Contemporary Gothic

When I think of "modern gothic" the first thing that came to mind was "The Addams Family" , they are your typical gothic family. From the dark clothing and pale skin, to the Victorian house and cemetery in the back yard, they are the poster "family" of goth. The shows and movies are dark comedies, making fun of the social-norms, from simple lessons like "running with scissors", something that is encouraged in the Addams house, as well as thinking up ideas on how to torture people, such as daughter Wednesday does. Also there are characters into the show like Cousin It, the large hairy object, Thing, the hand that crawls around, and Lurch the very tall Frankenstein like butler, just to name a few.

Another good example, a more recent show would be "Bates Motel", a spin off from the movie "Psycho". The show takes place when Norman Bates finds his father dead, Norma his mother quickly moves them to a new town, where she buys an old run down Victorian home, that over looks an out of business run down motel she plans on opening. Not even a few weeks after moving to a new town, Norma is confronted with by the old motel owner, and threatened. When she ignores the threats it leads her to being raped in her kitchen, where Norma has to come help kill the man raping her. From there they have to hide the body and hope the crooked police in town down catch on to her, her son, or any of the dark messy situations that arise throughout the first season. 

A last example of Gothic style in the media is a show called "American Horror Story". Each season of the show has a different theme, all falling under a more gothic/spooky style. In the first season we have a family who move into the house, better known as "Death House". Everyone who moves into the house dies, the worst part is no one in that house leaves. The family is forced to try and deal with and over come the unhappy souls left floating, while they try to take back the house and ultimately claim the members of the family.

The second season takes place in an old, poorly run Insane Asylum, where a supposed  killer is brought and left to rot. Between the not so great staff, the evil doctor scientist and the media, all sorts of things happen to the killer, who turns out to be the good guy, and a lesbian news reporter who the hold hostage in the asylum, to try and fix the "gay" in her. This show takes current and past issues in history and brings them to light in a dark and twister way.