Goth Subculture Analysis

Punks and Goths have coexisted for decades and continue to be, distinct social movements built upon different music, films and fashion characteristics. The Goth subculture has survived much longer than others from the same era, for instance Mods, Skinheads, Hippies and Rockers. However the movement first emerged in England in the early 1980s (Subcultureslist.com, 2016) which continues to diversify, to respond to social and cultural changes. Post punk and Goth bands such as Bauhaus, Rosetta Rose, The Cult, Alien Sex Friend, Sisters of Mercy and The Crüxshadows (AllMusic:2016) have had an enormous influence and impact in forming and developing the movement we see today in the 21st century. In this essay we will be analysing the Goth subculture

from the 1980s and 1990s in England, drawing attention to its stylistic characteristics, the issue of 'throughly ordered' and what reasons account for its existence in the first place.

Throughout modern history there have been certain characters that personify the very essence of Goth, for instance Theda Bara [1885-1995], Italian heiress Marchesa Luisa Casati [1881-1957], Carolyn Jones [1930-1983] who played Mortica Addams in the 1960s TV series The Addams Family, to more recent iconic Goths like Helena Bonham Carter and maverick dresser Daphne Guinness (Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014: 195-199), who have helped inspire the movement, to create their own persona and sense of the gothic style. In the early days of the movement in the 1980s and 1990s, the traditional Goth fashion draws heavily upon the early fetish, bondage and S&M style from the punk and the New Romantics subculture movements for example straps, buckles, zips, waistcoats, frock coats, corsets, gowns and thigh-high stiletto boots (citation needed here) which are still being used in the modern Goth culture today. Ian Astbury 1997 describes the early fashion characteristics for the beginning of the Goth culture; “For the male ... black spiky hair and a black leather jacket. For the women ... black fishnets, black leather thigh high boots ... dark makeup and the big black spiky hair” (History of Goth:2016).It could be said Gothic punks like Siouxsie Sioux, Joy Dividson, Peter Murphy, Sid Vicious and bands from the eighties and nineties such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Crüxshadows, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy and The Cure have influenced the Modern Goth subculture fashion we see today in the 21st century.

Over time, the tradition gothic look at the beginning of the post punk movement in the early 1980s and 1990s branched out into various sub-genres around the world for instance Cyber Goth, Gothic Lolita and Fetish Goth (Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014: 210-11). The traditional materials which are more commonly used to make the Gothic clothing includes lace, brocade and leather, however modern Goths within the various subsets have created new materials such as rubber and PVC to create their own version of the aesthetics. Both men and women in the Goth subculture tend to use makeup such as black or very dark crimson red lipstick, pale white foundation to wipe any trace of colour from the face giving the appearance of death. The use of dark eyeshadow and black eyeliner intensifies the sunken deathly dramatic look. Drawing upon different sources of inspiration for example, historical dress from the Medieval, Elizabethan and Victorian period, cult movies and literature from the 18th and 19th Century horror fictions such as Dracula [1897] by Bram Stoker, The Mysteries of Udolpho [1794] by Ann Radcliffe and The Fall of the House of Usher [1839] by Edgar Allan Poe (Newworldencyclopedia.org, 2016), Goth fashion has consisted of individuals creating their own version of the aesthetics.

Like fashion, Gothic music is the primary cultural force which brings the Goth subculture together. The first musical sub-genre called Gothic Rock formed during the late 1970s, which included bands such as Fields Of The Nephilim, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, Rosetta Stone, Joy Division and The Cure. The music they liked was something of a backlash against the colorful disco music of the seventies. In the modern society, musical taste is an important part of an individual's identity. Goth music described by the media and mainstream society as dark, depressing and obsessed with death, which shows a complete misunderstanding of the subculture. The Goth subculture was defined as a separate movement from post-punk due to its darker music accompanied by haunting sounds, guitars with a more apocalyptic flair, drums, lyrics about death, religion and love. Contemporary Goth music genres have their own unique sound and style for example Dark Ambient, Goth Neo-Classical, Goth Folk, Goth Industrial, Goth Metal, Dark Wave and Ethereal. The subset Dark Ambient often consists of evolving dissonant harmonies of resonances and drones, low frequency rumbles, gongs, percussive rhythms and distorted voices processed to the point where the original sample cannot be recognised. In addition to the Goth rock music scene at the beginning of the post-punk movement Havergal Brian [1876-1972] from Stroke-on-Trent a classical music composer who wrote in 1961 the longest symphony ever composed called 'Symphony No.1 in D Minor' also known as 'The Gothic'(Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014:130) addresses spirituality and humanity which could relate to the Gothic movement revelatory subtext manifesto "it is all futile, everything is pointless, death not love conquers all" (Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014:133).

Gothic authors such as Susan Hill's 1983 novel The Woman in Black, Mervyn Peake's 1970 fiction The Atrocity Exhibition and Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, use macabre images, horrific monstrosities and supernatural forces as incarnations of abstract principles to question the importance and validity of science's fanatic obsession with rational orderly laws and their implications. In 1987 The Daily Mail claimed Dracula as the classic of horror fiction " in seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful and horrorful story, our mind reverts to such tales as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein and The Fall of the House of Usher - but Dracula is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination than any more of these"(Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014:73). The common film characteristics include vampires, ghosts, werewolves, bats, cobwebs, monsters, old dark houses, sublime castles, dungeons, graveyards and secret passages. Vampires in general have finessed their way from hideous ghouls to sensuous heartthrobs for example the Cullen's from the saga Twilight . The vampire embodies both life and death taking the life of others to sustain itself and in so doing living immortally, has been adopted by part of the Goth subculture as a cultural icon the Goth subculture is, metaphorically, if not actually, drawing power from others, with self-sustenance being the ultimate goal. Horror film fans would say that the Goth film genre bravely faces issues such as death, mortality, mystery, cruelty, violence, insecurity, loneliness and guilt head on (Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright, 2014:85). Some gothic actors and actresses known to be related to this genre include Angelina Jolie, Christina Ricci, Helena Bonham Carter, Fairuza Balk, David Bowie and Johnny Depp. The interconnection between horror and Goth was highlighted in its early days by post punk films such as The Howling 1981, The Hunger a 1983 vampire film.Tim Burton an American film director created a storybook atmosphere filled with darkness and shadow, for example, some of his films from the 1980s and 1990s include Beetlejuice, Batman [1989] and Edward Scissorhands [1989] to modern horror films like Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007] film starring Jonny Depp (pastemagazine.com, 2016).

In The Subculture the Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige uses the phrase 'throughly ordered' when describing the style of the punk subculture, this draws an interesting paradox with youth cultures and subcultures that they do conform to a type.

However, recent readers of subcultures and modern Goths would dispute Hebdige's generalisation as it has become an international culture spreading to countries such as United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and South America (Christian Research Institute, 2016). The Goth culture is not thoroughly ordered as there are various subsets within the movement for example Goth Punk, Fetish Goth, Cyber Goth, Neo Victorianism and Gothic Lolita (Whatisgoth.com, 2016) which have their own social group, inspirations, fashion style, beliefs, music and characteristics. As a lifestyle, Goth is as diversified as its adherents. There is a wide range of ages in the Goth subculture as not only teenagers linked with this subculture some people who were Goths at the beginning of the movement in the eighties and nineties are still Goth's to this day. Goths are all so different there really is no true unifying stereotype or dress code within the subculture. Not all Goths are depressed, nor do they all wear black, listen to the same music, or employ the same modes of self-expression. Mainstream society and horror fans who like gothic films such as Batman and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street do not class themselves as being related to the Goth subculture. You see, as mentioned earlier, one of Goth's defining characteristics is the need to take the underlying darkness which can be linked in with the Goth's subtext of the manifesto it is all futile, everything is pointless, death not love conquers all. destruction, pain and insecurity were the new teen angst"(Roberts, Livingstone and Baxter-Wright,

2014:133).