Gothic aesthetics

The aesthetics of the goth subculture find their roots in Gothic Fiction and the Romanticist interpretation of the Gothic Art movement of the 11th to 14th century. Gothic aesthetics are difficult for many to appreciate due to their complexity, depth, and extensiveness and the fact that gothic aesthetics involve the conjunction of several factors which function concurrently.

These aesthetics are ubiquititous in goth music, gothic fashion and many aspects of the goth subculture. [CINDY MCGLYNN [http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_08.20.98/music/goths20.php Weekend of the living dead] Eye Weekly]

Camp

"Camp" (colloquially "cheesy") is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value.

There is a great deal of camp theatricality in goth subculture. The origins of this date back primarily to the 18th century Gothic novel, which in turn took much inspiration from the 11th through 14th century's so-called Gothic Architecture. Gothic Architecture was intended to create the feeling of awe in the viewer, by using optical tricks of light, unfamiliar angles, lines and proportions, using inconsistently sized windows to create the illusion of size and distance. The intention was to strike the viewer with a sense of awe or terror of the Catholic Church and the divinity of God.
Giorgio Vasari the painter, architect and writer describes the first real objects of gothic aesthetic, gothic architecture, as "fantastical and licentious manner of building: congestions of heavy, dark, melancholy, monkish piles, without any just proportion, use or beauty." [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06665b.htm Gothic Architecture] New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia]

The term "gothic" in its self-application to the goth subculture itself is an instance of camp. "Gothic" a pejorative term that came to be used as early as the 1530s to describe culture that was considered rude and barbaric. On 21 July 1710, the Académie d'Architecture met in Paris, and among the subjects they discussed, the assembled company noted the new fashions of bowed and cusped arches on chimneypieces being employed "to finish the top of their openings. The Company disapproved of several of these new manners, which are defective and which belong for the most part to the Gothic." ["pour terminer le haut de leurs ouvertures. La Compagnie a désapprové plusieurs de ces nouvelles manières, qui sont défectueuses et qui tiennent la plupart du gothique." Quoted in Fiske Kimball, "The Creation of the Rococo", 1943, p 66.] '"There can be no doubt that the term 'Gothic' as applied to pointed styles of ecclesiastical architecture was used at first contemptuously, and in derision, by those who were ambitious to imitate and revive the Grecian orders of architecture, after the revival of classical literature. Authorities such as Christopher Wren lent their aid in deprecating the old mediæval style, which they termed Gothic, as synonymous with every thing that was barbarous and rude.", according to a correspondent in Notes and Queries No. 9. December 29, 1849.

That fact was however, that it is effectively fake. These architectural techniques of gothic architecture replaced the widespread use of as what was seen as art, with "fantastical and licentious manner of building [s] " to create such feelings of awe, or even terror in the viewer but whether or not the building is a church, or eventually a university or office building. The awe felt by the viewer was the result of "artificial rules" and "premeditated theories" and never was the divine presence. The spiritual presence was a facade; the gargoyles were not real; the gothic is campy. [Max Fincher [http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2006/v/n44/013997ar.html The Gothic as Camp: Queer Aesthetics in The Monk] ] [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06665b.htm Gothic Architecture] New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia]

Illustrators for gothic novels were expected to find the most "emetic, erotic, or sensationally supernatural episode" in stories and create visual representations for marketing purposes. And if no suitably horrific material was located then the artist was expected to fabricate it. The emphasis of these illustrations on gaudiness, and on the lurid and tasteless subject matter of gothic literature itself drew harsh criticisms from Romanticists such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. [Dale Townshend [http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/gothic/townshend/townshend.html Visuality in the Romantic Era] University of Sterling]

ublime (awe and terror)

In aesthetics, the sublime (from the Latin "sublimis" (under the lintel, high, exalted)) is the quality of transcendent greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical or artistic. The term especially refers to a greatness with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation. This greatness is often used when referring to nature and its vastness.

Robert Branner describes the aesthetic effect of Gothic Architecture sublime, that is to say as dwarfing the man who enters it, as being "prodigiously vast in appearance" "for space, light, structure and the plastic effects of the masonry are organized to produce a visionary scale. There is no fixed set of proportions in the parts, such as can be developed from the diameter of a Greek column, and no standard relationship between solid and void. The result is a distortion:". [Robert Branner, [http://www.columbia.edu/~eer1/branner.html] Gothic Architecture, (New York: Braziller, 1961), pp. 10.]

Romanticism

Nancy Kilpatrick's book "The Goth Bible" states that "Romance is at the heart of what it means to be goth".

Despair

According to Voltaire's book "What is Goth", one of the primary realizations of the Goth aesthetic is that "Life is dark, life is sad, all is not well, and most people you meet will try to hurt you." [Voltaire "What is Goth" p x, ISBN 1578633222]

This is reflected in goth aesthetics giving the characteristic black clothing, taken from the funeral association. Although a large part of the goth aesthetic is flamboyant, darkness is always present. This is particularly represented in the Victorian image, as the sobriety and sombre aspect of many of these images is an important part. Many Old Goth'swho have said the reason for the black clothing was a to rebel against the new wave's colourful style.

Many Goths would object to this characterization, though. Goth has always been about embracing the darkness of life and enjoying things that are commonly considered "evil."

Nostalgia

Timothy Ellison's book "The Band's are Not Quite Right:Psychedelic Music and Surrealism" identifies nostalgia as being part of the gothic aesthetic. [Timothy J. Ellison "The Band's are Not Quite Right:Psychedelic Music and Surrealism" [http://wizardishungry.com/blog/?s=ellison available here] ] More commonly gothic has been associated with medievalism.

References