The Goth Stereotype

[Mikey_Wolf]

After weeks and weeks I finally put my finger on something that I was having trouble sussing out for myself, and figured it out. I am a goth.

I couldn't believe it when I finally came to the realisation as to what I really was. Gradually, since August last year, my wardrobe has gone from all kinds of colours to black, black and more black.

Hang on doesn't that make me a freak of some kind I asked?

No is the answer once I did a little bit of research into it.

Most people become goths because they feel spurred somehow by 'normal' society and feel unable to fit in no matter how hard they try. Goths are free thinkers maybe even a little bit crazy. Not many hang about in graveyards and wearing white face paint, though some do wear facepaint.

Well there is a stereotype, and that's what made me afraid at first, however its not true, the stereotype is so so wrong I cannot even begin to describe how wrong. Me personally, I am what is known as a "Matrix Goth" however, within goth walks of life there is no 'labels' per se. Whether you are a Matrix Goth or an 80's goth, or a punk goth, or industrial goth or so on, what matters is you are Goth!

[TarJak]

And here's me thinking this was what a stereotypical Goth looked like:

http://www.asterix.co.nz/take_a_look/goths/chief_choleric.jpg

:rotfl:

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I wear black and trenchcoats, yet possess an optimistic view on life. That alone would make the stereotypical goth's head explode :D

[Mikey_Wolf]

There's another thing - Goths are often an object of ridicule.:lol:

There is no such thing as a "standard goth" tis not what you wear that makes you Goth. I could wear a school uniform, doesn't make me a schoolboy.

[DeepIron]

Not many hang about in graveyards and wearing white face paint, though some do wear facepaint.

Yeah, I saw the Michael Jackson "Thriller" music video...;)

[Dowly]

Hmm.. most of my wardrobe is black. Few white T-shirts I like to wear, but when I go outside, I usually change my shirt to a black one or cover the white shirt with a black one. I wear a leather jacket, not one of them matrix likes, but one that's over 15 years old. My cousin wore it, my brother wore it and now I have it. I dont think about life, tbh, I couldnt care less at this point. I dont think myself as a goth (tho, I'd love to have goth GF. :yep:). Just another heavy metal-junkie. :up:

[Onkel Neal]

If you were a "Goth" in 1984, you would have been cool. A Goth today is a fad, passé.

[d@rk51d3]

(tho, I'd love to have goth GF. :yep:).


Oooooh Yeah!:yep:

[August]

...what matters is you are Goth!

I thought what matters is you are human, but let me try to understand. Goths wear black otherwise dress oddly and generally have a depressed outlook on life because they feel spurned by society?

Isn't that a bit like refusing to bathe because others think you smell bad?

[orwell]

I see you live in the UK, good luck on the bus ride (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/7204543.stm). :p

[Penelope_Grey]

To thy true self be known. Well done brother!:up:

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I dont think I even belong to a distinct group. How would you class a tall man with a good sense of humour who wears classic t-shirts and has an overseas girlfriend? :lol:

[Penelope_Grey]

A Throwback.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Ouuuch

[Letum]

I got dressed up and wheeled out a black lowrider motorbike for Whitby Gothic
weekend a few years back and turned up as some kind of biker-come-goth in leather.

It was a good laugh, but not something I would repeat often.

I feel more at home in a shirt and tweed or leather waistcoat or norwegian jumpers.
If I am lucky I might get hold of a British 1970s issue submariner jumper in a few
weeks. Very warm and comfortable and creamy white.

[Penelope_Grey]

Ouuuch

What? :o

Was the reference to classic T-shirts that dunnit! :up:

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Ouuuch
What? :o

Was the reference to classic T-shirts that dunnit! :up:


I got a new one recently. A Knight Rider one, with KITTs scanner lights on the front :rock:

[kiwi_2005]

My son Gf is Goth he is what we call Bogans a class between a biker and heavy metalist but hes neither (Shssh he just thinks hes cool :rotfl:) Shes very nice well at least she talks back! Hes brought a few home that dont speak a word. Strange.

[Mikey_Wolf]

Ah I don't do it to be cool. Don't care about cool.

Goths only appear to dress oddly because the rest of society doesn't agree with that style of dress. As I say it varies wildly, some don't even dress "odd" at all. Some take it to extremes -> facial piercings, white face, black lipstick etc...

People become goths due to having a poor outlook on life yes. But don't stay depressed forever.

This is subsim.com, so therefore let me tell you about one of the most famous gothic submarine captains around. Captain Nemo:

"I am not what is called a civilised man, I have done with society for reasons that seem good to me, therefore I do not obey its laws"

Captain Nemo was a gothic character in literature. Nothing wrong, also this idea goths worship the devil, BS, I met one and he is one of the most devout Christians I ever met. He knows practically every verse in the Bible off by heart, some Vicars can't even come close to claiming that.

Stereotypes are dreadful. Its like video game players are nerds because they play games. Total tripe.

[XabbaRus]

This is where I find the contradiction. Having known quite a few goths and how they want to be out of the mainstream and not belong to a group or have a label they do just that so in effect you're swapping being in one group to being in another. How can you be individual when there are thousands who look the same, think the same and act pretty much the same.

[Takeda Shingen]

Yes, the Goths are cool. I am especially fond of both the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths.

[August]

This is where I find the contradiction. Having known quite a few goths and how they want to be out of the mainstream and not belong to a group or have a label they do just that so in effect you're swapping being in one group to being in another. How can you be individual when there are thousands who look the same, think the same and act pretty much the same.

Exactly. It's like the hippy movement back in the 60's. Freedom as long as you wore the right clothes, grew your hair long, did drugs and held the right political viewpoints.

What the Goths are all about is simple teenage rebelliousness. The idea that a teenager needs to rebel against his parents in order to prove, to themselves as much as anyone else, that he or she is an independant adult.

[GlobalExplorer]

This is where I find the contradiction. Having known quite a few goths and how they want to be out of the mainstream and not belong to a group or have a label they do just that so in effect you're swapping being in one group to being in another. How can you be individual when there are thousands who look the same, think the same and act pretty much the same.

Exactly. Goths are just extremely shy people who are desperately trying to cover up that they are nothing special.

Exactly in the way Mikey_Wolf brabbles about how being goth makes you something special, that Cpt. Nemo was one of them (!), yet denying that they do it to be cool.

When I see them .. I always think they want to see how normal people react .. but what am I supposed to say? .. you look like a ****ing scarecrow? .. you look like ridiculous? .... uhuhuh you have stereotypes!!

The real individualist, free thinkers, revolutionaries, dont give a **** about clothes and you would not notice them by their looks.

[Penelope_Grey]

Who are you to define "real" GlobalExplorer and before you even consider maligning my older brother further for his choice of allies bear one thing in mind, at least here on subsim, you too are nothing special.

[fatty]

Who are you to define "real" GlobalExplorer

I can't think of any revolutionaries or great philosophers that looked all that different from their contemporaries, except maybe for Marx's crazy beard. Nobody remembers them for how they looked, but rather what they did and what they said. Anything less is a superficial interpretation.

[GlobalExplorer]

Who are you to define "real" GlobalExplorer and before you even consider maligning my older brother further for his choice of allies bear one thing in mind, at least here on subsim, you too are nothing special.

Touchy aren't we .. ;)

P.S. How old are you?

[GlobalExplorer]

I can't think of any revolutionaries or great philosophers that looked all that different from their contemporaries, except maybe for Marx's crazy beard. Nobody remembers them for how they looked, but rather what they did and what they said. Anything less is a superficial interpretation.

Marx was really a strange character .. could be almost labelled a misfit. That's why he and his poor family had to move all over Europe, never fit in and never had any money.

However, the first and foremost individualist that comes to my mind would be Diogenes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_of_Sinope).

[GlobalExplorer]

If you were a "Goth" in 1984, you would have been cool. A Goth today is a fad, passé.

However, I must say for a band from the 80's The Cure sounds surprisingly fresh today!

[Takeda Shingen]

Who are you to define "real" GlobalExplorer and before you even consider maligning my older brother further for his choice of allies bear one thing in mind, at least here on subsim, you too are nothing special.

Touchy aren't we .. ;)

P.S. How old are you?

I don't think that she's touchy at all. You verbally disembowel her brother. Her anger is justified. There were a number of disenting views on the nature of the non-conformist, but I think that you crossed a line with that 'brabbles' comment. Not very nice.

[GlobalExplorer]

I don't think that she's touchy at all. You verbally disembowel her brother. Her anger is justified. There were a number of disenting views on the nature of the non-conformist, but I think that you crossed a line with that 'brabbles' comment. Not very nice.

I've read it. I think I will better stay out of this discussion then. It's not that important to me.

[TteFAboB]

There wouldn't be a Goth stereotype if so many Goths didn't try so hard to fit into it.

[Sailor Steve]

I agree with August's comparison to the hippies (having been there myself). At the same time everyone feels the need to be different from everyone else, we also have a driving need to be accepted; hence the contradiction between "doing your own thing" because "everyone else is doing it".

We need to be different, and we need to fit in. It's part of what makes us human.

Mike, listen to your sister, and find and be yourself, whoever that might be.

[Etienne]

To quote my friend - The one who used to dress like a pirate to attend nautical school, mind you - on goth girls:

"Goth girls look good, but not for long. All they ever talk about is their ****ing clothes."

[silentrunner]

social stereotypes get on my nerves. I know exactley which group I fit into but I don't dress like this...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Nerd.jpg okay yeah that ones true I do dress like that

[Blacklight]

If you were a "Goth" in 1984, you would have been cool.

I was a goth in '84, but I certainly was NOT considered "cool". That was the era of the sweater wearing preppie who would do mean things to me like stuff me in lockers. :nope: