M & W 2-3:50 pm RFTP 180F Fall 2023

MULTIMEDIA GOTHIC
MRTS-4410/5400

Contact Info:
Instructor: Tanya D. Zuk, Ph.D.

Of ce Hours: Monday &

Wednesday 9-12 am

Of ce: TBD

Email: tanya.zuk@unt.edu

About Me:
I earned my Ph.D. in Moving
Image Studies at Georgia State
University. My dissertation work
focused on queer indie new Course Description
media including video games,
This course examines a genre that has persisted since the
podcasts, web series, and social
eighteenth century: the Gothic. Both popular and canonical,
media storytelling. The majority
of my research connects to fan Gothic narratives walk an uneasy line between indulging the
studies and fan works. reader’s desire for the thrill of a good ghost story and suggesting
that the paranormal elements might all be the gment of an
I’m excited to be able to work in overactive imagination. The Gothic, in other words, is a genre
a multimedia and
that challenges the distinction between reality and imagination,
interdisciplinary department. I
truth and ction.
love genre media including sci-
, fantasy, comics, and of What does it mean for something to be Gothic? How is the
course gothic horror.
Gothic understood and adapted? This course considers how
issues of mediation—the ways di erent media like lm,
television, web series, podcasts, video games, comics and even
board games shape their content. How do the conventions of the
Gothic adapt to visual and audio media? To di erent regional
backgrounds? To di erent audiences?

How have ideas about the ways media represent, record, and
distort reality in uenced the construction of Gothic narrative?
What issues are addressed in the Gothic genres? How have the

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Assignments changed over time and why? Has Gothic evolve into something so
far removed from its roots that it is no longer recognizable as
Show & Tell 10% Gothic?

Participation 20% Course Goals

Re ections 30% By the end of this course you should be able to…

Final Project Identify the major tropes and conventions of the gothic
Proposal 5% genre and their roles in storytelling
Outline 5% Distinguish the medium speci c aspects of the gothic
Presentation 15% genre tradition

Final Paper 15% Trace the historical roots of classic, contemporary, and
regional gothic traditions

Interpret gothic works in regards to emotional/

Grade Scale phenomenological response and social commentary

97-100 A+ 80-82 B- Course Texts

93-96 A 77-79 C+ Required readings will be available through Canvas. Most
screenings will be available through UNT or are readily available
90-92 A- 70-76 C
online. I have done my best to make most course texts available
87-89 B+ 60-69 D to you at no additional cost through the library and open source
opportunities. However, there will be times throughout the
83-86 B 59-0 F
semester where you may need to pay for a screening or game
assigned for class. If these purchases are an undue burden to your
nances, please reach out to me and I will see what we can do to
Last day to change to P/F is Sept. provide an alternative.
29th. Last day to drop with a “W”
is Nov. 10th.
Course Policies
Class Environment
It is in the best interests of you as an individual and us as a
classroom to create a positive, inclusive, classroom environment.
One of the greatest challenges as an instructor is to provide an
engaging, entertaining, and intellectual classroom experience. I
need your collaboration to create the best educational experience
for all involved. By participating in class discussion, being
respectful of others opinions, and preparing for class we can all
work together to create a creative and dynamic experience on and
o screen.

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Accommodation Statement Show & Tell

I endeavor to make this class accessible to every student
and will do my best to make this class t your needs. If you
need special arrangements for a documented disability,
please contact the O ce of Disability Access. If you
would like to share pertinent medical information, request
special arrangements for class seating, or need special
assistance in the event of a building evacuation, please
contact me in the rst week of class. I am happy to alter
content formats and provide multiple points of access to
course materials.
Basic Needs & Security Statement
Any student who faces challenges securing their food or
housing and believes this may a ect their performance in
this course is urged to contact the Dean of Students for
support. For immediate food assistance, visit UNT Food
Pantry. For emergency housing needs, visit here or Cloud
9 Charities. There are additional Wellbeing and Safety
Services through Student A airs. If you are comfortable,
please let me know what is going on. I am ready and able to
make course accommodations based on your circumstances,
and assist in providing resources.
Instructor Availability & Response Time
I will be available for drop-in hours on Wednesdays from
9-12 am where you we can talk face-to-face or virtually
via Zoom. You can make appointments with me by
following this link.
Please, please send emails directly to me at
tanya.zuk@unt.edu and not through Canvas. Don’t forget
to include which class you are taking with me. I will
generally provide a response within 24 hours.
Show: Each week at least one
student will start the show & tell
discussion off by bringing in one
media text example (not assigned or
discussed in the reading) that relates
to the topic of the day.
Tell: The student leader will prepare
at least three discussion questions
that engage with the reading and
the media text they brought in to
share with the class.
Show & Tell media text and questions
must be submitted by 11:59 PM the
night prior to the class session.
Responses
During the semester you will be
prompted to complete three of four
re ection prompts on: Gothic—Old &
New (9/13), Gothic Games (10/11),
and Minority Gothic (11/1). Each
re ection will be roughly 450-550
words and will require you to re ect
on your experiences with gothic
media texts. Speci c prompts (or an
option of prompts) will be available
on iCollege.
These re ections are formal
responses and as such require
citations (MLA or APA). Though you
may use multi-media in your
response including images, clips,
and even interactive elements.

Attendance Policy
This class meets twice a week so that we can watch/play
content as a class and discuss the course readings. I expect
that you will attend class regularly and be prepared for each
class session having reviewed assigned materials. That being
said, life happens and I provide 3 unexcused absences for

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you to use throughout the semester as you need. Use them wisely.
Additional absences will a ect your participation grade.
Final Project
There are several steps in the nal
Late Policy
project including a proposal meeting,
All assignments must be submitted through the appropriate outline, presentation, and a nal
Canvas tool by 11:59 PM CST on the speci ed due date. Refer to paper or project.
the Assignment Guidelines and/or Rubrics for speci c details on
You have two options for your nal
completing the assignments in this course. project:

Appeals Option 1: A traditional research and

analysis paper (2000 words) on a
If you wish to appeal a grade: within a week of getting your
topic of your choosing, that you will
assignment back you must hand in, along with the assignment you
present to the class. This can be
want re graded, a typed one page paper explaining why you believe focusing on a theme/trope within the
your grade was incorrect and should be regraded. I will respond in gothic genre, a speci c gothic text,
writing within a week. Please note, that re-grading does NOT representation in the genre, and even
guarantee a better grade. adaptations/hybridization. This is a
formal paper in that it needs outside
Academic Integrity Policy research and citations (MLA or APA).

Please note that by staying in this class you are agreeing to abide Option 2: A creative project where
by all the standards of academic integrity as found in the Honor you create a gothic media text of your
Code. Please review the policies on AI generated content as own based on your research (and
developed by the Media Arts department in Canvas. Additionally, course content), which you then
you agree to hold to the legal and professional standards set within present to the class. This project
the media industries in regard to credits. could be a game, movie concept and
trailer, TV pitch, script, or something
Subject to Change Statement else you propose!

The instructor reserves the right to modify the course In addition to the creative project, you
requirements and other related policies as circumstances may will also have to provide a 1000-word
artist statement and re ection paper
dictate, and with su cient noti cation to all students. Even the
on the research used to create your
professor can have an unanticipated emergency, and the university
media object.
—or the community at large—may experience an emergency that
requires changing the class schedule or requirements. I don't expect You can work in groups for the
to invoke this clause, but if I do, you will be noti ed as soon as creative project, but if you decide to
possible. Any change will also be posted to Canvas. do so, each member submits their
own artist statement and re ection
paper. Additionally, groups will be
Resources required to do a self and peer review
discussing who did what and how the
UNT Writing Center project came together.
There are several small papers, as well as a nal project required in
this class. You may nd over the course of the semester, that you

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want help revising your work. You can sign-up for a session at:
https://writingcenter.unt.edu/. I’ve used writing assistance Revise & Resubmit
throughout my academic career. No one gets citations or
grammar naturally. Use every resource at your disposal! I have a long-standing open
revise and resubmit policy for all
Disability Services of my classes. I rmly believe that
students are more likely to review
If you need special arrangements for a documented disability,
and use feedback if they can
please contact the O ce of Disability Access. This o ce can
apply it immediately. Therefore
assist you in testing, registering and acquiring letters of
you can revise any assignment
accommodation as well as other services. during the semester using the
feedback provided and resubmit
Media Library
for an improved grade.
The Media Library contains the UNT Libraries’ non-print,
audiovisual, tabletop games, and video games collections. The You may not revise/resubmit the
Media Library also has The Nest, which is an e-sports and show & tell assignment, your
game design space. The mission of the UNT Media Library is to presentation, or nal as these are
time speci c. However, all other
support the instructional and research needs of UNT faculty,
assignments including all
sta , and students by collecting, maintaining, and providing
re ections and nal project steps
access to media materials that represent all academic disciplines
are fair game.
and all genres of lm.
To complete the revise/resubmit,
#Adulting just re-submit the assignment in
UNT o ers a variety of seminars, resources, and support its original dropbox. Last call for
services to help you gure out the requirements of life outside revise & resubmit is our last class
of school. The #Adulting program includes money session on December 6th..
management, career prep, managing medical insurance, mental
health support, info on the shuttle and parking, and even
emergency assistance like late night e-ride program.

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Course Schedule
All readings, screenings, and assignments are due by the start of class on the date below.

Monday Wednesday Deadlines

Week 1 Course Intro Authors & De ning Genre Getting to Know

8/21 & 8/23 • Wolf, “Circles of Authorship” You Due 8/23
• Jones, “The Canniness of the
Gothic”

Week 2 Gothic Horror Gothic Romance

8/28 & 8/30 • Dracula (Browning, 1931) • Rebecca (Hitchcock, 1940)
• Kavka, “The Gothic on Screen” • Wheatley, “Gender Politics and
the Gothic”
• White, “Lesbian Specter”

Week 3 NO CLASS LABOR DAY Modern Gothic

9/4 & 9/6 • Crimson Peak (del Toro, 2015)
• Kennedy, “Ann Radcliff’s
Legacy…” in Gothic Afterlives
• Deighton, “Crimson Peak and
Gothic Girlhood"

Week 4 Hill House In-Class Game Play Response 1:

9/11 & 9/13 • The Haunting (Wise, 1963) • Betrayal in the House on the Hill Gothic Old & New
• The Haunting of Hill House Due 9/13
“Steven Sees a Ghost”
(Flanagan, 2018)
• Schneider, “The Haunting…”

Gothic Places & People

Week 5 Gothic Games American Gothic & Soundscapes

9/18 & 9/20 • TBD • Unwell, “Homecoming” (1.1)
• Krzywinska, “Gami cation of • Old Gods of Appalachia, “Old
Gothic-Coordinates in Video Number Seven: Barlo, KY 1917”
games” • Goddu, “American Gothic”
• Chess, “Uncanny Gaming”

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Monday Wednesday Deadlines

Week 6 Southern Gothic Mexican Gothic Proposal Due

9/25 & 9/27 • Night of the Hunter • El Libro de Piedra (Taboada 9/27 & Meeting
(Laughton, 1955) Walker,1969) Scheduled
• Pinkerton, “Southern Gothic” • Ajuria Ibarra, “Mexican Gothic
in Sight & Sound, May 2015 Remakes”
• Newland, “Archetypes of
Southern Gothic”

Week 7 Lovecraft & the Gothic In-Class Game Play

10/2 & 10/4 • Coulthart, “Call of Cthulhu” • Call of Cthulhu
(comic) • Wagner, “Lovecraft’s Cosmic
• Luckhurst, “The weird: a dis/ Horror in German Tabletop RPG”
orientation”

Week 8 Reclaiming Lovecraft TBD Response 2:

10/9 & • Lovecraft Country (Green & Gothic Games
10/11 Peele, 2020) Due 10/11
• Wozniak, “Race and Horror in
Lovecraft Country”
• Newton Cooksey & Thomas,
“Afro-Gothic”

Week 9 Afro-Gothic Indigenous Gothic

10/16 & • Get Out (Peele, 2017) • Older than America (Lightning,
10/18 • Bastos de Silva, “Living in the 2008)
Sunken Place” • Beadling, “Native American
• Blake, “Burning Down the Gothic on Screen”
House”

Week 10 Queer Gothic Gothic Elders Outline/Creative

10/23 & • TBD • The Manor (Carolyn, 2021) Prep Due 10/25
10/25 • Elliott-Smith, “Intro to Queer • Walker “Hagsploitation”
Horror” • Horner & Zlosnik, “No Country
• Rigby, “Uncanny Recognition” for Old Women”

Gothic Goes Light(er)

Week 11 Suburban Gothic Suburban Gothic Response 3:

10/30 & • Stepford Wives (Forbes, 1975) or • Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Minority Gothic
11/1 Disturbia (Caruso, 2007) “Welcome to the Hellmouth” Due 11/1
• Murphy, “Welcome to Disturbia” • Murphy, “‘Ah, But Underneath…”

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 M & W 2-3:50 pm RFTP 180F Fall 2023

Monday Wednesday Deadlines

Week 12 Gothic Domestic Comedy Gothic Parody Presentation Sign-

11/6 & 11/8 • The Addams Family (any version) • What We Do in the Shadows Up Deadline 11/8
• The Munsters, “Family Portrait” • Spooner, “Happy Night’s are
• Morowitz, “Monster Within” Here Again” in Post-Millennial
Gothic

Week 13 Children’s Gothic In-Class Game Play

11/13 & • Frankenweenie (Burton, 2012) • Gloom
11/15 • Spooner, “…Tim Burton’s Gothic • TBD
Aesthetics” in Post-Millennial
Gothic

Thanksgiving Break 10/20-10/24

Week 14 Gothic Toys TBD

11/27 & • Monster High
11/29 • Emily the Strange
• The Gahslycrumb Tinies by
Edward Gorey
• Carrington, “Gothic Toys”

Week 15 Last Call Revise/

12/4 & 12/6 Presentations Presentations Resubmit Due
12/6

Final papers and projects are due by midnight, Monday, December 11th, 2023.

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