ABSTRACT
Gothic has never been solely a literary phenomenon. In the eighteenth century, the public appetite for horrid thrills found satisfaction not only in fiction, but also in magic-lantern shows and sensational theatre productions. These spinetingling spectacles became modulated into the stage melodrama of the nineteenth century, and eventually into the horror cinema of the twentieth. By the end of the twentieth century, Gothic influences were visible within all sorts of media, including television, comics, theme park rides, video games and the world wide web. In Goth subculture, which first emerged in the late 1970s and continues to enjoy huge popularity today, Gothic was transformed into a visual look, a subgenre of popular music and a lifestyle.
