This article takes a closer look at two Contemporary Gothic film productions centred on the figures of relatively well-developed Gothic heroes: The Crow (Alex Proyas, 1994) and The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993). The paper focuses on the image of the exile as the core composition element of modern Gothic tales and draw analogies between exiles in Contemporary Gothic and Julia Kristeva’s notion of the foreigner. Pondering along with Kristeva on whether the exile/foreigner can be happy I shall point out a few inconsistencies in modelling Contemporary Gothic heroes, which seem to have become a characteristic feature of the films made in the 1990s. Finally, the article mentions the impact Gothic (happy or unhappy) exiles have had on popular culture and the subcultures based on the enjoyment of depression.
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