dickens was a  Victorian classic English literature writer who's work has lasted throughout the years and is still referenced and seen as inspiration to artist writers and historians as he was a big part of molding the Victorian era by bringing the public's attention to how badly the poor people's living conditions were that influenced the way the rich people started charities to help the improve their lives.He was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812 and Died in 1870 meaning he lived through the industrial revolution where he wrote how life changing it was for the poor people in the industrial revolution many people died as men,women and children were made to work. So I feel death was a big part of the Victorian era as it was part of normal life and I feel that influenced some of his writing. I love how dickens wrote about people in every day life facing problems that no matter the era everybody faces such as comforting issues like; love,heartbreak,money and the daily struggles of life. He made characters very relatable such as pip, I can relate myself to pip as he's come from a background of not a lot of money and is trying to improve his life but I feel that's relatable to a lot of people as we are all reaching for something better and trying to find the best possible way of living for ourselves. 
          I feel that Dickens was man of the people voicing issues of the time that no one else did he spoke of poverty and crime linked as the less money people had the more crimes they had to commit to survive. which you could also reference from Oliver twist with the children being pick pockets to survive. Dickens suggested that if you helped improve living conditions crime rates would reduce and he spoke how wrong it was for child labor and pointed out that only poor children worked in mills and factories which did result in many deaths or body mutations from limbs being trapped in the machines and the rich were sent to school to receive an education which would help them in later life. 
https://londonbygaslight.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/charles-dickens-102_243922a.jpeg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/charles_dickens/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml

The film great expectations 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dyHe-svfrY

A link of the trailer of the film

Directed by Mike Newell and the screen play was written by David Nicholls. I personally really enjoyed watching this film although I feel it was squashed certain points to briefly although the film is around two hours old It did under play certain moments. Although I love the charachter of Ms Havirsham Helena Bonham Carter Is a much Loved actress of mine and I couldn't think of anyone else to portray Ms Havisham as she excels in odd and wonderful rolls. Com paired to the Tv series the film is more flamboyant and theatrical which adds life the story. AlthoughI might add that personally nothing can be better than reading the book but the closest that I've enjoyed is watching the Tv series on bbc 3.

I love how every interpretation I have seen they always  fixate on the drama when Pip first meets Estella and Miss Havisham. You can see the fear in Pip and Miss Havishams spots that and makes a remark ' Your not scared of a women that hasn't seen the sun since you have been born are you' in quite an aggressive condescending tone of voice. Then she demands him to 'play play go on play' knowing that Pip being poor wouldn't be used to being told that and goes against what he knows as hard work.

Holliday Grange plays the role of Estella in the film. Holliday is the perfect example of a natural beauty, she plays the role of going from innocent and misunderstood to harsh stern and knowing her goal very well and using her natural beauty to allure and seduce who is played by Jeremy Irvine although handsome and sweet looking I'm not sure that the role entirely suited him as he seemed out of place in certain scenes as I felt his accent didn't always stay the same. I'm glad I watched the film as its helped me get a better picture of how to adapt the story and create my characters with still being true to Charles Dickens story line. This wasn't my favorite adaptation of great expectations although Helena properly made me like it more as her make-up was grotesque in the most beautiful form from the rotting teeth to the dark eyes she screamed of  betrayal, lost and over all just the corpse of a once happy person and I would like my final to speak to people just by them looking at it. 

introduction

My understanding of the Victorian beauty ideals is that 'natural' looking beauty was the fashion. ''Women of a higher class powder to tone down shine and give the skin a lustrous glow, it was used sparingly. Even eye shadows and lipsticks were very pale in tone and carefully applied. Bold colors and heavy makeup application was initially considered taboo and was used only by prostitutes'' 
http://www.thebeautybiz.com/87/article/history/beauty-through-ages-victorians
From watching the tv series of Great Expectations really helped me start my project as it gave me a more visual idea of what Victorian beauty Ideals were I really loved the way the make-up was shown throughout the film especially Mrs Havishman her character had many layers she was a tainted person from her heart break that she never recovered from which showed with in her nervous ticks  such as the scratching of her hands I loved how the make-up artist progressed throughout the series by making the scratch get worse with the skin more flakey and painful looking. i also thought that her dry lips that were flaking away really added affect to the shadow of a once happy woman. As a whole Mrs Havishman was an un-happy woman replaying her past. Her whole house was like a memorial for what could of been the happiest day of her life the design of the house with the slowly degrading furniture showing how desperate she id to keep the dream alive. Even still wearing her wedding dress that is dirty and falling apart.From her heart break she became bitter and cynical about love leading to her adopting a baby girl to train her to break every mans heart she came across.