Mark Megahan
The whole planet is welcome to share in the World Goth Day celebration, held annually on May 22. Those who’s favorite color is black are well aware that it’s not just about the clothing, it’s an entire culture. Black clothing isn’t even mandatory.
Embrace your inner Goth
Anyone with the slightest inclination toward the sub-culture has a whole day coming up soon to “embrace your inner and outer Goth.” Celebrate who you are and your individual uniqueness, your fellows assure.
Fashion, music, art, and “to some degree, behaviors” are all part of the happy gloom.
World Goth day got started in the United Kingdom in 2009. “It quickly spread, and is now celebrated in many countries around the world.” For those who aren’t familiar with the Gothic way of life, it’s sort of like Comicon meets dark shadows.
People who identify as Goth, find “beauty in things others consider dark.” They aren’t evil, well, not most of them. They simply have a different way of looking at things.
Those of the Goth persuasion enjoy humor as much as anyone. They just favor more of the black comedy sort. It isn’t carved in stone that to be Gothic you must wear black. “A Pastel Goth’s heart is as dark as a Goth’s who wears all black.”
They don’t all like the same music but there is a trend toward “genres from Goth Pop to Neo-Classical to Goth Folk.” They can be found around the globe and “come from many different backgrounds and ethnicities.” The culture is especially strong in Japan and Germany.
Root for the villain
Goth types are the sort who like dead trees, they root for the bad guy in the action movie. Darth Vader has a huge following.
Goth, they say, isn’t something one becomes, it’s something one is. A big sub-sub-culture is called Steampunk. That’s a morph of Victorian and Edwardian aesthetics mashed into modern technology.
The general idea is that the industrial revolution led to a devolving level of society. The Goths might have a point there. An Emo Goth can be lured into a night of debauchery with tickets to see Weezer.
They love Green Day, Blink 182 and My Chemical Romance just as much. Everybody is convinced that Gothic started with Punk all the way back in the 70’s.
That’s easy to see because Punk brought a rebellious anti-conformist attitude towards society. Goth and Steampunk philosophy is screw-it, why bother?
They don’t rebel against society, they ignore it. With the black clothing and dark moodiness, they communicate to one another the horror they feel for modern society.
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