ABSTRACT

This article uses Gothic studies to examine the preoccupation with death in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych. Drawing on the Gothic convention of the decaying portrait, I argue that Marilyn Diptych communicates a wider tension between immortality and death at the heart of American celebrity culture in the 1960s. The decaying portrait is a traditional motif within the Gothic novel, but this article explores how the portrait itself embodies Gothic qualities of decay. While Warhol’s Electric Chair has been previously analysed within a Gothic framework, I uncover the Gothicness of the celebrity portrait and situate Marilyn Diptych in the context of Marilyn Monroe’s death and the wider culture of mediatised disaster in the 1960s. Ultimately, this article demonstrates how Marilyn Diptych epitomises the landscape of celebrity in the 1960s. As a period of technological modernity dominated by television, the 1960s is a media-saturated image culture that enables the creation and preservation of new kinds of celebrities. However, the period is also tainted by relentless global and domestic crises, within which high-profile celebrity deaths feature strongly. This overwhelming culture of death problematises media immortality by exposing celebrities as fragile Gothic bodies prone to decay.

摘要

本文使用哥特式研究来检验安迪沃霍尔的玛丽莲双联画中对死亡的关注。借鉴腐烂肖像的哥特式惯例，我认为玛丽莲双联画传达了 1960 年代美国名人文化核心的不朽与死亡之间更广泛的紧张关系。腐朽的肖像是哥特小说中的传统主题，但本文探讨了肖像本身如何体现哥特式腐朽的特质。虽然之前曾在哥特式框架内分析过沃霍尔的电椅，但我揭示了名人肖像的哥特式，并将Marilyn Diptych 置于在玛丽莲梦露去世和 1960 年代更广泛的媒体化灾难文化的背景下。最后，本文展示了Marilyn Diptych如何成为 1960 年代名人景观的缩影。1960 年代是一个由电视主导的技术现代性时期，是一种媒体饱和的图像文化，能够创造和保存新型名人。然而，这一时期也受到无情的全球和国内危机的影响，其中高调的名人死亡事件尤为突出。这种压倒性的死亡文化通过将名人暴露为容易腐烂的脆弱的哥特式身体来质疑媒体的不朽。