GilAskan
Blue Jewel
GilAskan
Whether or not you're a goth depends on what you think a goth is, as others have said.
To many (older Goths in particular), a goth is an avid fan of goth-rock.
To many (younger Goths, usually), goth is "a state of mind" or a perspective.
To me? A goth is a member of the culture which revolves around goth-rock.
To many (older Goths in particular), a goth is an avid fan of goth-rock.
To many (younger Goths, usually), goth is "a state of mind" or a perspective.
To me? A goth is a member of the culture which revolves around goth-rock.
One, what exactly is goth rock? Music is Music, and as someone else said earlier, labels don't really matter.
Two, I could totally reverse what you said. I come from a very "Gothic" environment. I live in a Gothic house, and I was raised around a lot of different things. To every goth I know, a goth is someone with a certain "state of mind" whereas the poser goth who just dress a certain way to rebel against their parents, and listen to "Gothic rock" for the same reason.
Hell, my grandmother and great grandmother remember the emergence of the Gothic culture, and all the Gothic subcultures into popular society, and were "active members" before hand.
So what now? (that's not a smart tone, that's a curious tone)
First, I started off my post with a comment about "You are goth depending on what you think goth is" for a good reason. There is no solid definition of goth. You could ask 100 different Goths, and you could get 100 different answers back.
In saying this, I want to establish that my comments on the goth culture are my opinions, and I do not solicit them as fact. However, I should also say that any information I mention which can be proved is factual. Goth-rock is a real genre of music, the bands I list are equally as real.
My Post in the Music Subforum
The long post that he quoted of himself, that you can easily read by looking above.
*ahem*
To answer your second question... I again say that I will not refute your opinion of goth as being correct. It is equally possible as being true. And I certainly agree with you in saying that there are MANY posers (or people who simply are just going through a phase) who dress in goth styles (there really are several dozen fashion styles in the goth culture) as a way to rebel, or a way to seem unique (though, any rebellious teenager along this line WOULD NOT listen to goth-rock, but rather, usually, metal and shock-rock artists such as Marilyn Manson).
My personal problem (though, again, I do not say the opinion is wrong, I am just stating why I myself do not proscribe to the opinion) with the "Goth is a state of mind" statement is it has no grounds to stand on. Any one of these said posers could very well say "I'm a goth because I think I am, and you can't prove me wrong". You can neither prove nor disprove someone's legitimacy in the goth culture.
I hope I was able to clear up some confusion. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Anyways, I never once said your opinions were wrong, I merely questioned why you had them, and pointed out from my point of view, you were a little backwards.
Something that I was kinda trying to ask, but I apparently couldn't, was that what of the Gothic styles that came before the "Gothic-Rock" genre? (That's why I had brought up my grandmother and great grandmother living through the blossoming of Gothic styles in popular culture.)
As for the mindset, with a few simple questions you can discern the posers, and the real Goths. A poser won't know why he does something, or will only do it because it's cool. The mindset will do a variety of things, never being pinned down to one specific field, and will do it because they like it, not really caring what others think.
As for the fashions, there's so many Gothic sub-cultures, I lost track of them all, so I'm not going to touch on that.
For the record, I never meant no argument. I was just trying to get a peek into your mind.
