Victorian Living Magazine

The theme of our project is cultural trends and their personification of the past, as a means of commenting on the present.

An online magazine-style blog, our project attempted to answer, through the exploration of modern day literature and art, these two questions:

Does Victorian Cool offer any sort of critique on the present, in regards to its aesthetics, principles, and technologies?

and

Does the nostalgia embodied in Victorian Cool suggest an optimistic view or a pessimistic view of the future of mankind?

At the end of our investigation, we decided that the prevalency of Victorian culture in the 21st century suggests that Victorian Cool is a means of teaching, through example, the folly of innovation without consideration. The Victorians were obsessed with science and materialism. Their lack of concern for the future of the planet has resulted in our current problem of Global Warming. They looked to the future, in regards to scientific discovery and material goods, but failed to acknowledge the consequences of such endeavors. In addition, we concluded that nostalgia, in Victorian Cool, offers an optimistic view of the future because, by reflecting on and learning from the past, we are able to improve on our present-day situation and prevent the re-occurrence of past mistakes.


We hope that you have fun looking at our blog, while learning something new about the 19th century.

Enjoy! :-D

Gotham City: Victorian Style

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by Flavia Kajoba



Plot Summary

This novel is a combination of two stories in one, Gotham by Gaslight: An Alternative History of the Batman, and its sequel, Batman: Master of the Future. They were published in 1989 and 1991 consecutively. The first story is an exploration of the genesis of Victorian Batman. It explains the motivation behind his transformation, as well as the steps he takes in order to prepare. The villain in this story is the 19th century serial killer, Jack the Ripper, transported from London, England, to the streets of Gotham City. After avenging his parent’s death, the reader sees Batman re-evaluating his intentions. In the second story, he is put up against Alexandre LeRoi, an insane altruist whose mission is to teach the citizens of Gotham City a lesson about the consequences of industrialization.

Setting

The events of the novel take place in Gotham City, May to October of 1889. There are many buildings, the streets are paved, and horse and buggy is the main method of transportation. The only pollution depicted is that which comes from the smokestacks of Steamliners and the chimneys of residential houses. In Gotham City, men and women dress in traditional Victorian attire and their preferred forms of entertainment are dinner parties, boxing tournaments, and fairs and expositions. Prostitution in the novel is also present.



Themes

Gothic Horror and Penny Dreadfuls – Jack the Ripper is a notorious serial killer from Whitechapel, London, England. He preys on unsuspecting women, whom he surgically dismantles, and is infamous for his disjointed letters, and the mailing of victims’ body parts to the police department (Augustyn et al.).

Gender – Due to their characterization as victims in the novel, women are portrayed as vulnerable and in need of male protection, while men are depicted as strong, powerful, and courageous. This can be seen with the hero, Batman, and the villains, Jack the Ripper and Alexandre LeRoi (Augustyn et al.).

Science and Discovery – Gotham City is burned by Alexandre LeRoi and his solar-powered laser beam (Augustyn et al.).

British Empire – Gotham City is having a fair to usher in the turn of the new century. Alexandre LeRoi is against it because he believes that the people of Gotham City do not think about the consequences of their actions. There are direct references in the novel to pollution and the threat of Global Warming (Augustyn et al.). This relates to the British Empire because in the 1800s, they were so concerned with technological progress that they did not think about the future, in regards to the welfare of the planet.

Industrialization – Gotham is a boisterous and developed city. In regards to industrialization, there is mention on Pg. 65, by Alexandre LeRoi, of Gotham city’s “dream of engines that befoul the air and factories that ruin [their] waterways” (Augustyn et al.). Other than that, there is not much evidence of construction or mechanization, besides the machines that the villain uses (Augustyn et al.).

Technology - There are a lot of fantastical technological devices such as: mechanized machine guns, a robotic pilot, a blimp equipped with a solar-powered laser beam, and a glider that floats on hot air (Augustyn et al.).

Language – The novel is written to sound aesthetically Victorian in its manner of speech.

Historical Accuracy

Jack the Ripper was an actual serial killer in London during the 1800s. The letters he sent to the police department, and the method in which he murdered his victims in the novel, concurs with historical records describing the investigation (Ryder and Johnno). In addition, on pages 4-5 of the novel, there is reference to Dr. Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytic theory, which he developed during the 19th century (Heffner). The styles of dress, methods of transportation, forms of entertainment, and architectural designs are all accurate. While in part two of the novel, the technological advancements are entirely fictionalized (Augustyn et al.).

Works Cited

Augustyn, Brian, Michael Mignola, P. Craig Russell, and Eduardo Barreto.
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. DC Comics: New York, NY., 2006.

Heffner, Dr. Christopher L., “Sigmund Freud.” 8 August 2003.
Sigmund Freud in Psychology Biographies at ALLPSYCH Online.
7 March 2009. http://allpsych.com/biographies/freud.html

Ryder, Stephen P. and Johnno. “Introduction to the Case.” 2009.
Casebook: Jack the Ripper. 7 March 2009.
http://www.casebook.org/intro.html