Dante , the Gothic , the Abject , and the Grotesque in Mathieu Missoffe ’ s Thriller-Crime Drama Black Spot
abject . According to William Yates , co-editor of The Grotesque in Art and Literature ,” the grotesque “ most often embod [ ies ] distortions , exaggeration , a fusion of incompatible parts in such a fashion that it confronts us as ... strange and disordered , a world turned upside down ...,” an observation certainly applicable to Dante ’ s Hell . Yates adds that “[ the grotesque is ] an embodiment of demonic and sublime forces ....” ( 2-3 ). Roger Hazelton reinforces Yates ’ definition when he writes , “ No discussion of the grotesque in a theological perspective would be adequate if it omitted reference to the demonic ,” whose presence is clearly established in Inferno ( 78 ). Indeed , Missoffe ’ s purpose in using grotesque imagery in Black Spot seems roughly equivalent to what Dante had in mind in writing Inferno : to emphasize the presence of the demonic , the perverse ugliness of sin , manifest in this TV drama in barbarous acts driven by an “ insane anger ” ( Inferno , Canto XII , l . 49 ), and the absolute hopelessness of ever experiencing the transforming power of the light and love of God , Whose presence fills Dante ’ s paradise ( Millbank 157-158 ). In summary , the cumulative effect in this series of merging the grotesque with the abject , in this case the corpses of those who have been murdered or taken their own lives , confronts observers , and certainly Laurene , with “ a severe violation of [ their ] sense of moral , natural , and social order ...” and threatens viewers with fears of their own annihilation ( Hogle 14 ). Indeed , the sense of horror generated by these images of death “ depends ... on [ the viewer ’ s ] intuitive sense of order in the world ” ( Tallon 39 ) �and the recognition , certainly in Missoffe ’ s series , that morally and spiritually , Villefranche and the Western society for which the village is an exaggerated representation have become a Hellish place that has been turned “ upside down .”
In Black Spot , scenes merging the grotesque with the abject capture a dread and horror that have reached epidem-
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