A Greenhouse Research Talk by Andy Thatcher, University of Bristol
I began my doctoral research as a filmmaker embedded within experimental documentary but have incrementally moved towards the Gothic; my final creative output is a fictional screenplay with a strong supernatural emphasis. This paper explores how Folk Gothic explores complex and contested environmental interrelations through destabilizing binaries and established knowledge. I look at the TV play Baby (1977) and the Welsh-language feature film Gwlydd (2021) before discussing the creative decisions behind my doctoral project, especially my screenplay The Rewetting of Red Ball Mire (n.d.). Using the example of English common land, I show how a Folk Gothic approach offers more than a way of reading artistic texts but is a distinctive and valuable means of exploring and articulating environmental themes, conflicts and history.
Andy Thatcher (he/him) is a filmmaker and PhD candidate at the University of Bristol where his practice-based research explores the meanings of English common land and ways of representing these. He has publications upcoming for Manchester University Press, Gothic Studies, the International Journal of Creative Media Research and is working on a book on commons for a general readership.