Listen: I am the last person to defend the purportedly innocent pastime of objectifying women. In fact, I despise the whole
Maxim mentality, what with its penchant for ill-fitting lingerie and silly steam room aesthetic. However, I will confess an appreciation for the sartorial excess of Goth. Just yesterday the
Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/apr/26/goth-for-life-in-pictures) ran a series of photos chronicling Goth gatherings and I was impressed.
While I came of age during Goth’s first flourish, I had neither the fearlessness nor the physical qualities that made for a good Goth (I am short, tan easily, and lack that aristocratic English bone structure). But like MC Frontalot, I do appreciate the look of those Goth girls. But I won’t play the sexist here; some men can pull off the Goth look too. For instance, how about the aging Goth front man Carl McCoy (Fields of Nephilim)? I would not try to wed frontier fashion with a Mad Max apocalyptic sensibility, but McCoy pulls it off.
How about these lovely British souls at the Whitby Goth Weekend? The matron in this photo, and I use that term primarily for its historical resonance to the Goth folk, looks rather stunning in her corset and mourning veil.
Then there are these three folk in the cemetery. The older gentleman takes me back to childhood memories of the original
Dark Shadows, while the younger woman in scarlet looks rather like Kate Beckinsale. I tell you, there are sure to be some sci-fi devotees actively imagining themselves in the crypt with these two.
In preparation for the coming weekend, let us raise our figurative glasses to the Goths. I salute your avoidance of convention, your willingness to work within a limited color palette, and your appreciation of a fashion that has been thirty years in the making. Cheers!
I too salute the Goth's independence and one figure salute to convention. Back in my youth, goths were generally dismissed as PIBs (people in black). I too appreciated the look of the handful of girls that road this train in high school. I was introduced to Morrissey by a goth high school friend in the basement of her house. Alas I tan far too easy as well to have pulled this off.
ReplyDeletePresently, a goth from the coffee store lives three houses away from me, I always appreciate her walking through my neighborhood, leaving the closed-minded confused.
What are your thoughts about the juxtaposition Jack White pulls off, pale as can be but bright reds, blues, even yellows in his fashion? (Have you seen him lately, is that make up around his eyes, eyelids - brown, purple, big circles?)
Jack White is hard to characterize. Is he a visionary or is he a media-chasing poser? One cannot argue that the man has talent, and his awareness of the essential elements of a rock song cannot be denied. As for his fashion sense, I am not nearly as big of a fan. His look exists somewhere between retro-western and pool hall chic. Furthermore, he seems to eschew the Goth appreciation of an off kilter Victorianism. All the same, if he thinks the look helps him produce good music/art then more power to him. Isn't that more Goth anyway?
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ReplyDeleteGreat question about White. He is very critical of all the bullshit that gets in the way of music making and performing, often speaking or implying a purity in his approach to song-writing and performing. Yet, he does spend a great deal of time crafting an external image, so your question above is quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt he can shred that guitar, and there have been vocal moments I have found moving. I do believe he is consistently challenging himself to do different things. For instance, right now he is touring with both an all-girl and all-boy backing band for his solo record. Switching up different nights, with each band naturally approaching the songs differently (not b/c of gender per sa, but be/c they are different bands, etc.) Interesting idea?
An interesting idea, but I wonder why gender is the common theme. It seems to play into the latest sexist characterization of him found in the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteDamn, that Atlantic article was not too pretty. I am always torn by how much weight to give song lyrics, I like to give a bit of freedom to the storyteller and don't want to prescribe all that emerges from the song to the songwriter, but there is a clear pattern laid out in the article and there is some truth always in the choices made (the pattern is troublesome).
ReplyDeleteAnd I have assumed for some time White was a raging control freak. And a bit holier-than-thou - his way is the only way in rock-n-roll. But from another perspective, maybe White is saying we are better than this vapid, too easy culture that has emerged, and the person that stands that ground never does well with the commercial press, etc. cause you have to be an asshole in some sense.
He is a violent dude as well, beat a good friend to a pulp early in the Detroit scene b/c friend signed with the wrong (i.e. national) record label, not cool intimidating Meg, and while staged (I presume), he and Gary Oldham did an online thing recently and White hard-charged him at the beginning, tackling him to the ground, drawing blood on Gary's lip.
The devil-woman has been a theme in music, well, forever. Not saying it is right, but White has his strongest affinity for those early blues records that were often merciless in their condemnation of women. A similar trope that plays out throughout much of our history (artistic and otherwise), from film to music to politics. Hell, were talking about female contraception in 2012, we have serious national players making the actual claim that there is pay equity across the board throughout the U.S. There have been over 500 bills introduced in the last 2 and half years attempting to establish personhood for a fetus, mandatory transvaginal examinations, and the illegality of abortion.
Damn, she's got it so good...