This got me to looking around, though, a little boredom-research (you all do it too, I know you do, a subject gets in your head and you hit up Google for no good reason). As with anytime you do this, I have the good links and the bad links.
I just wanna share two with ya. On the good note, we have the Gothic Martha Stewart. Worth the read for the laugh alone, it's actually kinda interesting, whether you are a die-hard goth (decorating tips, home projects that take no skill to do) or just curious as to what it's all about (types, differences, influences). I expected it to be a comedy site, but it's actually serious, without being pretentious.
Now, the bad side. For all that the last site was not pretentious, Gothic Babe Of The Week very much is. You don't need to click the link to know this is a site dedicated to 'showing off' one 'goth' chick a week, for no other reason than being an image-whore. Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are image-whores, but my real rant here is two-fold. One goes back to line from 'Fight Club' (which
planetnikita used just yesterday, come to think of it): "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." Maybe it's my connection to the old-skool gothic crowd, but I don't consider you 'goth' just because you dress in black, put odd colored extensions in your hair, and wear too much makeup...but that is just me being an old man. Nowadays, it seems your IMAGE is everything, regardless of who you really are inside.But this steps into my second point: nomenclature. Go back to that site, or any of a thousand more that showcase "gothic beauty" (*twitch*). Look over these chicks 'names': they really are everything that people say they hate about the goth crowd. Too many references like:
- "y" replacing "i"
- pain
- demons
- darkness
- black
- red
- raven
- cat
- bat
- spider
- webs
- royal titles
- vampire
- succubus
- medusa
- winter
- grrrl
- bitch
- angel
zombiedip and I were talking about this a while back, laughing at the names...I swear, it's like none of them put any thought into it, just pick something that sounds cool and might VAGUELY fit some tiny aspect of them somewhere, but never stop to see how fucking cliche it is. Check out Goth Goose of the Week for more examples, but with nicely funny commentary about their goofiness. Now, yes, I know there are some of you that use some of these as well, I'm not putting anyone down. It's a fact that these things are overused, and unless used in some new and interesting way or VERY fitting to the person named, it's vapid, characterless, and plebeian. Hell, even the online handle I've used for YEARS (and shall continue to use) has 'black' in it. In it's defense, though, I will say that my handle has a very personal meaning, and doesn't seem to come off cliche (to me, anyway).So, yes, I'm happy and proud to be a FogeyGothTM, and to remember 'the good ol' days' of the Gothic movement, when it was more about emotion and less about eyeliner.
(*grabs his walker and toddles off to listen to Dead Can Dance*)
