About
Regional Gothic is the overarching name for a literary genre which applies the traditional Southern Gothic genre to other regions of the world such as states and cities. The genre became popular on Tumblr in early 2015.
Origin
Regional Gothic likely has its roots in the Southern Gothic subgenre of fiction, which uses unsettling events to explore social issues.[1] While Southern Gothic, by its nature, has its events take place in the southern United States, Regional Gothic tends to focus on other areas of the world besides the South.
Spread
Regional Gothic became popular on Tumblr in March of 2015. Posts focusing around the genre use a very specific format, which consists of naming a location, then writing several short, bulleted paragraphs featuring vignettes focusing on horror in a specific region. Popular areas to portray include the New England and Great Lakes regions of the United States.[2] Some popular posts include Midwest Gothic by sparklyandheroic[3] which has over 8 thousand notes as of April 8, 2015 and Southern California Gothic by fanfoolishness and sharkodactyl[4] at over 15 thousand notes as of April 8, 2015.
Search Interest
not available
References
[1]Wikipedia – Southern Gothic
[2]Tumblr – #regional gothic
[3]Tumblr – Midwest Gothic
[4]Tumblr – Southern California Gothic