History Main / GothSpirals

It's the little spiraly design that seems to come up so often in cartoonier media influenced by Goth culture, which itself was heavily inspired by the feel of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' (pictured). The popularity of this film has influenced an entire generation of young artists with dark proclivities (see Website/DeviantArt) and seems at times so common that one wonders if all one needs to add a bit of gothic appeal to their work is to add a few little spiral designs here and there.

* Perhaps not everywhere in the [[FountainOfMemes hilariously quoteworthy]] ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', but at least two examples can be seen: One being in ''[[HalloweenEpisode Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom]],'' [[EvilTwin Nightmare Membrane's]] lab coat ends with strangely swirling mist, and Nightmare Gaz's hair is shaped like squared spirals. In ''Door to Door'', the specter of [[PunnyName Poop Dogg]] (wearing a black robe, a la Ghost of Christmas Future) has the same swirls as Nightmare Membrane.

* In the ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'' comic Death is portrayed with a small spiral design under her eye. Although she is indeed a PerkyGoth, this is more an Egyptian motif (probably the Eye of Horus) in keeping with her habit of wearing an ankh, although the ankh is much more symbolic.
** [[ComicBook/TheSandman Delirium's]] sigil is a spiral or a bunch of spirals (at least in the [[{{Animesque}} manga-esque]] ''At Death's Door''), although they're less goth, more [[CloudCuckooLander insane]].

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/DarkCity'' made a repeating theme of spirals: spiraling staircases, spiral patterns carved into victims, spiral rat mazes, spirals drawn by a madman. A good chunk of the movie is devoted to this trope. As seen from the Strangers' map, the entire city is arranged as a spiral.
* Pretty much the entire filmography of Creator/TimBurton.

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. Interestingly, the trope picture is photoshopped to [[RuleOfScary look spookier]]..
** And much of Creator/TimBurton's work; he seems to like them. In fact, the logo for the exhibit on him at the Museum of Modern Art was a spiral.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheSecretDoor'', while the world of Zinnia is bright and cheery, the kingdom has a ''lot'' of spirals in its architecture, cliff designs, and plant life.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''. Interestingly, the trope picture is photoshopped to [[RuleOfScary look spookier]]. The scene in question is actually [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming quite romantic]].

* Secret from ''KeychainOfCreation'' has a small spiral under her eye.

* Tharizdun is one of the big, nasty evil gods who has been featured prominently in ''DungeonsAndDragons''. An evil [[TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu Lovecraftian]] god, his "holy" symbol is none other than a black spiral.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheSecretDoor'', while the world is bright and cheery, the kingdom has a ''lot'' of spirals in its architecture, cliff designs, and plant life.

It's the little spiraly design that seems to come up so often in cartoonier media influenced by Goth culture, which itself was heavily inspired by the feel of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' (pictured). The popularity of this film has influenced an entire generation of young artists with dark proclivities (see DeviantArt) and seems at times so common that one wonders if all one needs to add a bit of gothic appeal to their work is to add a few little spiral designs here and there.

* Skyclone, the BigBad of ''SkyDancers'' wears a spooky spiral on his shirt.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the spooky, UberWald-esqe island where Zoro, Perona, and Mihawk end up has several spiraly mountains as a ShoutOut to ''TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.

* Pretty much the entire filmography of TimBurton.

** And much of TimBurton's work; he seems to like them. In fact, the logo for the exhibit on him at the Museum of Modern Art was a spiral.

* In the ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'' comic Death is portrayed with a small spiral design under her eye.
** Although she is indeed a PerkyGoth, this is more an Egyptian motif (probably the Eye of Horus) in keeping with her habit of wearing an ankh, although the ankh is much more symbolic.
*** The Eye of Horus represents wisdom (it's the facial markings of the hawk), and there's that adage about death bringing wisdom, so it might be meaningful after all.

* The font used for the ''italic'' words in Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's ''TheStrain'' contain spirals.