03-25-2004, 03:42 PM
while others dress more normally, focusing themselves on esoteric thought.
I assumed 'more normally' was said in relative terms here :) Most people identify "goth" based on a visual appearance, and I would guess that this appearance is where most of the social problems come in. Gothic literature was taught at my high school (not as a class, but as a few weeks worth of literature curriculum), and wasn't the slightest bit controversial. The "goth look", on the other hand, was. There were only a few kids in my small high school who had the goth look, and how the administration handled it is kind of funny. Basically the ones with good grades and attitudes could wear whatever they wanted, and the one with mediocre grades and a big mouth usually got sent to the office to remove the eye makeup and/or turn her shirt inside out. Even funnier, the dress code violation applied was the new "gang paraphanelia" ban (this was mid-90s, in an almost all-white, rural school district, in a county that has probably never had a gang-related crime report). Anyways, to get back on the subject, I have not seen much controversy about gothic literature or even gothic bands, but I suppose there could be some (a lot, even) if this extends beyond entertainment and into deep belief systems.
So you're not some youth going clubbing You don't have to dress freakishly, except in your own wardrobe--but you probably have better fashion sense than I.
Hah! My fashion sense is somewhere between "grunge" and "flat out boring". And the "grunge" part is only because I can't be bothered to buy new clothes.
I have enjoyed some gothic literature, classic horror movies, have some occultish beliefs, and other related goodies, but not nearly to the point where it is a major part of my lifestyle (with the exception of playing Diablo, of course!). So I wouldn't quite be a goth in any case. As for the music scene, I guess it's OK but I'd rather be at a Springsteen concert.
I recall Classic Diablo being advertised as a Gothic-horror rpg.
I don't recall how the game was advertised, but the dark feel of the game is really what first drew me into it. I tried to recapture a bit of that in the poem which I think I actually entitled Tristram Gothic (*cough* shameless plug: read poetry sticky thread in D1 forum and add more poems *cough cough*). At some point, the monsters became like chess pieces and the mood of the game became a total afterthought. But I still remember the scare from the first skeleton.
I assumed 'more normally' was said in relative terms here :) Most people identify "goth" based on a visual appearance, and I would guess that this appearance is where most of the social problems come in. Gothic literature was taught at my high school (not as a class, but as a few weeks worth of literature curriculum), and wasn't the slightest bit controversial. The "goth look", on the other hand, was. There were only a few kids in my small high school who had the goth look, and how the administration handled it is kind of funny. Basically the ones with good grades and attitudes could wear whatever they wanted, and the one with mediocre grades and a big mouth usually got sent to the office to remove the eye makeup and/or turn her shirt inside out. Even funnier, the dress code violation applied was the new "gang paraphanelia" ban (this was mid-90s, in an almost all-white, rural school district, in a county that has probably never had a gang-related crime report). Anyways, to get back on the subject, I have not seen much controversy about gothic literature or even gothic bands, but I suppose there could be some (a lot, even) if this extends beyond entertainment and into deep belief systems.
So you're not some youth going clubbing You don't have to dress freakishly, except in your own wardrobe--but you probably have better fashion sense than I.
Hah! My fashion sense is somewhere between "grunge" and "flat out boring". And the "grunge" part is only because I can't be bothered to buy new clothes.
I have enjoyed some gothic literature, classic horror movies, have some occultish beliefs, and other related goodies, but not nearly to the point where it is a major part of my lifestyle (with the exception of playing Diablo, of course!). So I wouldn't quite be a goth in any case. As for the music scene, I guess it's OK but I'd rather be at a Springsteen concert.
I recall Classic Diablo being advertised as a Gothic-horror rpg.
I don't recall how the game was advertised, but the dark feel of the game is really what first drew me into it. I tried to recapture a bit of that in the poem which I think I actually entitled Tristram Gothic (*cough* shameless plug: read poetry sticky thread in D1 forum and add more poems *cough cough*). At some point, the monsters became like chess pieces and the mood of the game became a total afterthought. But I still remember the scare from the first skeleton.