If you’re anything like me, you have odd reading habits [let’s be honest; in America, reading is odd] and you’ve also come across these words. I realized that I have only the vaguest idea what these words mean and I cannot, in good(ish) conscience, continue to rant and rave about the necrotic nuances of the living impaired until I get these ambiguous adjectives brought to light. Time to kill this beasty before it does any more damage. By “damage,” I mean, “annoy me.” Here’s what I have….
Goth: Go back to about the time Rome fell (AD 400-something). The Goths were a “group” (collective, culture, hive, swarm, zerg-rush) of Germanic (not German) people that stretched across Europe and parts of Russia (depending on the source). Think, ‘white trash’ meets ‘Conan the Barbarian.’ Basically. There’s more to it than that, but you get the gist. I ain’t Dickens.
Gothic: Trying to find solid information online was mentally taxing. I suppose I could have gone to the library (or, as it is known to most Americans, the ‘libary.’), but I eventually gave up “researching.” Instead, I’m placing a link to the Dictionary.com listing for the word Gothic. Basically, it says that gothic refers to: the aforementioned barbarians, a type of architecture that developed in France circa 1200, a European art AND music style from 1200 – 1400’s, and a term for the [late] Middle Ages.
Gothic Horror: Straight from the vaunted wiki: “is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance.” So, Lady Gaga?
Now we have all this nifty intel. That really helps, right?
Hells No!!
Where’s my Talking Tentacle Raven??!! How did we get Stoker and Poe out
of Rome-sacking marauders?
Does gothic maybe come from everyone's favorite vampire Vlad "the big D" tepis. He's usually depicted in Victorian style dress, cape, cane, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo gothic = Victorian style , cross Victorian style with 80's punk rock and you at least get the modern goth clothing style.
In part II of the article I get into a little history, but the 'current' style (1980 - now), would involve an extenstive study in modern culture.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to interact with SO MANY humans. Ick! Nope. I is sticking to the interwebs.