→Religious Elements: remove weasel word statement - not sure we can really tell how many goths dislike being compared to the black metal scene |
→Religious Elements: The BM Scene and Goth Scene hatred is well known - i reworded what i put to better define the meaning - reread per chance? |
||
Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
==Religious Elements== |
==Religious Elements== |
||
Religious imagery has frequently played an important part in [[gothic fashion]] and also in song lyrics. Many goths proclaim to believe in open-mindedness and diversity, and aspire to "free themselves from the limitations" of traditional belief systems. Many goths are atheist and agnostic in their beliefs, not wanting to commit to organized religion or other belief systems. An interest in [[neo-paganism]] and the occult amongst goths is higher than amongst the general population, but there is a wide diversity of other religious beliefs. The main exception to this tolerance is for any form of religious [[fundamentalism]], a reaction to the intolerance such faiths display towards goths, generally condemning the goth subculture as evil and perverse for its interest in dark topics. From the beginning, the media, too, have used the label "goth" to imply an unhealthy obsession with death, an association with [[Satanism]], and other things that are commonly considered morbid. In reality, Satanic imagery is fashionable in the goth scene in clothing and accessories, despite its semi-importance in [[black metal]] music. Another |
Religious imagery has frequently played an important part in [[gothic fashion]] and also in song lyrics. Many goths proclaim to believe in open-mindedness and diversity, and aspire to "free themselves from the limitations" of traditional belief systems. Many goths are atheist and agnostic in their beliefs, not wanting to commit to organized religion or other belief systems. An interest in [[neo-paganism]] and the occult amongst goths is higher than amongst the general population, but there is a wide diversity of other religious beliefs. The main exception to this tolerance is for any form of religious [[fundamentalism]], a reaction to the intolerance such faiths display towards goths, generally condemning the goth subculture as evil and perverse for its interest in dark topics. From the beginning, the media, too, have used the label "goth" to imply an unhealthy obsession with death, an association with [[Satanism]], and other things that are commonly considered morbid. In reality, Satanic imagery is fashionable in the goth scene in clothing and accessories, despite its semi-importance in [[black metal]] music, a scene many goths dislike being compared to. Another perception is that the goth subculture as a whole represents a unified cult-like religion, spawned most commonly from individual groups paganistic and satanic practices. A growing number of Goths who follow relgions such as Christianity have also emerged, creating a demand for religious Goth arts and literature, as illustrated by such websites as [http://www.gothicchristianity.com GothicChristianity.com]. |
||
==Popular intolerance== |
==Popular intolerance== |
Revision as of 23:23, 2 February 2006
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Gothic_girl.jpg/200px-Gothic_girl.jpg)
- This article is about the contemporary goth/gothic subculture. For the Germanic tribes of the same name, see the Goths.
Goth is a modern subculture that first became popular during the early 1980s within the gothic rock scene, a sub-genre of post punk. It is associated with characteristically "gothic" tastes in music and clothing. Styles of dress range from death rock, punk, Victorian, androgyny, some Renaissance style clothes, a combination of the above, and/or lots of black attire, and makeup.
English usage
The word "goth" can be used as a noun. e.g. "My best friend is a goth." Plurally, an S is added. e.g. "At the club there were many goths." "Gothic" and "goth" can also be used as adjectives interchangeably to describe someone (or in some cases, some thing). Typical examples are "She was wearing a gothic necklace" or "He is goth." The word "gothic" cannot be used as a noun, as in "I saw a gothic."
"Goth" cannot be used as a singular name for the group of people. "A member of goth", for example, does not work because "goth" is not the name of an organized group or gang. To refer correctly to the entire group of people, one would need to say "the goth subculture", or possibly "the gothic subculture". It is important to remember that "gothic", when used as an adjective, can refer to anything dark or horrifying, or something influenced by medieval gothic art. For example gothic-doom bands which draw on the same dark and horror imagery as gothic rock bands, yet have a very different musical style.
Origins and influences
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/Goth-p1010510.jpg/200px-Goth-p1010510.jpg)
Original subculture
By the late 1970s, there were a small number of post punk bands in Britain labeled "gothic." However, it was not until the early 1980s that gothic rock became its own subgenre within post-punk and that followers of these bands started to come together as a distinctly recognisable group or movement. The opening of the Batcave in London's Soho in July 1982 might be seen as marking the emergence of this scene (which had briefly been labeled positive punk by the New Musical Express). As one of the most famous meeting points for early goths, it lent its name to the term "Batcaver," used to describe old-school goths.
Independent of the British scene, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw death rock branch off from American punk. With similar themes and dress, goths and death rockers were sufficiently compatible to more or less merge.
Etymology and Gothic horror literature
Goth was originally the name of a Germanic tribe, the Goths, who played an important role in the fall of the western Roman Empire. Like another similar tribe, the Vandals, the name "goth" later became pejorative synonymous with "barbarian" and being uncultured. During the Renaissance period in Europe, medieval architecture was retrospectively labeled gothic architecture, and was considered ugly and barbaric in contrast to the pure lines of classical architecture. In Britain by the late 1700s, however nostalgia for the medieval period destroyed by the Reformation led people to become fascinated with medieval gothic ruins (even building fake ruins). This was often combined with an interest in medieval romances, Roman catholic religion and the supernatural. Enthusiasts for gothic revival architecture in Britain were led by Horace Walpole, and were sometimes nicknamed goths, the first positive use of the term in the modern period. It was the gothic novel of the early nineteenth century, a genre founded by Walpole, that was responsible above all else for the term gothic being associated with a mood of horror, morbidity, darkness and the supernatural. These stories established what became horror stereotypes by featuring graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, nightmares, cursed families, being buried alive and melodramatic plots.
Certain elements in the dark, atmospheric music and dress of the post punk scene were clearly "gothic" in this sense, even seen in gothic rock band names like "UK Decay" or Southern Death Cult. It was the use of "gothic" as an adjective in describing the music and its followers, which led to the term "goth" being given to the subculture.
Early influences from Gothic literature and cinema
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Goth-p1010691.jpg/200px-Goth-p1010691.jpg)
The influence of the gothic novel on the goth subculture originally came second hand, through the popular imagery of horror films and television. In particular, the imagery surrounding male and female vampires had a significant influence on the evolution of gothic fashion and death rock fashion. A notable element in the gothic novel was the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero, a key precursor to the male goth image. The most famous gothic villain is the vampire, Dracula, but it was the iconic portrayal of Bela Lugosi, rather than Bram Stoker's original novel, which appealed to early goths, who were attracted by Lugosi's aura of camp menace. Some people even credit Bauhaus' first single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", with the start of the Gothic movement, though there are other contenders.
The concept of the femme fatale, which appeared in romantic literature as well as in the gothic novel, went onto to become a vital image for female goths. In cinema the femme fatale style adopted by silent movie actress Theda Bara (whose first name is an anagram for "death"), nicknamed the vamp, established the look for pale predatory women in later films, and was eventually adopted by Siouxsie Sioux.
The powerful imagery of horror movies began in German expressionist cinema in the twenties then passed onto the Universal films of the thirties, then to camp horror B films such as Plan 9 From Outer Space and then to Hammer Horror films. By the 1960s, TV series, such as The Addams Family and The Munsters, used these stereotypes for camp comedy.
Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted traditional pre-sixties horror movie images, and also drew on horror movie soundtracks for inspiration. Their audiences responded in kind by further adopting appropriate dress and props. Use of standard horror film props like swirling smoke, rubber bats, and cobwebs were used as goth club décor from the beginning in The Batcave. Such references in their music and image were originally tongue-in-cheek, but as time went on, bands and members of the subculture took the connection more seriously. As a result, morbid, supernatural, and occult themes became a more noticeably serious element in the subculture. The interconnection between horror and goth was highlighted in its early days by The Hunger, a 1983 vampire film, starring David Bowie, which featured gothic rock group Bauhaus performing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in a nightclub. In 1993, Whitby became the location for what became the UK's biggest goth festival as a direct result of being featured in Bram Stoker's Dracula
The word "gothic" in the literary sense is a broad term. It is hard to predict which direction gothic literature will take in the twenty-first century, but there is interest in many to adapt the old gothic influences and renew them. Gothic fiction before Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Blackwood, and H. P. Lovecraft wasn't generally seen as frightening, particularly by today's gothic standards, though there were major authors who showed gothic sensibilities, such as Charles Dickens with his ghost story "A Christmas Carol." As the ghothic scene evolved, familiarity with gothic literature became a significant part of the subculture for some goths. Dropping "Poe," "Lovecraft, and the other heralding names became just as symbolic and popular as dressing all in black leather, wearing the hair long and dyed black, adorning oneself with dark jewelry and body art, and carrying around a Tim Burton lunchbox.
A significant literary influence on the contemporary goth scene was not only the older gothic writers, but also Anne Rice's re-imagining of the idea of the vampire. Rice's characters were depicted as struggling with eternity and loneliness, while their ambivalent sexuality had deep attractions for many goth readers, making her works very fashionable in the eighties. Movies based on her books have been filmed in recent years - notably Interview with the Vampire, which starred Brad Pitt, and the more recent Queen of the Damned, in which goths appear directly and indirectly. The first film, in particular, helped encourage the spread of Victorian style fashions in the subculture. Rice's novels influenced Poppy Z. Brite's vampire novels. Brite, who is familiar with the goth scene, distinctively refers to it in her novels as the location of where her vampires hunt. Both Brite and Rice are connected to New Orleans, often seen as a gothic mecca.
One reason "gothic" is such a broad term is because its content and themes can vary greatly. For example, as aforementioned, some gothic writers like Brite and Rice utilize erotic themes while other writers, such as Rod Serling, do not use an erotic undercurrent at all. Works that vastly differ from one another in these and many more ways still share the category of gothic literature, such as Serling's 'Night Gallery, Macey Baggett Wuesthoff's Sacrifice, Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and Joseph Armstead's Darkness Fears and Moon-Chosen series.
Goth after post-punk
After the demise of post punk, goth continued to evolve, both musically and visually. This caused variations in style ("types" of goth). Local scenes also contribute to this variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion saw a renewed popularity in the goth scene, drawing on the mid-19th century gothic revival and the morbid outlook of the Victorians (partly owing to the state of national mourning which developed in response to Prince Albert's death, and partly to the Victorians' general obsession with Christian funeral practices). The 2003 Victoria and Albert Museum Gothic exhibition in London furthered a tenuous connection between modern goth and the medieval gothic period.
Over time, gothic culture has developed its own "goth slang", with regional variations.
Later media influences
As the subculture became well-established the connection between goth and horror fiction became almost a cliche with goths quite likely to appear as characters in horror novels and film. Movies such as The Crow drew directly on goth music and style, and the movies of Tim Burton especially Beetlejuice featuring a goth teen, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Corpse Bride are all significant. In turn they drew new people into the goth scene. The popular roleplaying game Vampire The Masquerade also referred directly to goth music and culture and encouraged an interest in the scene. Influences from anime as well as cyberpunk fiction such as The Matrix have also crept into the goth scene, which helped give rise to cybergoth.
Current use of the term Goth
By the 1990s, the term "goth" started to become once again contentious in the English speaking world. New youth subcultures either evolved or became more popular, which ordinary people and the popular media tended to term "goth". This was based primarily on appearance, and the fashions of the subcultures, rather than the musical genres of the bands associated with them. As time went on, the term was bastardized even further in popular usage, being sometimes applied to groups that had neither musical nor fashion similarities to the original goth subculture, such as Emo fans.
This has led to the introduction of terms which some Goths use to distinguish members of the other subcultures from Goths. These include mallgoths in the US, gogans in Australia, and spooky kids or moshers in the UK. Melbourne playwright Sai Ho is particularly vicious in his hatred of what he terms baby goths. More positive terms, such as mini-goths or baby bats, are also used by some older goths to refer to youths they see as exhibiting potential for growth into "true" goths later on.
The response of these younger groups to the older subculture varies. Some being secure in a separate subcultural identity feel deeply insulted at being called "goths" in the first place, while others choose to join the existing subculture on its own terms. Still others have simply ignored its existence, and decided to appropriate the term goth themselves, and redefine it in their own image. Even within the original subculture, changing trends in music have made defining what is and is not goth more complex. [See Music]
Music
The bands which began the gothic rock and death rock scene were limited in number, and included bands such as Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Southern Death Cult, and Christian Death. By the mid-eighties, the number of bands began proliferating and became increasing popular, including Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, and Fields of the Nephilim. The nineties saw the further growth of eighties bands and emergence of many new bands, most of the North American examples being released by the Cleopatra label. In the US, the subculture grew especially in New York and Los Angeles, with many nightclubs featuring gothic/industrial nights. The popularity of bands such as Dead Can Dance resulted in the creation of a label called Projekt that produces what is colloquially termed Ethereal as well as the more electronic Darkwave, both forms of music popular with Goths.
By the mid-1990s, styles of music that was heard in venues which goths attend ranged from gothic rock, death rock, darkwave, industrial, EBM, synthpop, punk, metal, techno, to 1980s dance music. This variety was a result of a need to maximize attendance from everyone across the alternative music scene, particularly in smaller towns, but it also signaled new developments. Gothic rock was originally clearly differentiated from industrial and heavy metal by older participants in the alternative scene, but newcomers and media misconceptions blurred the boundaries in the nineties as gothic rock became significantly less popular in the US and UK. Thus while industrial or heavy metal bands such as Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, and Mortiis were often labeled as "goth" by the media, this categorization was strongly resisted by goths and indeed also by fans of the bands. Older goths responded by affecting increasing disdain for the popularity of Marilyn Manson and similar bands. Even more confusion was added with the rise of gothic metal, with such bands consciously using gothic imagery from the dark ages in their own music and appearance and started even following fashion trends indistinguishable from older goth ones. Band t-shirts were now the only sure way of identifying someone's musical tastes from their fashion. Arguments about what music is and is not goth became an ever more significant part of how the subculture tried to define itself. The article gothic music explores this thorny question further.
The other significant development of the nineties was the popularity of electronic dance bands like VNV Nation and Covenant in the goth scene. The rise of what has been called cybergoth music and style which has much in common with techno/synthpop, caused bitter divisions between those firmly attached to the guitar based sound of gothic rock and newcomers or other goths, whose musical and even fashion tastes changed. Bands with a darkwave sound or those such as The Cruxshadows which combine an electronic and gothic rock sound can appeal to both sides to some extent.
Recent years have seen resurgence in the Batcave and death rock sound, in reaction to the EBM, futurepop, and trance, which has taken over many goth clubs. Bands with a more early goth sound like Cinema Strange, Black Ice, and Antiworld are becoming very popular. Nights like Ghoul School and Release The Bats promote death rock heavily, and the Drop Dead Festival brings in death rock fans from all over the world.
Today, the scene is most active in Western Europe, especially Germany, with large festivals such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Zillo, and others drawing tens of thousands of fans from all over the world.
Religious Elements
Religious imagery has frequently played an important part in gothic fashion and also in song lyrics. Many goths proclaim to believe in open-mindedness and diversity, and aspire to "free themselves from the limitations" of traditional belief systems. Many goths are atheist and agnostic in their beliefs, not wanting to commit to organized religion or other belief systems. An interest in neo-paganism and the occult amongst goths is higher than amongst the general population, but there is a wide diversity of other religious beliefs. The main exception to this tolerance is for any form of religious fundamentalism, a reaction to the intolerance such faiths display towards goths, generally condemning the goth subculture as evil and perverse for its interest in dark topics. From the beginning, the media, too, have used the label "goth" to imply an unhealthy obsession with death, an association with Satanism, and other things that are commonly considered morbid. In reality, Satanic imagery is fashionable in the goth scene in clothing and accessories, despite its semi-importance in black metal music, a scene many goths dislike being compared to. Another perception is that the goth subculture as a whole represents a unified cult-like religion, spawned most commonly from individual groups paganistic and satanic practices. A growing number of Goths who follow relgions such as Christianity have also emerged, creating a demand for religious Goth arts and literature, as illustrated by such websites as GothicChristianity.com.
Popular intolerance
Like many other subcultures, or a religious or ethnic minority, goths have faced differing levels of popular intolerance because of their appearance. For individual goths this ranges from verbal taunting to suffering physical violence. In many countries, young goths in high school face opposition to their appearance and have on occasion been viewed as threats to safety. The interest of the gothic subculture in death, evil, and other morbid topics has caused some in authority to view them as having mental problems. Such problems are often the result of misconceptions spread by the media, in part due to events such as the Columbine High School Massacre, which was carried out by two troubled youths who were wrongly assumed to be part of the goth subculture (their musical tastes actually involved bands such as Rammstein and KMFDM). Goths counter that these negative depictions of their subculture are untrue. There are strong similarities to the accusations thrown at the punk scene and fans of metal.
In Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, the RCMP has publicly (To teachers in the Public School System- At least District No.2 ) labeled the Goth subculture, along with one other subculture, to be gangs in New Brunswick. Specifically, they claimed "Goth" is the name of a gang which is regarded as the lowest of the gangs, which used and sold drugs heavily, and is prone to use weapons in fights.
Cultural significance and philosophy
The goth subculture is best seen as a late offshoot of romanticism and neoromanticism, with its fascination with the importance of the individual defining themselves through experiencing extreme emotions. The allure of dark and morbid imagery and moods for goths clearly lies in this tradition. Defining a philosophy of goth subculture is difficult because of the overwhelming importance of mood for those involved. Balancing this the other central element is a self-conscious sense of camp theatricality.
It should be noted the rise of the gothic novel saw such feelings of horror being exploited for a form of mass entertainment for commercial purposes, a process now continued in the modern horror film so important in defining goth. While in the nineteenth century individual defiance of social norms was a very risky business today it is far less radical in social terms. Thus the significance of goth's subcultural rebellion is strictly limited, and is tied into drawing on imagery at the heart of Western commercial culture. Unlike the hippy or punk movement there is no wider political message predominant within the subculture, except for individualism, tolerance for sexual diversity, a dislike of social conservatism and a strong tendency towards cynicism, and even these ideas are not common to all goths. However, this is hardly surprising as the original goths were punks who had seen that a subculture no matter how radical could not shake the foundations of Western world. It could be argued many goths' use of literary and film imagery represents an example of the growing blurring between fiction and fact which is part of the postmodern condition. It is notable that the occasional attempts of cultural appropriation by the mainstream of elements from gothic fashion have left the subculture largely intact. While people love going to see people dressed like goths in movies, there is little sign that many people, besides teenagers, wish to join them.
For the individual goth, joining the subculture can be extremely valuable and personally fulfilling, especially in creative terms. However, it also can be risky, especially for the young, because of the negative attention it can attract. The value that young people find in the movement is evidenced by its continuing existence after other subcultures of the eighties such as the New Romantics have long since died out. Paul Hodkinson's book explores how the Western cult of individualism, usually expressed via consumerism, is drawn on by goths and other subcultural groups. Many who are drawn to the culture have already failed to conform to the norms of existing society, and for its participants the goth subculture provides an important way of validating themselves against the outside world. Hodkinson shows how inside the goth subculture status can be gained via enthusiastic participation and creativity, in creating a band, djing, making clothes or writing a fanzine. He suggests that the selfconscious artificiality of a subculture is a valid alternative choice in a post-modern world, compared to submitting to the invisible manipulations of popular consumerism and the mass media.
Tensions between individuality and conformity
The goth subculture, while often referring to itself as creative and individualistic, is often criticized for the faux individualism it provides. In short, so the criticism goes, those that follow this subculture want to be different, but to do this they all listen to the same music as each other and dress in a similar way. Failure to adhere to these subcultural boundaries may lead to being ostracized by other goths, and goths can be as prejudiced as the cliques they condemn. The tribal feelings this all creates leads goths to express negative thoughts against outsiders in a similar way to the "popular" culture it rebels against.
However, one important difference is that (in general) goths claim that they would not dream of shouting such comments at other people or physically attacking them. It should be noted that this criticism is based on tensions centered around the questions of inclusion and exclusion that arise in all human social structures and are clearly seen in all subcultures.
References
- Baddeley, Gavin: Goth Chic: A Connoisseur's Guide to Dark Culture (Plexus, US, August 2002, ISBN 0859653080)
- Davenport-Hines, Richard: Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil and Ruin (1999: North Port Press. ISBN 0865475903 (trade paperback) - A voluminous, if somewhat patchy, chronological/aesthetic history of the Gothic covering the spectrum from Gothic architecture to The Cure.
- Hodkinson, Paul: Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture (Dress, Body, Culture Series) 2002: Berg. ISBN 1859736009 (hardcover); ISBN 185973605X (softcover)
- Kilpatrick, Nancy: The goth Bible : A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined. 2004: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312306962
- Voltaire: What is Goth? (WeiserBooks, US, 2004; ISBN 1578633222) - a humorous and easy-to-read view of the Goth subculture
- Andrew C. Zinn: The Truth Behind The Eyes (IUniverse, US, 2005; ISBN 0-595-37103-5) - Dark Poetry
See also
- Mick Mercer
- Gothic rock
- Post punk
- Death rock
- Gothic fashion
- Cybergoth
- Gothic Lolita
- Mallgoth
- Ghost culture
- History of subcultures in the 20th century
External links
- ScatheWeb History of Goth
- DarkNation International Goth Community
- Deathrock.com
- "Undead Undead Undead" (Alternative Press November 1994 article by Dave Thompson and Jo-Ann Greene, with retrospective quotes from early '80s post punk bands on the "goth" label)
- Goth.net
- The International Gothic Club Listing — Worldwide Goth club directory that is sorted by region. Content is contributed by visitors and usually consists of club specifics such as location, music type, cover charge, drinks, dress code, directions and other miscellaneous club information.
- XianGoth.net Reviews, Interviews and articles pertaining to progressive spirituality and Gothic subculture.
- Netgoth UK based goth event listings
- Religious tolerance.org: The Goth Culture: Its history, stereotypes, religious connections, etc.