Goth does not equal Nihilism
by
Robert A. Sloan
Speaking
as an old black clad Crow wannabe who waited a good twenty five
years for the movie to be made, Goth is not a subculture of
despair. It may seem so to outsiders. Maybe Goth
cries out against banality. Maybe Goth looks for beauty in the
shadows and wonder in the darkness. Maybe Goth has no time for
petty euphemisms and loathes censorship.
I've heard
complaints about and against Goths from a number of people, of
which "Angsty" and "Whining" seem to top the
list.
But there's a point these detractors seem to fail to notice. It's
that life doesn't really look like the plastic suburbian parody
of the early part of "Edward Scissorhands" where the
Normal People lived and what Edward brought to those people was
style, vitality, creativity and glamour!
Maybe poetry itself *is* the heart of Goth and the Gothic takes
up the grand sweep of all that's dark and light, all that's true
and powerful instead of just all that supports neighborhood grass
trimming codes and community circulars.
Maybe I can say things like this about Goth and not have to worry
about whether any other Goth actually agrees on any point of it,
because to wear black and write poetry and read poetry and have
deep thoughts demands a certain arrogant rejection of what anyone
else might tell me to think or feel - in favor of what I really
think, what I really feel.
Perhaps Goth is defined visually and in metaphor, not by a set of
rules or a checklist of politically correct opinions. Perhaps it's
a moment. A mood. A feeling. A way of life.
I know that when I wandered in Jackson Square or dropped into a
few of my favorite clubs there was a flowing artistic coherence
to everyone there. I know that age became irrelevant and depth
something good. Imagination soared. Creativity abounded. Drama
was appreciated, not feared or denied and when I look back at my
literary
I look back and see poets who've sung of death and betrayal,
hypocrisy and broken love, despair and the strength to resist
despair as long as there have been poets. Goth is an artistic
license that I'm proud to carry.
Bio: Robert A. Sloan is 46, disabled, lives with a cat and writes
for a living online and off. Author of Raven Dance: A History of
the Utopian Revolution, he is currently editing Launchpad #1:
Love and Death and a yet untitled solo collection of horror
stories. His poetry, stories and articles can be found on Art of Horror and Writtenbyme as well as his daily updates as Editor of Self
Help for Writers (where you can read an interview
with the Dark Raven of Gothic Gossip .
