Do you know what goth is? Well, many pages of text have been written on that topic, so I won’t contribute much to it. Goth is people who seem to want to look like vampires. Pale skin, black hair, black clothing, corsets, long flowing coats, straps, chains, buckles, punk stuff, Victorian stuff and other such stuff. The Underworld series of movies — about vampires hunting werewolves — is a cleaned-up version of goth. (If you need to know more, ask your teenaged children or check out the Wikipedia entry on goth subculture.) Emo is similar to goth, but more recent.
Goth is about darkness. On the surface, it appears to be about evil, but ironically, goth people are usually civil, polite or at least harmless. I’ve become drawn to goth, and today I wondered why so many non-evil people are drawn to this subculture. What is the attraction of skulls, demons, black latex, vampires, brooding and depression?
Well, there’s the music — minor keys, ironically good for dancing. And goth fashion can be very compelling. It’s exotic, mysterious and often sexy. Many goths enjoy appearing prim and proper but with a perverse dark edge. And that perversity is a large part of what I see as goth’s appeal.
Perversity is the urge to do a thing just because that thing is the reverse of what is normal, rational, expected, proper, sensible or logical. It is tied in with freedom. It is why, despite my own personal appearance and style having become much more conservative over the years, I’m grateful there are people in Alberta who look downright freaky.
Freaks do the work of holding the boundaries of our freedom wide for us. It’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation. I don’t (very often) exercise my right to look like a far-out weirdo, but I depend on it to feel secure and safe. If I didn’t have the right to be weird, well then, who’s deciding what’s weird? And what might they decide is weird about me? As long as freaky, gothy, punky people are out there doing their freaky thing, I’m free to do whatever things I want that society might see as weird, even if those things aren’t goth or punk.
I believe that deep down, goth’s appeal is about two things — honesty and freedom. As far back as history records, dominant cultures have characterized freethinking, critical individuals as evil. Evil came to represent the permission to be true to yourself. It’s order versus chaos. Order requires compromise from every individual. We have to resist our temptations so that we can all get along. The allure of goth is the chaos side of humanity, the expression of what we truly want, of who we truly are. That’s why goth can be so sexy.
And that’s why goth can be so depressed. At many nightclub “goth nights,” you can dress how you want, because goths value freedom and individuality. So if you feel morose and you’re sick of hiding it, goth culture will embrace you.
Ironically, a culture as individuality-obsessed as ours can make people feel isolated. This can lead to sadness, confusion and even anger. That’s why subcultures like goth, emo and heavy metal thrive. Those subcultures allow people to just be who they are — sad, confused and/or angry. When you’re at the club or with your goth friends, you can just let your façade down for a bit. Get in touch with the true, primal side of yourself that civilization calls monstrous or evil, but is actually natural. It’s about being free and being true to yourself.
Of course, it’s also just fun to dress up in funky clothing.
