Grusical

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Grusical is a suitcase word made up of the words " scary " and " musical ". It describes a film staged in the manner of a musical , which is supposed to make the viewer shudder. In addition, it can also refer to a play and is used figuratively in the sense of a creepy matter.

term

The term has been traceable since the early 1960s. According to Hans Bungert, it should go back to a film director. It is an early example of a German noun with the ending " -ical " and, like similarly formed nouns, is often used mockingly. For Johannes Erben , the term stands in the field of tension between a local word (" scary") and a foreign word ("musical"). Alan Kirkness and Melanie Woolford, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the word “musical” was already at home in the German language at the time it was created, i.e. it is a neologism within the German language, based on the suffix “-ical”. Beyond the specific use for a film or a play, the term also describes, in ironic form, a general negative matter that causes horror. In this figurative meaning, it was used especially in the 1970s.

Features and examples

Grusicals are characterized by their show character or their effects, which are reminiscent of a musical. They target the audience's emotions in a special way. Using the example of the Rocky Horror Show, Wolfgang Willaschek speaks of a “stage spectacle”. In his review of the film The Little Horror Shop , Andreas Kilb designed a recipe for grusicals that consist of a cross between old horror material and comedic elements. They are presented in the style of the 1950s, but are permeated by the “candy-colored cynicism” of the 1980s.

The film Tanz der Vampire (1967) by Roman Polanski or the film comedy Das Spukschloß im Spessart (1960) by Kurt Hoffmann were described as grusicals . The same applies to the plays The Rocky Horror Show (1973) and Der kleine Horrorladen (1982) and their film adaptations. The musical adaptation of the Dracula material by Claus Martin even bears the word "grusical" as a generic name in the title: Dracula - Das Grusical (2005). The same applies to the film parody Biss zur Großer Pause - Das Highschool Vampir Grusical (2011).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Broder Carstensen , Ulrich Busse: Anglicisms dictionary . De Gruyter, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-11-017169-4 , p. 601.
  2. ^ Broder Carstensen: plenary lecture . In: Herbert Grabes (Ed.): Anglistentag 1980 Giessen . Hoffmann, Grossen-Linden 1981, ISBN 3-88098-023-3 , p. 33.
  3. ↑ a b Brockhaus Encyclopedia in twenty-four volumes . Brockhaus, Mannheim 1995, ISBN 3-7653-1027-1 , p. 1668.
  4. ↑ Johannes Erben : Neologisms in the field of tension between system and norm . In: Brigitte Schlieben-Lange : History and Architecture of Languages . De Gruyter, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-11-086304-9 , p. 40.
  5. ↑ Alan Kirkness, Melanie Woolford: To the origin of the Anglicisms in German. Observations and suggestions based on the dictionary of Anglicisms . In: Rudolf Hoberg (Ed.): German - English - European. Impulses for a new language policy . Dudenverlag, Mannheim 2002, ISBN 3-411-71781-5 , pp. 203-204.
  6. ↑ Duden . The dictionary of meanings . Dudenverlag, Mannheim 2002, ISBN 3-411-04103-X , p. 491.
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Willaschek: 50 classic operas. The most important musical stage works. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2000, ISBN 3-8067-2510-1 .
  8. ↑ a b Andreas Kilb : "The Little Horror Shop" by Frank Oz . In: Die Zeit of May 29, 1987.
  9. ↑ Dracula - The Grusical , official website.