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[gothmedia]

Siouxsie and the Banshees cover article from B-side magazine Feb/Mar 95

scanned by me

if you like my scans and want to repost them off of tumblr or crop/otherwise make edits to any of the photos contained within this article please credit my blog, and if you're feeling extra generous and want to help me out you can donate via my ko-fi donating will allow me to obtain more magazines to scan and obtain better equipment.

[gothmedia]

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[gothmedia]

GodHatesGoths, a Retrospective.

Or how a parody website and the Satanic Panic of the aughts combined to scare the shit out of everyone until the FBI got involved. Yeah, THAT FBI. A Nugget Hears “Goth” for the First Time Let me preface this with a story. The year was 2002. I was but a little nugget attending church with my mother when a guest preacher took to the alter and began a sermon on the most bizarre thing I’ve ever heard of: Satanic gladiatorial cage death matches in goth clubs. This was the very first time I ever heard the word “Goth”. The preacher went on to read testimonials about how goths worship the devil, preform weird blood rituals, and apparently murder each other with maces while listening to heavy metal. That is until a kindly Man-of-God comes up and tells them that kitten sacrifice is mean and they should read a bible. The preacher assured us that this was all real and the reason no one has ever heard any of this from the news was because the Devil was keeping it a secret. Now remember, I was a gullible little nugget and believed pretty much anything an adult told me until I turned twelve. When I was twelve, I got a mallgoth friend. She wore those corset-and-tutu style Tripp minidresses and NewRocks to school. She had multiple piercings and black lipstick and listened to bands like Evanescence. She wasn’t scary or violent and that made me re-think everything I was told. The year 2007 hits and so did high school. Now I’m beginning my own babybat journey, becoming interested in the music and subculture, reading JtHM and binging on Tim Burton movies. About a year goes past and I meet someone who reminds me very much of the preacher from six years ago. This time, however, they have something to cite their strange accusations off of - a website. GodHatesGoth . com. Ugly Layouts, Uglier Words The website itself is pretty unappealing. It opens up with photo of the Columbine shooters and a wall of text composed of bible verses and honestly offensive reasoning as to they’re quoting those specific verses. There are also two links for “Goths” or “Parents” to enter the website, each leading to a different forward message depending on the option chosen. The main site itself is ugly. The format is extremely basic, even for a website made in 2007, consisting of almost entirely text in three colors and a single sans-serif font over a plain grey background. About a fourth the links on the main page lead to an “under construction” message or are broken entirely because the site was never actually finished. Working links are mostly internal and lead to pages with short articles such as “GOTHS ARE THE DEVIL’S CHILDREN” or “YOUR CHILDREN ARE LYING TO YOU”. All of these articles are absurdly over-the-top in their stories about the depravity of the subculture. There’s a decent amount of references to teen killers or school shootings. A good chunk of the website is also lists of “depraved” things one’s goth teenager might be up to, but you’ll get tonal whiplash when said lists jump from “Goths do evil things such as read Anne Rice, sacrifice Christian babies to Satan, and sleep too much/little.” Quite a lot of the website jumps from scenarios that are completely mundane and can describe literally any teenager ever to crimes so outlandish you’d swear it came from a budget horror movie. There’s also excessive amounts of homophobia, ableism, sexism, and racism within the mix. It should be noted at this point that the website is a hoax. A parody of the hyperbolic anecdotes such as those told by the preacher I listened to as a kid. But what spurred this website’s existence in the first place? If it is a parody, what is it a parody of? Setting the Stage The Satanic Panic had already been going on for three decades by the turn of the century. The latest of its targets being Marilyn Manson and the goth subculture after the mislabeling of the Columbine shooters as goths. The Satanic Panic was a moral panic that things such as rock music, Dungeons and Dragons, or Harry Potter were corrupting youth and leading them into mysterious cults that ate babies or sacrificed virgins in the woods. Many news stations ran with sensationalist headlines about suspected spooky activity, but many claims were unfounded or - in the case of the stories that spurred the whole panic in the first place- fraudulent. The damage had been done, however, and people were on edge. This paranoia was only doubled with the general sense of fear people held after the attacks of September 11, 2001. People were afraid in general, people tend to fear things that are new or things they don’t understand, and all of a sudden teenagers were a thing they didn’t understand. Not to say that adults ever understood the youth in the first place, but this was also the height of MySpace, Emo, and Scene culture. Parents didn’t know what Emos were, but they knew what Goth was, so they attributed the dark clothes and dreary music to that. So the stage was set and people were afraid of the dark, leading to rumors spreading, speculation running wild, and the rising fanfare from hardcore Evangelical Christian groups. The Fallout of Fear Like every moral panic, this fear-mongering whipped people into a frenzy against a perceived threat. With the internet becoming more accessible and people suddenly knowing what was happening half-way across the world in seconds it seemed like more and more stories of goths being discriminated against coming out daily. Getting thrown off buses, out of malls, getting rocks thrown at them. Angela Benedict of youtube fame mentioned a “Beat the Freak Week” at her high school where the alternative kids were kept in the gymnasium to save them from the other students looking to cause harm. In 2002 Blue Springs, Missouri was granted $273,000 to “combat Goth culture”. The town ended up returning a little over half the amount back to the federal government due to goths not actually being a problem. The worst came in 2007, however, when Sophie Lancaster and Robert Maltby were attacked when walking through a park late at night. Both were jumped by a group of teenagers and beaten, fell into comas, and thirteen days later Sophie's life was terminated when it was found she would never wake up. Like that, the tables have turned. Public opinion was beginning to change. Petitions were forming to make discrimination and attacks on goths hate crimes across Europe and the United States. This change of perspective was compounded with growing distaste for ultra-outspoken Evangelical hate groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church and was leading more and more people to be on the look-out for similar organizations. Black Suits, Green Reverend Because of its similarities to the rhetoric of the Westboro Baptist Church and other organizations, and the previously described attacks, the website itself was becoming a concern to members of the subculture and eventually it was reported as a hate group to the FBI by a concerned goth. After engaging with the a yahoo group that was connected to the website and trying to dispel the frankly disgusting misconceptions the church held about he goth subculture, the goth decided that the mentions of abuse (Such as putting the head of an alternative granddaughter in an oven and giving her burns.) were enough to alert authorities. The website was associated with “God’s Hammer Baptist Church” and was under the management of Reverend RG Green, same with the forum and Yahoo group. In all of them they mention various activities of the church members ranging from child abuse to arson. This, of course, was alarming to the FBI so they decided to go digging and find out when these events happened, considering an arson would make news somewhere, and they failed to find anything. Church members supposedly involved cease to exist when looked into further. Two years after the investigation began the FBI actually visited the GodHatesGoths website and found the disclaimer in their about page explaining the site and related peoples and events to be entirely fictional. Reverend RG Green and his church never existed in the first place. Parody Payout So what did we learn here? That the government wasted resources investigating a fake church? Well, yes, but there’s a bit more than that. It was a look into cultural mindsets at the time. A shift from the “beat the freak week” and public disdain for anything that wasn’t “mainstream” to the spearheading of campaigns that protect others from those wishing to harm them on the basis of identity - including subcultural identity. Like I mentioned at the very beginning of this article, the people GodHatesGoths was parodying were very real. I’ve met a lot of people like them in the past and I’m sure to meet more in the future. They aren’t any less loud than they used to be, I’ll see them outside malls or museums with megaphones and bright signs about the wrath of God, but at the very least they draw the proper ire from most of society now. The reason I wanted to write this little article was because this was something that definitely shaped my coming into the subculture. It was the mid-late 2000s and I was on forums arguing with people claiming to be from God’s Hammer Baptist. I remember people talking about this website back on MySpace and posting now deleted videos about it on early YouTube. Something that felt so big as a kid is now so obscure that almost no one’s heard of it and it kind-of baffles me. I feel like there’s been an effort to preserve and document 80s and 90s goth subculture, but I don’t see a lot of people talking about the 2000s. Cybergoth was getting big, goth comics had a HUGE boom and the subculture suddenly had more off-shoots than it could deal with. Somehow it was both old-hat and producing more than ever before. And no one really talks about that. So, do you remember this website? Ever meet someone that this website was parodying? New to the subculture and happy to listen to a not-so-elder goth talk about the past? I’d love to hear your feedback! Links! https://web.archive.org/web/20080701112123/http://www.godhatesgoths.com/index.html  (TW homophobia, racism, ableism, sexism, pictures of the Columbine shooters, general bad taste. This is the parody website.) https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/oct/31/fbis-investgation-god-hates-goths/ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-fbis-twoyear-investigation-into-a-fictional-antigoth-cult

[gothmedia]

Movie Review: My Summer as a Goth

”If you don’t care what people think, why did you just ask me what I thought?” Overview and Plot My Summer as a Goth is a crowd funded movie directed by Tara Johnson-Medinger. It stars Joey, a morose teen who constantly talks about her dead dad and gets angry when other people talk about her dead dad. Since her mother is a prolific author set to do a book tour, Joey is shipped about 45 minutes out of town to her grandparents' house for the summer. There she becomes interested in the neighbor boy, an even more sullen teen called Victor. Victor notices Joey's interest and whisks her away into the world of goth summer romance. In terms of production, very nice looking film. Professional. I liked that the beginning of the movie looked very washed-out and reflected the mood well, getting warmer as the summer went on. I also loved the texting graphics. The movie was well-paced and a good length, however the passage of time in the movie was a bit odd. VERY soon after the movie says summer starts it’s the Fourth of July, then again only a short time later everyone’s talking about how the summer is almost over. Joey even gets mad at her mother in one instance for not being available in time, but it seems like the mother responded back in about a day while Joey makes it out that it took weeks. The in-movie passage of time was very confusing for me. Most of the characters were well-written with some hiccups mostly on the grandparent’s and Antonio’s end. Costume design was on-point. Sound was fine and the music choices throughout were wonderful. Overall, the film had really good production value.

Moving into spoiler territory, Joey’s grandparents are a ride as they swing from giving Joey hundreds of dollars and baking her pot brownies to telling at her she can’t stay out late and that she needs an exorcism. Antonio, a punk, starts the movie off by getting into a fist fight with Victor, but later becomes a loveable member of the cast. We meet Cob and Pen, the “goth swan couple”. They’re Victor’s friends and a breath of fresh air; despite having morose interests they’re very bubbly and outgoing. I wish more of the movie had them in it. They along with Victor decide to give Joey a makeover and invite her to a few different events over the summer including a silent disco in a graveyard, a party at Pandora’s house, and a concert. They also go on a camping trip with Joey, her grandparents, and one of Joey’s high school friends. Eventually, Joey gets annoyed with Victor’s constant toxic attitude and finds out he’s cheating on her. Everything’s fine in the end as the summer comes to a close and she goes back to school with Antonio as her new boyfriend and her new, darker look.

Joey the babybat has daddy issues. In the beginning Joey feels acts catty and defensive about everything. Don’t worry, she never really grows out of that. Pretty much everything about her revolves around either the fact that her father is dead or her relationship with Victor. She does have an art hobby that’s shown throughout the movie but she seems almost embarrassed by it? It’s never actually brought up by any characters and no one ever looks through her sketchbook or shows interest in it. Which I found really odd because a lot of the goths I know in real life tend to be pretty creative and would love it? Anyway, she falls head-first into goth because of a boy. I know that’s how some people get into the subculture, but it kind-of sours the movie because it seems like she also only stays in the subculture because of the boy. In the beginning she mentions liking the music and how it helps her express how she feels inside, but other than Victor, we really don’t get to see how she thinks about the subculture. She’s friends with Cob and Pen because they’re Victor’s friends. She goes to events because Victor goes. She dresses up because Victor wants her to. But once Victor is out of the picture, why does she stay? Other than the passing mention of music at the beginning, she really has no interest in the goth scene. She’s never shown engaging with the scene on her own terms, and I find that a little disappointing. When I was a babybat I was reading goth blogs like Stripy Tights and Dark Delights, I was trying to get my hands on back issues of Gothic Beauty, I was watching a ton of different youtubers talk about the scene and I just wanted more. There’s none of that with Joey save for a short scene where she watches tutorials on how to do her hair and make-up. (Which, admittedly was really cute.) I didn’t understand WHY Joey stays a goth at the end of the movie and I think it’s because the movie really didn’t portray the positive aspects of the subculture as much. Also, Joey needs to work on her attitude problem. She mentions her dead dad quite a bit at the beginning and gets upset when other people mention it back to her. At the end of the film she calls her mom over heartbreak and when her mom tries to talk about it with her, she acts sarcastic and shuts her mother out, getting mad that she reached out at the wrong time. I’m unsure if it was just Joey going back to her old coping strategies or if she was in the right because I have no idea how much time had passed since the phone call. I’ll never know. Either way, she does dump Victor which is nice and she reconciles with her mother as well. I do like that she feels more comfortable with herself at the end of the movie and begins doing things on her own terms, even if others don’t “get it”. Victor is a VERY well-written, manipulative dick.  Storytime! So, there weren’t many goths at my college and we never really had any classes together, but I remember seeing this one kid walking across the street to the art buildings with a flowing black velvet cape over their backpack, an unlaced black poet shirt, platinum white hair in a side-hawk, knee-high black leather boots and a TON of silver jewelry. Honestly, they would have looked so cool if their harem pants weren’t made of chiffon and completely see-through. (Batman boxers!) Seeing Victor for the first time immediately reminded me of that. Over the top, charming, charismatic and a bit silly. I liked him at first. His wit is dry and in the beginning he didn’t take himself of the subculture TOO seriously, making jokes about vampires. I liked that he seemed to be having fun chatting about music and dressing up Joey. And then there came the lipstick. Honestly, the lipstick was used absolutely perfectly to show how the relationship is souring and how manipulative Victor really is. It really is a gradual showing of how things are going south in their relationship and how Victor isn’t as much as a downcast victim as he puts on. Later on in the movie he starts reminding me of that Bruiser sketch where there’s two goths and one of them is just badgering the other one that he can’t take his sweater off in the summer or join in on seasports because it’s “not goth”. He begins chastising Joey for not looking perfect at all times or not knowing things about the subculture despite the fact that he just dresses her up and brings her to parties instead of actually trying to integrate her to the local scene or teaching her about music or history. Eventually he goes back to hooking up with Pandora, something he apparently does frequently because Joey is not the first person he’s cheated on and literally everyone in town warns Joey about it. Victor clearly has a massively inflated ego and you love to hate him in the end. There are definitely his type in goth scenes around the world and I can see how he stays in good graces with the other asshole friends he has. Some people just really like being elitists. The one thing I can’t figure out, though, is why Pen and Cob are friends with him. They’re so nice compared. A punk by jacket only and why casual homophobia makes me salty. Antonio is... hoo boy, is he a thing. First introduced starting a fight with Victor you think, "Ah, this is the antagonist of the movie. I wonder why they made the punk an asshole? Usually punks are okay with goths." Luckily for us, he apologizes for the outburst and becomes a friend of the main cast. We learn he likes canasta and plays guitar. Oddly, he doesn't seem to have any punk patches or pins on his jacket and never actually mentions punk music. He does, however, mention goth music and he seems familiar with the other goths in town going to their events, so it seems he's on good standing with them despite bullying the goths at the beginning of the film. Seeing as goths would rather pretend to be haughty vampires than get their tail coats in a twist, Antonio makes for a heroic figure in the movie when Joey is in trouble. In my notes I wrote, "Ten bucks says punk kid is gonna save her,” and lo and behold, Antonio comes out of nowhere to save Joey from some bullies. I do like that he uses his rough appearance to his advantage to help people and do the right thing. That pretty accurately describes every punk I’ve ever met. They look tough as nails, but you’ll only see that side of them if you absolutely deserve to.

It's also revealed that Antonio is not straight as he's seen making out with some guy at a concert, mentions having had a previous relationship with Victor, and is being made fun of for being gay in the end. He also ends the film by being Joey's boyfriend. Pardon, what? I'm kind-of tired of this heteronormative nonsense where movies have to end with all main characters (Sans the villain, of course.) end up in a happy straight relationship. Joey's non-goth friend who's in the movie for a very short amount of time also ends up with a goth boyfriend because happily-ever-after and all that. It probably wouldn't have sat as poorly with me if they didn't make fun of Antonio for "looking gay" which in context makes no sense since he's pretty gender conforming compared to the goth men in the film. It also didn’t help that there were comments about lesbians at the beginning of the movie. At one point Joey's grandparents suggest she might like girls and Joey rebukes it with vitriol saying her grandparents are "too cool". The same kind of vitriol you hear when a straight person tells you they could never imagine being gay, that's disgusting. Oh, but they support your "choices", hm? I just wish Antonio’s character was a bit more fleshed out and he didn’t end up being back-up male love interest that’s only there to save female lead from bad guys and heartbreak.  First rule of Goth Music is you don’t talk about Goth Music? The movie introduces goth along with music. The music in the film is honestly really good and a good portrayal of what goths actually listen to. Joey mentions she likes the music near the beginning and she goes to events such as a silent disco, a party, and a concert. Despite music obviously being a major source of community in the movie, no one actually talks about it other than that one instance of Joey mentioning she likes it. No one suggests bands to her or actually goes to the parties or concerts to do anything other than make out. The silent disco is the only real instance of them listening and dancing to the music and it feels like it's over in a flash. Though, the corny goth dance moves in that scene kind-of make up for it. At one point Antonio pulls out a guitar and asks if Joey wants him to play “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”. She mentions she’s never heard of it which leads Antonio to ask if she’s new to the scene. At another point in the party, Joey asks someone if they like Marylin Manson. While this is an obvious faux pas to anyone actually in the goth scene, no one actually engages with her in conversation about it. How was Joey supposed to know his music isn’t goth? Wasn’t she listening to goth music earlier at the silent disco? Or the music she said sounded pretty from Victor’s room when they met? How did she get this far liking these bands but not noticing that they sound nothing like Marylin Manson and did she never look them up on her own to listen to them later? She obviously likes them, so it really surprises me that she only got in the goth scene for a guy.

Robert Smith NEVER has smeared lipstick. /s The emphasis on appearance is a little annoying throughout the movie, but I guess it had to be. It fits Victor's personality to change Joey's personal style to match his, and the makeover scene was fun, but I wish there would have been more diversity in the cast of townie goths who attend the parties, concerts, and discos. I counted one person with blonde hair and a small handful of older goths. I didn't notice any non-white goths and unfortunately the movie placed quite the emphasis on pale skin and trying to avoid tanning. I know people like the white face along with dark make-up and looking vamp-ish, but when all your characters are in white greasepaint and there's no PoC to be seen in goth garb it sends a message that only white people can be goth and that's really something we need to kill in the subculture. I did, however, like the wardrobe choices. I liked that Joey got her wardrobe from a thrift store and that she dyed a top she already owned. She looked up tutorials on how to do her hair and make-up and it never looked perfect. That's a good thing. Baby Bats won't know how to do a bats nest hairstyle, they won't know to blend foundation to the neck, and they won't have a perfect eyeliner wing. No one mentioned alt-brand name clothing and no one had a perfectly couture outfit that media likes to sell as a stereotypical goth teenager. The goths actually looked like goths. Their wardrobes were things you'd actually see in a club and we get to see that they wear a plain black tank top and shorts when milling about the house, only breaking out the corsets and top hats for big events. The older goths were more well put together and that makes sense because they've been in the subculture longer and have had time to figure out what they like and what looks good on them. The costuming department did a really great job with this. Ah, but as a side note about wardrobe, who donates brand new, tall Docs to a thrift store??? You can’t sit with us. And sadly, the worst part of Goth in the movie- community. What was that, film? Other than the three main goths, we only get to see other goths at large events and they all seem a bit catty? You have the silent disco, which was cute but no one really spoke to or interacted with each other. Pen and Cob are kind-of doing their own thing throughout no matter who they’re with. We also have the house party and the concert. The other goths there are.... pretty much just there to be judgy because Joey’s new? The first time I went to a club in a new city and didn’t know anyone some random person grabbed my hands and dragged me to the dancefloor. It was fun! People would ask the DJ what he was spinning and they weren’t shamed for not knowing. If someone’s jacket ripped, five people would come out of the woodwork with a safety pin and afterwards we’d all pile into Denny’s and laugh and joke and talk about nothing. I’m not saying there’s no “Gothier-than-Thou” types, believe me I’ve met more than a few, but in a movie that’s trying to portray someone WANTING to become a goth, why not portray the subculture as more inviting? Also, with the comments from Victor and a few other remarks, it seems like alcohol is needed to blend into the goth scene, and that definitely isn’t the case. Sure, a lot of us love absinth or a snakebite in black, but it’s not needed to fit in with the cool kids at the club. The community really is my favorite thing about this subculture and I feel it was a disservice that most goths were showcased as uninviting. I can understand Joey not being wanted at the party initially as she wasn’t invited in the first place and perhaps the eldergoths in the room didn’t want to have to have an impromptu etiquette and history lesson with a babybat when they’re supposed to be relaxing, but the point of the movie was to showcase why Joey wants to be a goth. She never makes friends outside of Victor’s immediate group and never tries to find community or information about the scene online or anything. I guess that is how babybats do act a lot of the time, but again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the point of the movie is showing why someone would WANT to be a goth.  Final Thoughts. The goth scene in the movie looked like a regular goth scene. I liked the emphasis on thrifting and DIY and that newcomers don’t come out of the womb knowing the lyrics to the entirety of Floodland. The music was phenomenal. I liked that the music featured was goth music, but not the main five bands that everyone already knows. I liked that the events attended were focused mainly around music. I liked seeing actual goth dance moves on screen. I liked that people in the movie did use terminology found in the subculture and made jokes about the subculture that insiders would actually make. I liked that Pen and Cob were wonderfully peppy despite their dark interests, I liked that we got punk-goth solidarity. I liked that it did remind me a bit of my babybat years and got me missing clubs and events. I miss all my friends... I really do...

I was put off by the passage of time in the movie, Joey’s cattiness with anyone who tries to help her, the light and casual homophobia sprinkled in, and the negative-leaning portrayal of the goth community. Other than that, though, I did think it was a good movie with a satisfying ending and I would really suggest people check it out. It’s probably the most accurate portrayal of goths in any media, really, and it’s worth a watch. At the very least, go listen to the soundtrack on BandCamp. 

[gothmedia]

Fascists Racists Homophobia Xenophobia are not welcome in our scene. 🦇✊🦇

[gothmedia]

I don't usually do fashion things, but it's good to support the scene by supporting smaller buisnesses.

🖤🦇 here is a list of black-owned goth, lolita, punk, and general alternative brands!! if you’re alternative please consider supporting these brands instead of killstar and dollskill not just now but forever 🦇🖤

[gothmedia]

Book Review: Oh My Goth

No, this has nothing to do with the Voltaire comic or song I reviewed before. Written by Gena Showalter, this book follows teenager Jade as her world is turned upside-down when she wakes up and finds goths are suddenly everywhere and she’s suddenly the most popular girl in school. Please note this review will include mentions of suicide, eating disorders, and sexual assault. I received an uncorrected proof, so some plot points may have been reworked for the final copy of the book. So, the first few chapters introduce us to the main character, Jade Leighton and her peers. Jade is a horrible person. She constantly claims to have no emotions, but all throughout the first few chapters it’s clear she’s actively repressing them to seem cold. She frequently tells other people how they’re going to die horrible deaths in great detail only to be mildly surprised that people don’t like her, and she bullies literally anyone that isn’t alternative. In turn she’s bullied by her math teacher and the generic blonde preppy girl, Mercedes, who used to be her step-sister. Jade is friends with other goths, but Jade is different because she doesn’t like goth music. Or her friends. Eventually a new boy comes to town, Clarik. He’s basically a jacked version of Jacob from Twilight. Jade has a crush on him, so she of course acts weird because she “doesn’t have feelings” while feeling extremely jealous because Mercedes also has a crush on the new boy. Soon after his arrival, Jade has a dream about her dead mother and after an almost car crash, the world is turned upside-down. Goth is now mainstream, Jade is popular, Mercedes is considered a freak, and Jade’s friends are all terrified of her. Going into spoilers now, Jade and Mercedes are the only two who notice the world is off. Jade’s friends are now preppy and they hate her. Jade is the queen-bee of the school and has to act accordingly, even if everyone is completely shallow. Clarik is the same, somehow. Jade and Mercedes figure that Jade’s dead mother has sent them here to become better people, so they try being nicer to each other and to others. Eventually this leads them to becoming better friends and to Jade’s grandmother’s house. Jade learns that her mother didn’t die in a car accident like she thought, but instead in an attempted murder-suicide that was meant to kill Jade as well. Jade suddenly has emotions again. After this she becomes much better friends with Mercedes, starts dating Clarik, and becomes a better person overall. Also, there’s a lot of really intense making-out later in the book which just gets more uncomfortable the more you learn. In the end, it was all a dream Jade had while in a coma, but the dream was also shared with Mercedes and Clarik in real life; so now that they have this experience together, they’re closer and Jade actually values her friends and family now. Overall, the book isn’t that bad, but it’s nowhere near good. The writing starts off obscenely slow. The first half have chapters that just drudge on with not much happening focusing on characters that aren’t the least bit likable. The ending feels quite rushed, and since that’s were most of the spelling and grammar mistakes happen, I assume it was because of the fact I had an unedited proof instead of the finished book. I hope for the book’s sake they changed a good chunk of the ending to fix the pacing and another issue I’ll get into later. I would not give this book to a tween or teen, who this is aimed at. The author’s depiction of teenagers is pretty unrealistic, the heavier matters aren’t handled with much tact or grace, and then there’s the smut issue. Showalter normally writes those steamy romance novels that one finds at the grocery store with buff shirtless guys on the cover. This is VERY evident in the later chapters of the YA fiction novel about goths. It is uncomfortable. Thinking this over, Clarik didn’t need to be in the book as much as he was. His character never really grows and pretty much just acts as a goal for Jade. He’s a thing she wants. He can fight someone if need be and he’s hot. More than anything he’s a device that pushes her along sometimes, but he’s really lacking in personality other than beefcake. Other than that, the other main characters are pretty well-written. It takes a long while to flesh them out, but by the end you’re proud of the people they’ve become, Mercedes especially. The story is okay. It’s a regular Freaky-Friday type situation and it’s interesting to see the effect on the characters, especially later on when they become a lot more likable. The book, however, isn’t really deserving of the name Oh My Goth. It never really dives into the subculture on more than a surface level and you could really remove that element without changing much of the plot. For the issues... First will be the issues I had with the representation of the subculture, and after will be the issues with the handling of other topics. Showalter at least googled the subculture. Enough to learn that there can be different sub-styles of dress, but not enough to know it’s a music based scene that appeals to more than angsty teens. None of the goth characters listen to goth music, mostly preferring rock. Jade’s friends wear dark clothes, but are really only “Goth” in name. One is apparently a lolita, though the author doesn’t seem to know the difference between EGL and those Tripp brand tutu skirts one could buy at Hot Topic in 2007. One is a punk, but he’s almost non-existent in the story, reasoning to be brought up in the next section, and all of them are goth because their lives suck. Goth in this universe is about death and misery. Early on, Showalter notes that being goth doesn’t mean one has to self-harm or do drugs or do Satanic magic rituals, that those things are just misconceptions and stereotypes. She immediately then has goth characters doing these things once the reality-swap happens. Goth grannies make pot-brownies and Jade’s classmates invite her to summon Baphomet after school. The clothing worn by goth characters is also odd. It’s as if Showalter doesn’t know that most people wouldn’t pair leather pants with a rhinestone-entrusted satin corset top or wear a  silver skin-tight tubetop and tights combo. At the end there’s a “Victorian goth” prom in which every female character is described as wearing a black halter top and a plaid mini-skirt. Like Sam Manson from Danny Phantom. To top this off, the goth elements don’t actually come into play that often. Other than occasionally describing an environment or trying to showcase how the dream world is REALLY different form the normal one, it doesn’t come up that much and the entire book could have been written the same without it. Just make Jade popular and Mercedes an outcast without changing their peers. Putting Jade’s dad in a tacky top-hat and duster combo changed nothing about his personality and it’s even mentioned that the world being spooky has had no real effect on how anyone is on the inside. It’s a normal Freaky-Friday plot, you didn’t have to end it next to a punchbowl topped off with a plastic Halloween skeleton. Now the big stuff. One of Jade’s friends, Robb, is dead in the alternate reality. It doesn’t look good on the author when you bury your only gay or POC character for most of the book to make the main character feel bad. His death is also apparently a suicide due to homophobia and an unrequited crush on Jade despite being gay. Speaking of suicide, Jade finds out her mother’s death wasn’t caused by a car accident, but a murder-suicide attempt which was meant to kill her as well. The book starts out with a dramatic recreation of this event and also ends with a dramatic recreation of this event. Every gory detail of her mother’s death. It does make sense that Jade would shut down and repress emotions after, but she also somehow just forgives her mother in the end and it’s unsatisfying to say the least. And the end brings us to the biggest issue with the heavier topics, Mercedes. At the beginning it’s casually mentioned that she is verbally abused by her mother and has an eating disorder. It’s completely glossed over then. The eating disorder is then brought up for a second in the middle of the book but is again glossed over. About two-thirds through Mercedes yells at her mom for the verbal abuse. And at the end she’s stripped naked and photographed by two guys who hate her, one who used to be her boyfriend. That last part comes completely out of the blue and is really only there for drama and to make Jade and Clarik look cool beating up the boys who assaulted her. It did not need to be in the book, it served no purpose to ending the story, and adding a horrible, traumatic end to a dream reality really sours the last few chapters. Out of everything, this did not need to be in the book. It’s mentioned that Mercedes is getting therapy for her eating disorder in the end, but the alternate world sexual assault is ignored despite really shaking the character up. Robb is also apparently fine and no longer suicidal now that Jade is being nice to him, and Jade also doesn't need therapy for her issues because the magical dream reality and her new boyfriend have solved all her issues with her mom. These situations are not handled with tact or grace in the book. You never learn Mercedes’ feelings on what’s happened to her, just that she was sobbing uncontrollably during and that Jade was in another room making out with Clarik while she was trying to deal with the aftermath of being assaulted. Good thing it didn’t happen in real life or else she’d probably have some sort of issue surrounding that. Oh, this did not have to be part of the ending. Bad move, Showalter. I really hope this was edited out before the final publishing. Overall, would I recommend this book? No, not really. Goths won’t like it because of the inaccurate depiction of the subculture and the fact that the subculture really has nothing to do with the story. Teens won’t like it because none of the characters feel like teenagers. Regular readers of Showalter won’t like it because there’s only pockets of mild smut at the end. People who want a Freaky-Friday plot won’t like it because there’s interrupting pockets of mild smut at the end. The book starts off at the speed of a snail and ends at a break-neck pace. And Mercedes did not need to be attacked like she was in the final chapters. At the very least, the characters made a lot of growth and became very likable at the end. You wanted to see them succeed. That is the one good thing I want to say, that I ended up loving the characters and was proud of how far they’ve come. I would not recommend this book as is, but with some tweaking and a deeper dive than the fist page of a google search on goth, this book has potential.

[gothmedia]

Youtube Drama

Okay, everyone’s freaking out over the drama going on youtube, but everyone’s just speaking over each other and completely missing any of the points being made. So, since a little clarity is always appreciated, we’re going to go through each point people are making, their misconceptions, and how they effect the subculture at large. 1. I’m too poor to be goth?    A bunch of babybats have come put of the woodwork as of late saying they can’t afford to be goth. By this they tend to mean, they can’t afford to buy name brands such as Killstar or Punk Rave. They can’t afford to put together extravagant outfits and dress that way every single day. They can’t afford limited edition vintage Bauhaus vinyls or regal black velvet thrones to adorn their bedrooms. But do they really need all that? No. You just have to have an appreciation for the subculture and music. That’s it. You don’t need to buy an entire wardrobe worth more than a car. But this sentiment only goes so far. The older goths can’t reach the ears of the new comers as much and so the worry sets in. Heck, I still worry sometimes if I look “goth enough”. But I’ve been in the subculture for over a decade now and I realize that no matter what anyone says online, I’m still going to enjoy Sisters of Mercy and I’m still going to go to events and try to support the local scene. So what if I don’t have expensive clothes? I’m going to enjoy myself anyway. The subculture doesn’t revolve around Killstar’s marketing and that’s one of the reasons “#gothisnotkillstar” came about. (More on that later in the week!) You don’t need Killstar to be goth. You don’t need Punk Rave to be goth. You don’t need Demonia or Tripp or any of these expensive, fancy outfits to be part of a subculture. You are enough. Sure, seeing others post about their wonderfully spooky lives with their wonderfully spooky possessions on Instagram and Youtube is neat, but you have to remember that NO ONE is that way all day every day. Social media is something people curate and have control over. They’re only showing what they want you to see, but they too have to take a break and become a normal person once the camera is off. 2. DIY or Die.    On the other side of things (Though this argument is more rare than the latter), you get people who are completely rejecting the consumerist approach to goth and are telling people that they need to only ever DIY all their clothes and goth completely rejects a fashion orientation at all. Which is also garbage. Yes, Goth is a music based subculture but it did have a strong style influence right from the get-go. Did it always look the way it does now? No, the style evolved over time into it’s own, highly identifiable self. Do you have to look like this 24/7? No, that’s ridiculous. Like hell I’m going to get dressed in a studded vest and custom chain belt to walk a block to the corner store to pick up Tums when my stomach hurts. I don’t even wash my hair to do that. For such a strong stance against name brand fashion, this group sure likes dictating what people should wear, saying DIY or die. I admit, DIY is pretty fun once you learn how to do it and you do truly get unique clothing and accessories out of it, but it does take time and skill. For a lot of the more intensive projects you need to learn how to sew, dye, paint... Sometimes attempts don’t work out like the time I tried to turn black boots red with a spray-on rubber that ended up cracking off. Sometimes materials like lace or studs or chains are expensive, sometimes you can’t find anything good to work with in thrift stores, and sometimes you’re just really bad at sewing. Not everyone has what it takes to DIY. That, however, shouldn’t turn people away from it. DIY is something that takes time to learn, but the process of doing it is really fun! It’s fun creating new and interesting looks, figuring out how to mess with something to make it your own and you end up with a one-of-a-kind piece all your own. But it’s not necessary. You don’t have to have a completely custom wardrobe just like you don’t have to have Killstar.

3. What any of this has to do with Youtube.    So, what does this have to do with Youtube? Well, think of the most popular goth youtubers. You think of two. They’re pretty and very fancy and do a lot of haul videos with brands like Killstar. Is that a bad thing? Yes and no.They are their own people and these are their channels. They can make videos on whatever they want to and no one really has a say in that. Also, if an expensive clothing company sent me a box of free stuff and said, “You can keep this if you make a video,” I’d probably make a video. Everyone likes free stuff. It’s helpful to see some of these brands on actual people, too. I like the fact that neither of these people are a size small. Almost all marketing for brands such as Punk Rave and Killstar are on extra small models and that just isn’t everyone. I want to see how the dress will look on someone who isn’t model thin because I’m not model thin. If these brands advertised with models in a variety of sizes, shapes, skintones, and disabilities then maybe more people could see themselves in these outfits as well, but as it is they don’t and the only way anyone sees something that looks remotely like themselves will be these try-on hauls. But what happens when that’s the epitome of goth youtube? New-comers to the subculture will think that’s what goth in it’s entirety is. I’ve met a few new goths who are like this and were shocked when I said I didn’t own any Killstar. It creates a mind-frame that to be in the subculture you have to buy this one (frankly overpriced) brand and that’s it.    Is this the fault of BlackFriday and Toxic Tears? Sort-of?They’re considered influencers now. They INFLUENCE the younger generation of goths and they influence how people outside the subculture see goth. Sure, they’re popular, but they’re popular because they’re not only watched by goths but also people into fashion and mainstream viewers. They refuse to do anything outside of fashion to avoid fights about music and the “gothier than thou” crowd, but they fail to realize they’re creating these people themselves. There’s a handful of people in youtube comments who go on the pages of lesser known goth youtubers telling them they need to look extreme to be goth and they cite It’sBlackFriday and Toxic Tears as examples of how a goth should look. They also deride the people who delve deeper than the fashion as elitists, a word that’s simply getting out of hand now. If someone wants to talk about the subculture and it’s music you get tons of little gothlings telling them that they’re gatekeeping the subculture and that you don’t have to listen to goth music to be goth. Then they turn around and gatekeep on what name brand clothes others aren’t wearing which is frankly silly. The subculture is more than clothing and you have to dig a little deeper to find other goth youtubers with more than fashion and hauls on their channels. Speaking of hauls, that’s another point of contention. It’s not only that these name brands are all over youtube now, but that they’re being advertised by people in haul videos. In these videos, the youtuber gets sent a large package of free things from the company and is told that they can keep the items if they make a video on it. Good for them, but the viewers are the ones who will be spending money on these items. Yes, the youtubers say their reviews are non-biased, but they were just sent several EXTREMELY expensive pieces of clothing for free. The dress might be nice, but is it $300 nice? Specifically from Killstar, many of their clothing items are similar to those found elsewhere for much cheaper.   How does this get fixed on the web, then? A solution that makes everyone happy. For one thing, influencer youtubers could do a bit more than fashion. It’sBlackFriday used to do really funny skit videos with Mr. Owl back in the day and they are missed. Toxic Tears had two videos for “What not to say to goth girls” and I’d look forward to a third one. Funny videos about the subculture are sorely wanted because now-a-days we take ourselves WAY too seriously for people who look like rejects from Dracula. If they want to keep the fashion spin, they can talk about the history of the fashion as well. Where did all the circus and cabaret themed stuff from the mid 2000s go? I miss it. They can showcase designers and small businesses within the subculture, not just big name fast fashion companies. Places that make truly unique clothes, places that fit all sizes and shapes. They can point goths in the directions of other youtubers/podcasts/blogs that they might learn from. Simply teaching babybats about goth isn’t an elitist thing to do. The newcomers should WANT to learn more if they actually like the subculture. And overall, they need to space out the haul videos. Not only is it making the impression that one needs a five thousand dollar wardrobe on hand at all times to be goth, but it also makes for a really boring playlist. Toxic Tears has started doing some little DIY stuff which is pretty cute and hopefully It’sBlackFriday will do something or other. Perhaps vlogs about goth festivals? I know she’ll be attending one on the other side of the country soon so that should be interesting. This can be fixed, it just needs a little work and it needs us as viewers to stop having such a stick up the ass about what goth should look like. 4. It’s okay to shop at Walmart.    Or Target. Or any regular store at the mall. In fact, I suggest getting all your basics at super cheap places like these. You shouldn’t be breaking bank on a black t-shirt and jeans. You could also go thrifting. I recently found a blazer that I loved in a thrift store. (They also had a Shrine vest for $20! You never know what you might find.) But never feel bad because you got something from a “mainstream” store. Not only are they good for basics, sometimes you can find pieces to practice DIY on (I did this with a vest from Target.) or sometimes they sell something that just speaks to your aesthetic. (Black lace and fishnet were really in last fall season.) It’s okay if you have normal clothes and aren’t goth all day every day. I have a day job where I wear a yellow polo and kakis and sell churros. Am I less goth? No. Some may claim that not being decked out all the time will make me a weekender, but I’m still running this blog and try to contribute to the subculture. But I have bills to pay. I have a cat to feed. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of freedom of expression just to get by and you can get back in black and fall asleep to Thoushaltnot on the way home on the bus. Just don’t worry about it. You don’t need to DIY everything you own. You don’t need to buy name brand boots. You don’t need to be Instagram ready 24/7. Just enjoy the subculture. And maybe look up some of those other youtubers. Angela Benedict has some great storytime videos on drama not partnering to Killstar.

[gothmedia]

Happy World Goth Day! Here’s some classic bands to listen to today!

[gothmedia]

Movie Review: Goth (2003)

It’s bad. Review over. No? I gotta say why it’s bad? Okay. (You’re gonna be sick of the word “goth” by the end of this. Also, spoilers.) It starts out with two goths, Boone and Chrissy going to a goth club for a hardcore show where they meet a woman named “Goth” who has “GOTH” tattooed on her chest. She offers them drugs out of an oversized skull jewelry box she’s using as a necklace. The couple goes to get the drugs behind the club where they get mugged. Goth swings by and stabs the muggers. They all do drugs and Goth abducts the couple in her spooky van covered in club fliers and Halloween decorations. Goth says to be a “true goth” you need to “embrace the darkness, kill your fears, and live for death,” and anyone who doesn’t follow those rules are poseurs. She brings this up CONSTANTLY throughout the evening. Goth then picks up some poor sap off the street and rapes him, threatens to stab him, then throws him out of a moving van. Some more uncomfortable , unwanted sex at knifepoint and drugs happen and Boone wants to leave. Chrissy says that Goth killed her sister years ago and they decide to stay with the weirdo to get revenge. Four more people are murdered, one at the hands of Chrissy. A fight and more drugs ensue and Chrissy ends up alone at some bachlor party where she murders more people, including Boone, who pops out of nowhere. Goth confronts her, Chrissy kills Goth and becomes “Goth” herself, abducting a couple at the end of the movie. The movie is incredibly low budget and it shows. The fake blood, bad make-up, horrible special effects, shoddy camera work, and awful acting. The movie tries it’s best to be shocking, but it really misses the mark. Like a thirteen year old on Xbox live, the movie seems to think blood, boobs, and rape make for an edgy commentary on how dark and depraved the world can be. (Or at least the goth subculture.) The movie seems to think the subculture is mostly drugs, sex, and violence. Or at least “real” goths are into that, while poseurs are into the music and accepting others. Interestingly, if you look at the comments about the movie, that’s what some of its audience seems to think it is now as well... The plot seems to be trying to do what Fight Club did near the end, but Goth wasn’t in anyone’s head the entire time and it’s just confusing. At one point Goth is holding up a man who owes her money and it’s never explained what he owes her money for. Goth then makes the man watch as she carves her name into the chest of a prostitute the man hired. How anyone got there and what was going on aren’t explained and I think the filmmakers just wanted to make a smut film at that point. Props are reused throughout, with a large metal fireplace guard showing up both at the fetish club and the bachelor party moments after each other. The drugs taken are flour and the blood is some clumpy mixture that gets everywhere besides where it’s supposed to go. The murder weapon used throughout the film, an ornate knife, is REALLY obviously plastic and honestly, a butter knife would have been more convincing. Costuming is stuff that was available at Hot Topic at the time and some really cheap, plastic hair extensions. Sets are mostly done in someone’s house, a parking lot, an alley, and a hotel room. Acting is laughably bad. Most characters are goth club goers, a few normal guys, and a good handful of prostitutes. The camera work is terrifically bad. I know they couldn’t afford an high-end camera or steady-cam, but they could have at least used a tripod or made sure the characters were in focus and didn’t have the top of their heads chopped off half the time. At the very least, the lighting was decent enough that I could see things and the audio didn’t cut out. Those are the only high points.   So, overall, I don’t suggest this film. It has bad everything, doesn’t showcase anything about the subculture, and is just a waste of an hour and a half.

[gothmedia]

Comic Review: Nightmares & Fairy Tales

If you like dark, gritty fairy tales, then this is for you! Equal parts bloody, terrifying faces and adorable, whimsical creatures, this book is a collection of stories told from the doll, Annabelle. Serena Valentino’s writing is clever and short with most of her stories being based off already existing fairy tales with a dark twist. The stories which are complete originals also have a fairy tale feel and fall well in line with the books. For the most part the stories are told from Annabelle, a doll that lived through the fairy tales and relays them to her new owner, Gwen. In terms of ending, about half the stories end happily while the rest are rather depressing or in the middle. The comics manage to pull off a lot of drama without feeling over-dramatic and I think it’s because of a lack of Nihilism that’s common to goth comics. Just a warning, however, the book does deal with things like abuse and other sensitive subjects, though briefly and not much in detail. Overall, though, the writing is really nice and great if you like fairy tale themed stories. FSc’s art is lovely. She has a wonderful style that manages to be creepy and cute at the same time. Her linework is wispy and elegant as are the character designs, being vert unique to this artist. Backgrounds are beautifly detailed as well, though since they use the same kind of linework as the characters, the characters will sometimes get lost in them. This isn’t too much of a problem, though since the backgrounds are almost always shaded differently than the characters. Shading is simple and works very well with the linework. Text is legible and layouts are varried yet easy to follow. The only complaint I have about how the comics look are that sometimes the spacing on the panels is a little odd (Though not disruptive to the flow of the stories.) and the speech bubbles get in the way a lot. Let me elaborate on that last point, the speech bubbles REALLY get in the way. Scenes where the characters are silent look wonderful, but when they are talking a lot, the speech bubbles will completely take over a page and disrupt the art. Sometimes they are drawn much too big, sometimes they are in odd places. One can always tell who is speaking and when but the bubbles will completely eclipse any panel they are in. So while it is pretty much the only problem I have with these comics, it is a big problem. Overall, I would suggest these comics, especially if one likes fairytales and is bored with the Nihilism of other goth comics. It’s dark and gritty, yes soft ans sweet. I figure it would be popular with people who like gothic lolita, manga, and Tim Burton. Issues are easy to pick up and read because they each have a full condensed story, usually with no need to read previous issues. So pick them up if you’re in the mood for some Nightmares & Fairy Tales!

[gothmedia]

Is “Babybat” a bad thing?

No, not really. This used to be a bigger issue, but I feel like people still get caught up in these kinds of labels within the subculture.  I remember my very first time at Bats Day. I had never been to a goth club or concert, I almost exclusively listened to Creature Feature, Voltaire, and some random pop punk bands. I wore one of those frilly tutu Tripp dresses under a Tripp coat and knee-high platforms that the heel ripped off of at the end of the night. During the castle meet a lady asked how long I’d been in the subculture and I said, “Three years.” She happily commented on how I was a cute Babybat. That upset me at the time. I’d been in the subculture three whole years. I was even wearing name brand clothes. How was I still a Babybat? Looking back, yeah, I was. I was a little bitty gothling at the age of sixteen who knew almost nothing about the subculture other than they like black clothes and listen to spooky music. I had never been to a club or concert, I never even listened to the founding bands and I felt I didn’t need to. I continued to be a Babybat for all of high school and a little bit of college. But in that time I found more goth bands I liked other than the ones that got me in the subculture and the ones I mistakenly thought were goth. (Like pop-punk, or emo music...) I learned how to dress myself better, but most importantly, I learned about the history of the subculture and made friends. I bought books on the subculture, read blogs, went to clubs, concerts, and events. I became a full fledged goth. I learned that you don’t have to fall into stereotype to be a goth and I mostly lost my teenage angst. Do I look down on my Babybat years? No. It was fun when I was just getting into the subculture. I loved finding new things to me and learning whatever I could. That lady calling me a Babybat just put thing into perspective for me and made me MORE involved in the subculture. I’m no longer bitter that she called me that. I needed it at the time. So, is there still a place in the subculture for this term? Well, yes. As long as there will be goth there will be kids who want to become fledgling goths. You don’t come bursting out of the womb with a full knowledge of Bauhaus’ entire discography and the ability to do perfect Siousxie eyeliner. (Or being able to SPELL Siouxsie for that matter...) These people are babybats. They tend to thing you need to dress in Killstar and listen to Marilyn Manson to be goth and while some goths do those things, they don’t define the subculture proper. But they ARE interested and that means they should be happy to be offered new music to listen to, books to read, and history to learn about. And if they don’t want that? If they want to indignantly refuse any other outlook in the subculture other than their own limited view? Then they’ll probably grow out of it and leave it behind with their teen angst. And of the term itself? Most goths tend to use the term endearingly or descriptively. It simply describes someone new to the subculture. They don’t mean it to be condescending and they will usually say they were babybats at one point as well. The term itself isn’t negative, but it can be taken as an infantilizing and therefore negatively. But that’s just to say that one still needs to grow into the subculture proper. We all start off there and that’s okay. It’s a time to explore and find things that are new to you, and I find that very exciting. “Babybay” is a beginning, an adventure, and an appreciation for the goth subculture. Embrace it! Photo taken by Sarah Ziliak of me when I was a babybat. (Why were stripes a thing in the mid 2000s? Everyone looked like a mime back then...)

[gothmedia]

Ah, Voltaire. The one guy who constantly proclaims that he’s a goth and other goths say he’s just some geek that likes black and bats. His music definitely isn’t traditional and he’ll jump around in genera so much that you’ll see where the criticism comes from. (I mean, he DID make a country album...) Love him or hate him, he is one of the more popular names that’s still making music and I actually like his work most of the time. He usually has a more neo-folk feel to his music and I appreciate the use of strings in his older albums. (The bizarre genera hopping, though....) Anyway, here’s a some songs I think show off his style and voice the best. Happy listening! BRAINS! (You’ve heard this one before.) Almost Human Hell in a Handbasket Ex Lover’s Lover The Night (1988 Deathrock remake) Leaves in the Stream

[gothmedia]

Happy Valentine’s Day! I know most of you like Halloween more, but I gotta admit that I ADORE Valentine’s day. So, here’s GothCast’s Princent Vice’s guide to Valentine’s Day for all those of you that have a sweetheart! If you don’t have a date this Valentine’s Day? Here’s Princent Vice’s guide to online dating! If you want some fun Valentine’s day cards to print out and give to people, I have spooky Creature Feature ones on my main blog! Go check them out!

[gothmedia]

Look what I found in an old issue of Gothic and Lolita Bible! Since I still have to review Voltaire’s music (Because I seem to have abandoned Voltaire Week half-way through...) I thought this would be interesting. I’ll try to find more cool magazine articles to scan if I have the chance. Gothic and Lolita Bible, Autumn 2008, American edition.

[gothmedia]

Quick review of 79 goth brands.

ACDC Rag - A Japanese brand! Runs small and short. Won’t fit plus size at all. A bit pricey, but good quality and looks interesting. Alchemy Gothic - Great quality, great look. A bit pricey. Sometimes Halloween stores sell their cheaper stuff for good prices. Appalling Apparel - Average quality horror t-shirts for average prices.  Banned Apparel - Cute, decent quality, and usually pretty good price. Shop around, places like to sell this brand for more than it’s worth sometimes. Blackbird Parlor - If you want a custom knitwear, this place will make anything to your specifications for a decent price. Handmade, so it’s a little expensive. Begotten -  Lasts forever and looks great but good luck finding a second hand dress. If you do, it’s either stupid expensive or fifteen bucks. No inbetween. Blackcraft Cult - Don’t go for their clothing. It’s overpriced and not that creative. Their furniture is nice, though. Castle Corsetry - Expensive, but super nice quality. Save up for this if you want a corset as a main statement. ChicStar - Cheap both in price and quality. Use it when just starting out or for DIY. Runs a bit small. Corset Story - (Also CorsetDeal) CHEAP AND ABSOLUTELY SHIT QUALITY. DO NOT BUY, YOU WILL HURT YOURSELF. Cryoflesh - A bit expensive, but nice looking and good quality cyber clothes. Current Mood -  Expensive and surprisingly generic looking. You can find better stuff that looks the same from other companies. Cutting Edge Threads -  I think they merged with Jawbreaker. Nice quality, a bit pricey. Find it second hand if you can. Cykxtees - REALLY nice, REALLY expensive. Try finding online, because you’re not gonna find these in stores. Does medieval and I love it. Dark In Love -  Runs REALLY small. On the low tier of expensive. Unique designs but won’t be the same as the picture. Quality is decent. Get a fancy outfit while on sale, but don’t buy full price. Don’t get your basics here, either. DarkStar - A bit pricey and falls apart REALLY easy. A lot of their stuff looks like Lip Service stuff from the 90s. If you want to go 90, I’d suggest them, just have basic sewing skills and be ready to use them. Dead Threads -  Good quality but expensive. Get on sale. You can find some stuff similar to Hearts n’ Roses for a bit cheaper. Edgy teenager vibe. Delightfully Deviant - Wish they’d use less satin... Nice quality, a little expensive. Can make some really fantastic stuff when it’s not satin. Owner is a gem of a person. Demonia - Expensive and easy to ruin. Their shoes will usually lower in price the longer they’re up, so wait a year or so before buying or get it on sale. You can also find some of the same styles at their child brand, Pleaser. Devil Clothing - Sold by most places online for more than it’s worth. Really soft, could be stitched better on shirts and dresses. Get it on sale only. Runs a bit small. Disturbia - SUPER overpriced. T-shirts you could easily make at home with some scissors and safety pins. Either that or really basic clothes sold for ten times the normal cost. Don’t even bother with this brand. Doc Martens - Expensive for plain boots, but these things last DECADES and feel great while doing it. The price is worth it. Can be used as work boots as well. DollsKill - Generic looking and over priced. Average quality.  Dracula Clothing - Medium quality for a medium price. Okay for starting out a romantic wardrobe. If you can sew, you can find some of their jacket patterns at Joanne’s. Drklght Clothing - If you like Killstar and Dollskill shirts, but wish they were cheaper, this is the place for you. Good quality, decent design, decent prices. Dulce Calaveritas - Really nice quality accessories for great prices. More horror themed, but classy. Eternal Love - Looks a little costume-y, a bit pricey. Decent quality. Hard to find, look on eBay. Eva Lady - BEAUTIFUL. Expensive. Great romantic clothes made out of nice materials, but still really expensive. Find a sale. Fi Machine - Spooky bags that are handmade. Decent price, great quality. Fiend Boutique - Cute, causal necklaces for a great price. The black paint rubs off the chains, though. Funhouse - Does this brand still exist? Looks great, price is decent, needs upkeep if you’re gonna be wearing it a lot. Basic sewing skills required. Hearts ‘n Roses - Quality clothing. Runs a bit small. A bit more expensive than it should be. Heavy Red - Expensive, nice quality, you can find a lot of what they have for cheaper or can make it yourself for a lot cheaper. Sometimes they do come out with “WOW” pieces, though, so just wait for a sale. Hell Bunny - Runs small. Seems to have gone to 50s clothes as of late. Not too pricey and thankfully not all dry-clean only. Hillary's Vanity - Depends on what you buy. Mostly expensive. I wouldn’t suggest their tulle or “brocade” clothes, but their other stuff is pretty good quality. Hot Topic - Yeah, the brand for the the store. Average quality, good for basics. Uses dye that rubs off, so wash it a few times before wearing. Iron Fist - Okay quality shoes for a good price. Nice designs, sizing is all over the place. Buy second hand since the company went bankrupt and isn’t getting orders out anymore. Isabella Corsets - FANTASTIC corsets for a great price. If you want custom, it’ll be more expensive, but these are body modification devices, so don’t try to cheap out. JawBreaker - Runs a bit small. Really nice look, good quality. Expensive. Killstar - Overpriced. Their quality absolutely fell off the map in the last year. Five wears and their shoes are falling apart. Runs a bit small, tends to overuse occult designs. Kreepsville666 - Decent price for decent clothes. More horrorpunk than anything else at this point. Accessories are cheap and great for DIY or Halloween. Lip Service - Decent price. Runs a little small, lasts forever if you maintain it properly. Miniskirts are MUCH shorter than they look at first. Living Dead Souls - Really nice clothes, great quality for a decent price. More high-end, so they’re a little expensive.  Love Pain and Stitches - If you’ve seen a jack-o-lantern bag, it’s probably from here. Phenomenal quality and a decent price. Super hard to get a hold of, though, they’re handmade and sell out really fast. Madame Zombie Fx - Holy crap, these shoes are to die for. Great quality, a bit pricey. Good luck finding them at conventions. They also have some cute accessories for great prices. Memento Mori Goods - High quality, beautiful pins for a great price. Their other stuff is okay. Ms.Formaldehyde Couture - Pricey headdresses, but everything else is pretty and pretty cheap. Quality is a mixed bag. Do your research before buying. Necessary Evil - They overcharge for the basics. Not by much, but you can get the same plain black maxi dress from Target for ten dollars cheaper. Average quality. Don’t bother. New Rock -  A bit pricey, but wonderful quality. Do look a little over-the-top most of the time, though. PawStar - Nice quality belts and accessories for cybergoths and gravers. (And anyone into the furry/kink scene.) Good quality for a good price. Pentagramme - Nice looking clothes with a decent quality. Really pricey, though. Don’t go clubbing in the lace or chiffon styles, they’ll rip easily and it’ll be money down the drain. Pleaser -  Demonia’s cheaper subsidiarity. Falls apart easy, but the price is NOTHING compared to Demonia. Carries some of the same styles for much cheaper, too. Buy if you don’t mind using rubber cement to hold your platforms together. Poizen Industries - Really overpriced basics. Good quality. Wait for clearance, they’ll be knocked down to less than half their price. Princess Madison - Only found at conventions and on etsy. Has nice hats and meh everything else. A little pricey. You can usually find similar elsewhere for cheaper. Punk Rave -  Runs absolutely tiny. Expensive for nice looking, decent quality clothes. A bit overblown, but most other companies don’t make the same style, so what are you gonna do? Queen of Darkness -  A nice look and good quality, but expensive. They overcharge for the basics and a lot of their styles can be found elsewhere. Get a fancy coat or something, but if you just need a black maxi dress look elsewhere. Restyle -  Everything they have is just okay quality. Looks fantastic, but it’s not gonna last. Clothes are a bit overpriced for the quality and run small. Jewelry is a great price. Again, their stuff looks nice, but in two months the silver’s rubbing off and the coat’s snagged. Retroscope Fashions - Pricey, average quality. It’ll last if you maintain it. Leans more steampunk, much like Spin Doctor.  Rock Rebel - Horror t-shirts of average quality for an average price. Rosetic - Cheap quality, average price, nice look. Runs tiny and falls apart REALLY easy. Some styles are a knock-off of Eva Lady. Be careful when buying. Royal Bones - Tripp under another name. Same quality, but pricier. Falls apart easily. Buy on sale. Samiah -  Ask yourself, do you need that extra kidney? If you can sell your organs, you can have a REALLY nice jacket. Seriously, these things make you feel fantastic wearing them but will give you a heart attack once you see the price tag. Great quality, but way too overpriced. Shrine is a better option. Serious - Cheap looking fetish clothes. OK price. Shrine - Expensive as hell, but great quality. These things are made for royalty. Good luck. Sourpuss - Pins are decent quality and price. Clothes are nothing to write home about. Spin Doctor -  Nice clothes with good quality. Can get expensive. Buy on sale. Spirit - Yeah, the Halloween store. Poor quality, cheap price, cute for a year or so if you maintain it. Good for things like shorts to wear under skirts, really cheap petticoats, or a slightly dented pentagram necklace. Subterranea - Looks good as long as it’s not their polyester stuff. PRICEY. Nice quality. Good luck finding these dresses. Usually really pricey since they’re out of business. Super Low Fat - Good luck finding this brand! Usually not that pricey despite being out of business. Good quality, too bad everything looks really cheap. Sweet Midnight -If you like mixing goth and Disney, this is the place for you. Their skirts are a little pricey, but their other stuff is good quality for a great price. 13’s Closet - Good looking clothes. A little too expensive for my taste. Average quality. Their bat accessories are where they shine, but again, it’s a bit pricey.  Too Fast - Rare instance of a pin-up company going goth instead of the other way around. Good quality.  A bit more expensive than they should be. Buy on sale. TrippNYC -  Even though everyone makes fun of these, it lasts a long time. Their larger zippers can break easily. I wish more of their stuff wasn’t dry-clean only. Good quality for a decent price. T.U.K. - Decent quality shoes. A bit pricey, get them second hand. Don’t wear them in the rain or snow. Victorian Choice - Cheap price overall for the dress styles. Meh quality fabric. If you want a Victorian inspired look fast, it’s a good first dress if you get it on sale. Save up and get something better quality later. Vimpoke - Do not buy from them. They just resell cheap AliExpress products with insane mark-ups. Like, charging $70 to $150 more than the product normally sells. Horrible quality products, shady business practices. Just find the same thing on AliExpress for less than half price. Voodoo Vixen - Sadly went the way of the pin-up. Decent clothes, a bit pricey. Runs small. Take measurements before buying. Widow - Meh quality clothes sold for a high price. Most designs can be found in a better quality elsewhere. Don’t bother unless it’s in clearance for dirt cheap. XXX Rude - Great quality basics for guys. A bit overpriced. Wait for a sale or buy secondhand. Some notes: You don’t have to get brand name everything. Most basics of a wardrobe can be found at places like Target or Walmart. Thrifting is super cool in the community. Try DIY if you’re feeling creative. Never buy one-size-fits-all fishnets. Check back later, this list sometimes updates with more brands.

[gothmedia]

Going on with the topic of the week is Snowey Lowther’s video on not liking goth music and still being goth. Along with this is a collection of other response videos on the subject as well. Some say you can just do lifestyle/fashion and ignore the music (Though most of those also listen to goth themselves or say you should at least know the history.) and others say you should like some of the music. (You do not have to like all the music. If someone says you have to like all the OG goth bands, they’re being a dick. You can also like music that isn’t goth.) So here’s some videos. So, is the music the determining factor? Is it the foundation of the subculture or have we moved onto clothing? Tell me what you think. Accumortis - Do goths have to listen to goth music? Gothic SoulFlower - Can You Be A Goth Without The Music? Angela Benedict - You Can’t Change Goth                               - You Can’t Change Goth Follow Up Victoria Fashen - Why (Goth) music is more important than the Fashion Rose Nocturnalia - Can You Be Goth Without Liking Goth Music? Hello Batty - Do you have to like Goth music to be Goth? Popgoth - Can You Be goth Without The Music? (First few minutes.) The Kilted Goth - Am I Goth if I don’t listen to Goth Music?