The Gothic Film: From Classic to "Blockbuster"
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Hero
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The Gothic Hero
The gothic film, as a narrative, is a form of communication with society, a way to reflect societal thoughts, opinions, and occurrences. It is through this narrative, this "allegory for social action" (Berger 155), that the hero emerges as part of the dissection attributed to the change from the genre of gothic film to the style of the gothic in film.
With the change of each
decade comes a change in societal values and perspectives, the
gothic hero is one reflection of this process of modernization.
In the early 1900s, the gothic hero was the second major character
in gothic film. 
He
was a weaker, intellectual type, usually with a love interest
in the heroine. The gothic hero always had the right intentions
to do no harm, yet to solve the mystery and discover the "unknown"
the surrounds him. Today's gothic hero has changed the feeling
of gothic film with his entanglement in other characterizations.
The gothic hero is no longer just that, he possesses elements
of the villain and heroine with himself, the strong has taken
place of the weak, and part of the "unknown" is established
with the knowledge of his past and motivation.
From classic gothic hero to the new hero within the gothic, the basic characterization still exists, yet includes qualities taken from other "gothic" figures. Instead of resembling one part of society, the "gothic" hero possesses a representation of all.
Jelena Momirov
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