Gothic Remixed: Monster Mashups and Frankenfictions in 21st-Century Culture

(Paperback)

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Longlisted for the 2022 International Gothic Association's Allan Lloyd Smith Prize The bestselling genre of Frankenfiction sees classic literature turned into commercial narratives invaded by zombies, vampires, werewolves, and other fantastical monsters. Too engaged with tradition for some and not traditional enough for others, these monster mashups are often criticized as a sign of the artistic and moral degeneration of contemporary culture. These hybrid creations are the monsters of our age, lurking at the limits of responsible consumption and acceptable appropriation. This book explores the boundaries and connections between contemporary remix and related modes, including adaptation, parody, the Gothic, Romanticism, and postmodernism. Taking a multimedia approach, case studies range from novels like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series, to television programmes such as Penny Dreadful, to popular visual artworks like Kevin J. Weirs Flux Machine GIFs. Megen de Bruin-Mol uses these monstrous and liminal works to show how the thrill of transgression has been contained within safe and familiar formats, resulting in the mashups that dominate Western popular culture.

Reviews

Mols book is a treasure trove of fascinating perspectives and analysis and is accessible to all levels of the interested reader ... It provides a brilliant methodology for thinking through collage. I wholeheartedly recommend Mols book. * Collage Research Network *
I found Gothic Remixed hugely thought-provoking and enlightening, with de Bruin-Mols obvious enthusiasm for both the works cited as case studies and the concepts she talks about shining through ... Gothic Remixed comes highly recommended not just for those interested specifically in the world of Frankenfiction but anyone who wants to look at authenticity, author privilege and how the present deals (or fails to deal) with the injustices of the past. * Sublime Horror *
[T]he first full-length study of the monster mashup genre ... De Bruin-Mols study of the literary mashup craze makes a strong case for Frankenfiction as an important twenty-first-century cultural phenomenon ... Where the book really shines is not in its laudable engagement with high theory, but in its astute and approachable analysis of particular Frankenfictions. * The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts *
Gothic Remixed offers a fresh and exciting new take on twenty-first century Gothic. It addresses texts across a range of media that have often been dismissed as parasitic or derivative and champions their significance while remaining alert to their ethical shortcomings. By showing how monstrosity becomes the animating principle of Gothic mashups, hybrid texts and Frankenfictions, the book sheds light on emerging forms of Gothic cultural production and provides a cohesive framework for reading the incohesive. De Bruin-Mol is working at the cutting edge of contemporary Gothic and her book will be indispensible for students and scholars with an interest in the field. -- Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Department of English, Lancaster University, UK
Stitching together adaptation theory and remix studies with surgical precision, De Bruin-Mol has produced the first book on the modern monster mashup. Authoritative, insightful and immensely enjoyable, Gothic Remixed heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice to contemporary Gothic studies. -- Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes, Reader in English Literature and Film at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Thoroughly researched and well constructed, Gothic Remixed: Monster Mashups and Frankenfictions in 21st-Century Culture is thus a valuable contribution to monster studies as well as adaptation studies and is an essential work for anyone who researches Frankenfictions of any kind. * Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies *

Author Bio

Megen de Bruin-Mol is a scholar and university lecturer working in the UK. She specialises in adaptation, (neo-)Victorian fiction, popular feminism, and contemporary remix culture.