Genre Survey: Southern Gothic

From the muddy brown waters of the Mississippi to the coal black mines in Appalachia, the American South has long had its share of stories best told in the dark. These tales of violence, racial tensions, religious extremism and supernatural horror are often smothered in a humid blanket of delirium and reality-bending nightmarish elements that have haunted the American South for over a century. The artistic genre of Southern Gothic combines these macabre and horror elements along with the evolution of the history and character of the region to create many classic works of literature, art, and music, as well as widely popular movies and television.

The Southern Gothic genre is thought to have originated as a largely post-Civil War artistic movement to contrast the Confederacy’s false portrayal of the American South as an idyllic, morally superior, peaceful farming region. The reality of the American South offered for many people a life as oppressive, stagnant, and suffocating as the crushing heat, filled with violence, horrific secrets and repressed desires in service of a false image slowly rotting from the inside out. Some of the most common themes in the genre include poverty and a severe wealth and education gap, religious extremism, judgement, corrupt family structures or histories, racial tensions and racism, violence, disenfranchised and anxious characters, cultural repression, and grotesque or macabre imagery. Narratives that fall within this category often depict both the moral and physical degradation of the American South, inducing an overall sense of dread and slow but constant deterioration with imagery that includes decaying buildings and farms, barren fields, pervasive plant-life, intense heat, muddy water and swampland, cemeteries and gravesites, and often grotesque descriptions of disfigurement in human characters as well and animals. Other Gothic elements that are prevalent include the supernatural such as ghosts, which are often manifestations of past violence, secrets, or repression, and vampires, as well as region-specific cultural mythic creatures and cryptids. Cannibalism and incest can also be found within this genre, especially among poorer characters and those lacking in education, as well as incidents of delirium and untreated mental illness, which are often exacerbated by the climatic conditions of the region. Demonic and satanic elements are common features in these works as well. Different regions within the South also provide features that expand the culture further, such as the prevalence of voodoo in Louisiana, mountain lore in Appalachia, and marsh culture in coastal North Carolina.

The origins of the Southern Gothic genre began chiefly within literature. Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic horror stories, such as The Raven, The Telltale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher often place him as a founder of American Gothic, and from this tree of dark American romanticism grew the subgenre of American Gothic chiefly set in and surrounding issues of the American South. Thus evolved the works of such mainstay Southern Gothic authors as William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery O’Connor. Other works within this genre include Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and Harper Lee’s beloved children’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Other essential works include Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, both of which articulate a perspective of Southern life from the experience of a black woman and furthers the scope of common Southern Gothic themes such a race relations, violence, and repressed sexuality.

Along with the progression of storytelling mediums, the Southern Gothic genre has evolved into movie and television depictions as well. Some earlier screen portrayals of the Southern Gothic genre include the film adaptions of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), John Boorman’s Deliverance (1972), and The Beguiled (1971), starring Clint Eastwood. The 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire also falls within the Southern Gothic film category. Southern Gothic films in the new millennium include The Skeleton Key (2005), Rob Zombie’s gruesome horror flick The House of 1000 Corpses (2003), and Winter’s Bone (2012), which features an award-winning breakout performance by Jennifer Lawrence. Television portrayals of dark Southern culture have risen in popularity in recent years, including widely known series such as True Detective, The Walking Dead, Bloodline, True Blood, Ozark, Lovecraft Country, and the third season of American Horror Story entitled Coven. The hit CW television series Supernatural features many depictions of Southern Gothic culture, one hallmark example is Season 2, Episode 8, titled “Crossroad Blues.”

In addition to literature, music was also one of the first iterations of Southern Gothic art. Classical music influences of this genre represent the many sounds of Southern culture such as country, bluegrass, gospel, rock, traditional Black spirituals, folk, and blues, and often centers around dark, macabre, or violent subjects. Musically this genre often employs an acoustic style, bass, stout and pulsing percussion, and incorporates instruments traditionally found within Southern music, such as the banjo, harmonica and fiddle. Most known originators of this genre include the earliest blues pioneers such as Charlie Patton, originators of “When the Levee Breaks” Memphis Minnie and her husband Kansas Joe, Sister Rosetta Thorpe, and many others. Johnny Cash is also a notable classic artist of the genre, with songs such as “Hurt” and “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” as some of the most paramount examples. Perhaps one of the most well-known classics of the genre is “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” performed by the Charlie Daniels Band. Though there are classic representation of Southern Gothic within musical art, there has also been somewhat of a resurgence in recent years of contemporary folk artists incorporating the genre into their style. Irish-born musical artist Hozier, with songs like “Take Me to Church” and “It Will Come Back,” paints a picture of romantic repression and anxiety with classical Southern Gothic sounds and imagery. Bands such as The Civil Wars and Leftover Salmon have several songs within their discography that follow the themes and sounds of the genre. Cole Chaney’s “Ill Will Creek” and Parker Millsap’s “Old Time Religion” speak to the religious components and fearful, dark themes of the Southern Gothic style. The Hollywood Voodoo component often assigned to New Orleans cultural media depiction is also prevalent in many of these revivals, as portrayed in “Save My Soul” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

In addition to the works previously mentioned, there are many other notable depictions of the Southern Gothic style from which to draw inspiration. With its dark romanticism, gritty themes, and breadth of compelling elements like the supernatural and macabre, this genre is not only entertaining to explore for readers and viewers, but also perhaps more importantly, functions as a meaningful means of storytelling for people who have endured hardships and horrors inflicted in the American South.