Have you ever told anyone
you're a "goth"? If so, what's their reaction? Take a second look
next time. It usually gets more interesting the older or more conservative they
are. Facial expressions range from delight ("wow, someone I can identify
with!), to quizzical ("so you hang out in graveyards
and…stuff?"), to the most comical, suppressed repulsion/fear (as they
glance your arm over for track marks of lonely nights gone wrong). Whatever the
reaction may be, and I'm sure there are many others, we as a sub-culture have
some necessary postulats to label individuals as gothic-minded. Some of these
"qualifications" are somewhat shallow while others span an entire
lifetime of pain to lead a person into this lifestyle. As a sidenote, this type
of article has been done many times over, but it's important to reiterate such
points as they remind us of why and how we have fallen into this pattern of
living.
I think it would be agreed upon that as a sub-culture, goths have not been
reserved about expressing their rather morose sentiments upon the world. This
would be a pre-requisite number one to qualify as a goth – putting
something forward into the world in the form of a personal creation. For some,
this may be art such as paintings, sculpture, comics, websites, and so on. It
may also be literature like poetry, stories, and creative writing. Other
self-expressions, equally as relevant, would be music, acting, activism,
fashion design, etc. Another somewhat distinct category of expression put into
the world is religion. Before you jump on me with the popular atheism and/or
existential stance, think for a moment of the dozens of practicing Wiccans,
Taoists, Buddhists, and yes, even Christians and Jews! Religion can be seen as
both giving something to society in personal deeds, and taking something
spiritually back for yourself, as many people have discovered. To inflict upon
the world is to inflict upon oneself as well.
Not only do we put meaning into the world, we absorb it in turn by adopting
such creative manifestations. For instance, it should be quite obvious to the
casual observer that goths do not generally attire themselves in Gap, Club
Monaco, or the other disgustingly prevalent clone clothes of our time. Replace
those with other lesser known labels or, ok let's just admit it, pretty well
any black clothing in general. Oh yeah, you also have to really like the color
black if you want to be a goth. Something about death and mourning, I missed
the memo on that one. A word should probably be put in about the whole club
scene, where one can enjoy the music and décor put forth by others.
So far we have personal expression, put both into the world and in turn, back
onto ourselves. Most of this is creative and unique, far from the usual. I have
barely touched on all of them, and, as stated before, there seems to be a
pattern of morbid fascination with the dark – the unknowns of life and of
death, the macabre, horror and drudgery of everyday life. It would take a whole
other article to even begin explaining why such a minority of the larger
society in any given city identifies with this theme. However, no matter how
one came into this lifestyle, we all have these basic tenets in common and are
able to relate to one another based on them.
~ I need shadows, I need darkness, to help me through the night.
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