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Believe it or not, the Gothic movement no longer needs defending from without. As Gothic ideals, styles, and art permeates mainstream culture more and more, mainstream culture also permeates it. With novels like Stephanie Meyers' Twilight franchise or the recent film The Vampire's Assistant drawing in millions of fans, Gothic has been dragged kicking and screaming from its comfortable and embracing darkness into the light.

In other words, as Gothic has looked into the brightly colored, pleasant abyss, the abyss stared right back.

The problem is not that Gothic has become immensely popular, but that it is being emulated by those who do not fully grasp its horror along with it's beauty. Gothic culture has always relished in its horrifying nature, from the days when it was a genre of English literature manifested by authors such as Anne Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. As more writers, such as Oscar Wilde and Bram Stoker, indulged in the genre, its definition grew to include mystery as well as sensuality.

It was not until the 1980s, however, that Goth begins to permeate the youth culture. In an age of neon colors, yuppies, and "New Coke", Goth allowed for teens to rebel in a very unique way: it allowed them to not be happy. When teachers and parents wouldn't listen and their peers rejected them, they had the power to through themselves in darkness. Dark clothes, pale skin, dyed hair, somber music: all of it lent itself to a cathartic type of identity, allowing for the freedom to reject society's rules.

Fast-forward to the 2000s. Emo takes to the mainstream, competing with gothic sensibilities in terms of their respective somberness. While films like Underworld and Blade take Gothic tropes and turn them into blockbuster spectacles, novels like Twilight simply water down Gothic romance to the level of teen romance.

The main problem with this proliferation of Gothic ideals is that many choose to ignore the darkness of the Gothic and instead focus on the beauty. Vampires in Twilight choose to feed on animals instead of humans and do not burn in sunlight but sparkle. Emo culture chooses to focus on somber poetry while ironically wearing vintage clothing, a choice that leaves the intensely dark styles of Goth by the wayside.

Although beauty is important to Gothic, without the horror it simply is not Gothic anymore. The beauty of Gothic culture has always been the merging of horror and beauty into a sublime and haunting form. Keeping a vampire from drinking human blood just to make him a hero defeats the purpose of making him a vampire in the first place. Haunting and nihilistic words fall on deaf ears if the mouth saying them isn't speaking from their black little heart.

It seems, therefore, that those in the Gothic subculture should not fear those rejecting it, but those accepting it.

Learn more about this author, Richard Winterton.
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