Gothic films – OZTHOUGHTS

Not surprisingly most cyberpunk animations I have seen are dark, gloomy and deeply depressed – which is reasonable when you consider the underlying ideas of the Gothic movement that cyberpunk seems to have arisen from to a degree.

This teaser for a festival of cyberpunk films gives a good idea of the atmosphere that seems to pervade all the films I have come across. See what you feel.

To be honest, it is really more about Sci-Fi than what I believe cyberpunk is all about, though most cyberpunk writing (see William Gibson for example) is to a greater or lesser degree centered on Sci-Fi I suppose

All well and good I feel, but a bit of humour now and then might be pleasant I reckon. As with many such movements, cyberpunk seems to take itself dreadfully seriously.

Also it seems that most of these films are all centred on some computer game. There is an endless stream of references to “level 3” or “level 5” and so on. I know it is my ignorance at play here, all true cyberpunks will know exactly what these “levels” refer to. I simply can’t be bothered to look into it.

Anyhow, the films themselves are interesting I found, in their total immersion in the depressing world of cyberpunk.. all gloom, doom and violence, both cyber and old fashioned physical.

Here is another dip into the murky mindset of the cyberpunk world – Grab your Valium.

Continue reading “Cyberpunk Animations – Dark And Gloomy”

There is a type of animated film which can be best described as Gothic – not in the sense of those depressing looking kids who dress up in black and wear heavy eye-liner, but in the original sense of that word, dark, flowery and spooky, or as it is rather better put in these definitions of the word taken from the Urban Dictionary:-

(n.) 1. A word generally used in relation the the macabre or other darker elements.
2. A movement in literature that branched off of the individualist movement of the 1700’s, usually revolving around the darker elements of human nature.
3. Jagged and spacious architecture, usually referenced by Gothic cathedrals, in which vast open areas invoke feelings of belittlement.
4. A stereotype encompassing whiny, pissant teenagers craving attention. Usually identified by an immense use of black, vampires, blood, and anarchy symbols.

In this post I am using the word in the sense of the first two of the above definitions, so macabre, spooky and dark animations of which you might be surprised to know there are a vast number out there. Seems there is a gloomy and macabre streak in the minds of many animators – curious when you think of what most people think of when you say the word “animations”, sweet and twee. But not these guys!

So what constitutes a Gothic animation? I feel that this film sums it up quite well. Darker and more macabre would be hard to imagine, and I feel it would be a sign of a deeply disturbed personality to even be capable of imagining anything nastier than this film.

So sit back and watch what has to be a definitively Gothic animated film.

See what I mean? Not something to show to your 5 year old kids is it?

Paradoxically, while the film above has all the best known aspects of a Gothic film, not all Gothic films are so gruesome, and certainly not all of them are as literally dark. This next one (which is the first of a whole series of animations which tell one long story in serial form) has cheerful colours in it, and isn’t totally macabre… yet……

Continue reading “Gothic Animated Films”