Goth: Undead Subculture

BOOK Reviews as a whole. The breakdown into gests, one is relegated to the American bands such as Lycia BOOK sub-subcultures (Industrial, Old- role of mere audience, rather and Genitorturers, but little on School, Gothabilly) suggests than receiving any concrete the Japanese Gothic Lolita REVIEWS not a fracture, but an ability insight. Given that this book will phenomenon, i nternationally to evolve while maintaining a only be of interest to members successful Goth/Industrial bands METRO 156 central sensibility. Goth cannot of the subculture or academics such as VNV Nation or Cove- be killed because it rejects life interested in the field, one is cu- nant, or the German Goth scene to begin with – it is undead. rious as to how the former will (the annual Wave-Gottik-Treffen react to such a position. festival in Leipzig, for example, It is an exercise in futility to is the world’s biggest Goth suggest that music was any- The drawcard for Australian event and attracts visitors from thing but paramount in the readers is Ken Gelder’s ‘The around the world, including formation of the subculture, (Un)Australian Goth: Notes a large and growing Austral- as supported in this book with Toward a Dislocated National ian contingent; as much as chapters on The Cure, Joy Divi- Subject’. Gelder – whose most the over-analysed online Goth sion and David Bowie. As a crit- recent book, Subcultures: communities, this suggests an ical text, however, Dick Hebdige Cultural Histories and Social increasingly ‘borderless’ Gothic). and Angela McRobbie are as Practice, was released in 2007 If you have yet to take a whiff of beatified as Siouxsie Sioux and – needs little introduction. In its patchouli-like scent, there is Bauhaus. Other aspects are stark contrast to Schraffenberg- an air of confusion as to what also explored – the look of Goth er’s approach, Gelder’s textual lies between ‘too Goth’ and ‘not is as much a part of its pleas- analyses of Goth identities in Goth enough’ when undertaking ures as music, as demonstrated films such as Angst (Daniel Net- ethnographic research in this in Jessica Burstein’s interview theim, 2000) and the literature area: ladies and gentlemen, wel- 01 with noted fashion historian of Kim Wilkins and Nick Cave come to the enigma of the Goth Goth: Undead Valerie Steele, and a reprint of are an engaging deployment subculture. It is this haziness, sUbCUltURe Catherine Spooner’s ‘Undead of the skills that have placed this mystery, that haunts Goth: LAUREN M.E. GOODLAD AND MICHAEL Fashion: Nineties Style and the him in the top echelons of Undead Subculture but mani- BIBBY (EDS), DUKE UNIVERSITY Perennial Return of Goth’. international subculture studies. fests too rarely in concrete form. PRESS, 2007 However, the introductory ex- Twenty years since it sprung Approaches within Goth: ploration of the local Melbourne Regardless, many critics from the dark loins of British Undead Subculture can be Goth scene at the time the perfectly straddle the line punk, Goth shows no signs of divided into three positions: article was written has an air between first-hand involve- relinquishing its stranglehold on proud subculturalists, orthodox of subcultural tourism – the ment with the scene and solid the popular imagination. That it researchers and a combination inclusion of specific nightclubs, critical discourse. Michael Du has outlasted once-as-popular of both. Representing the first stores and web sites seems at Plessis’ ‘“Goth Damage” and equals (grunge, for instance) category, Trevor M. Holmes best random and makes some Melancholia: Reflections on comes as little surprise: the (‘I’m a Goth-identified subject’, bewildering and inexplicable Posthuman Gothic Identities’, very name ‘Goth’ is retrospec- p.77), Joshua Gunn (‘some- omissions. This runs the ironic Kristen Schilt’s ‘Queens of the tive. The broader category of one who has frequented the risk that many of the Netgoths Damned: Women and Girls’ the Gothic negotiates contem- Gothic scene for almost fifteen mentioned – and the regional Participation in Two Gothic porary and future fears and years’, p.41) and ‘dyed-in-the- subculture he discusses – may Subcultures’ and Anna Powell’s desires through an exploration wool Goth’ (p.121) Rebecca be alienated by too much ‘God’s Own Medicine: Religion of the shadowy past. Schraffenberger acknowledge Google and not enough ‘sitting and Parareligon in UK Goth their own subjectivity (as all down and having a chat over an Communities’ all embody the It is at this intersection of past, researchers perhaps should) absinthe or two’. While these Gothic subcultural experience present and future where the as they discuss what Gunn numbers may be negligible in in a way only those living la vida recent glut of books about describes as ‘Goth performativ- terms of the book’s broader spooky could. Crucially, these Goth may be explained. Paul ity’ (p.48). There is a sense that readership, the issue still positions are not fetishized, but Hodkinson’s Goth: Identity, the emperor may be at best casts a slightly uncomfortable are used to launch into debates Style and Subculture (Berg, scantily clad – Schraffenberger shadow. pertinent to the wider field of 2002), Gavin Baddley’s Goth in particular neglects to refer to cultural studies. Chic: A Connoisseur’s Guide her own pursuit of (sub)cultural Gelder is not alone, however, to Dark Culture (Plexus, 2002) capital through the unrelenting and some notable areas of focus Most fascinating in Goth: and Catherine Spooner’s sense that she is Goth Enough in this book seem equally as ran- Undead Subculture are the Fashioning Gothic Bodies to impart the secret of True dom and web-trawled. There is text-based analyses, particu- (Manchester UP, 2004) mark a Goth to mere Muggles. As the a chapter on the sort-of-relevant larly Carol Siegel’s discussion significant juncture not only for title of her article ‘This Modern Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999) of author Poppy Z. Brite, Jason the subculture but the Gothic Goth (Explains Herself)’ sug- and photos of almost-forgotten K. Friedman’s exploration of 184 • Metro Magazine 156 postmodern instances of Southern Gothic literature, and Robert Markley and co- editor Lauren M.E. Goodlad’s foray into Goth in film. Here, the self- consciousness that permeates some of the ethnographic analyses vanishes and is replaced by a more orthodox approach perhaps fitting for a subculture defined by retrospect. Like Goth itself, this book displays its weak- nesses and guards its strengths ferociously, but fails to answer the question: will there ever be a day when academics run out of things to say about Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a post- graduate at La Trobe University’s Cinema Studies department. • Metro Magazine 156 • 185 .

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