"NON SUM QUALIS ERAM": THE ARCHIVAL FRAME IN HORROR MEDIA AND GOTHIC LITERATURE

This paper discusses how creators of horror media and Gothic literature frame the archival within fictional works situated in the found footage or manuscript subgenre. The narratives discussed are not only characteristically framed as archival materials through their formats but address archival issues through the conventions of the horror genre. The primary issues discussed are preservation, materiality, and authenticity. Dialogue, text, and scenes are analyzed within the context of the archival material format they are presented in to reveal how general audiences engage with the archival through these fictional narratives.