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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Amy Wilkins: “From Freaks to Geeks: Goth and the Middle Class”
I never gave the Goth culture much thought until this article. The connection the author makes between Goths and the middle class was an interesting aspect of the entire article and ultimately it's foundation. What caught my attention the most was the things the people apart of the Goth community shared with Amy when she interviewed them. When they told her about the way people reacted when they saw them and how they would step away from them as if they were freaks made me empathize with them because it is not a one time thing I am sure. They experience this everyday or pretty often I suppose and it’s because of their appearance. I wont sit here and be hypocritical and say I haven’t stared once or twice when I have come across a Goth but I do it in an observational kind of way because I find their style and interests unique. Their philosophy as Goths is to stand out from the norms and not conform from what I understood so what I didn’t agree with was the fact that they switch from Goth to norm when it comes to professionalism. However, as discussed in class they do need to find themselves a living and who can blame them? It is the expectations society places on the working community that forces them to conform to a specific appearance. I am sure if it wasn’t for all of societies expectations, Goths wouldn’t have to oblige to such standards
The word "stereotyping" is a destructive orientation that most people in our society do practice today. People tend to quickly digest and pinpoint the negative side of a particular group and culture. Like someone asked me the other day at work, if i do chase lions and tigers bare naked, while i was in Africa. Because she heard that Most Africans countries have lions and tigers, she just quickly concluded that every African do chase lions. Who will, in His/Her right senses chase a lion?. Peoples cultural norms should be respected, as fars the Goths believe and practice makes them conform to the world at large, they shouldnt be criticized or treated as a quarantined organism. Also parents should never orient their growing kids about myths, that arent factual, this goes a long way in the lives of these children to begin to practice segregational believes and behaviour
The Goth lifestyle has always been one that has in a way confused me. I never really understood why in the world the people who choose that lifestyle would want to. I never really grasped why somebody would intentionally want to stick out in society in the manner in which Goths typically do. Because of that, I thought this article was a really interesting piece as it gave a glimpse into some of those reasons for choosing the Goth lifestyle. One point that really intrigued me was when the author makes the claim that many Goths are “geeks” that wanted to become something more, in this case “freaks”. That kind of shocked me because I never really viewed the Goth people I have been in contact with as anything but “freaks”, I suppose that sort of is the point though, the Goth lifestyle is such an “in your face” kind of lifestyle that the personalities which may be “geeky” are often overlooked by the “freak” aspects so much to the point that people don’t consider them to be geeks at all. So I guess I interpreted it to be as though the Goth lifestyle is a shield of sorts to disguise the real person behind the studded belts and black clothing, which it is effective in doing so. I also found the fact that some Goths change in and out of their “Goth Identity” really interesting because it shows that they are aware of their perception by others and how it can impact them both negatively and positively to dress the way they do. I also found it hypocritical in a way as a main theme of the Goth Lifestyle is to suppress conforming to the mainstream style and yet when they switch back and forth they are doing just that, conforming to what society thinks is a more appropriate look, by doing so I feel like it takes away some of the legitimacy to the Goth Lifestyle. At the same time, like I said before, it shows that they are aware that if they dress the way they would normally, it would probably be difficulty to obtain a job and other things.
I never gave the Goth culture much thought until this article. The connection the author makes between Goths and the middle class was an interesting aspect of the entire article and ultimately it's foundation. What caught my attention the most was the things the people apart of the Goth community shared with Amy when she interviewed them. When they told her about the way people reacted when they saw them and how they would step away from them as if they were freaks made me empathize with them because it is not a one time thing I am sure. They experience this everyday or pretty often I suppose and it’s because of their appearance. I wont sit here and be hypocritical and say I haven’t stared once or twice when I have come across a Goth but I do it in an observational kind of way because I find their style and interests unique. Their philosophy as Goths is to stand out from the norms and not conform from what I understood so what I didn’t agree with was the fact that they switch from Goth to norm when it comes to professionalism. However, as discussed in class they do need to find themselves a living and who can blame them? It is the expectations society places on the working community that forces them to conform to a specific appearance. I am sure if it wasn’t for all of societies expectations, Goths wouldn’t have to oblige to such standards
ReplyDeleteThe word "stereotyping" is a destructive orientation that most people in our society do practice today. People tend to quickly digest and pinpoint the negative side of a particular group and culture. Like someone asked me the other day at work, if i do chase lions and tigers bare naked, while i was in Africa. Because she heard that Most Africans countries have lions and tigers, she just quickly concluded that every African do chase lions. Who will, in His/Her right senses chase a lion?. Peoples cultural norms should be respected, as fars the Goths believe and practice makes them conform to the world at large, they shouldnt be criticized or treated as a quarantined organism. Also parents should never orient their growing kids about myths, that arent factual, this goes a long way in the lives of these children to begin to practice segregational believes and behaviour
ReplyDeleteThe Goth lifestyle has always been one that has in a way confused me. I never really understood why in the world the people who choose that lifestyle would want to. I never really grasped why somebody would intentionally want to stick out in society in the manner in which Goths typically do. Because of that, I thought this article was a really interesting piece as it gave a glimpse into some of those reasons for choosing the Goth lifestyle. One point that really intrigued me was when the author makes the claim that many Goths are “geeks” that wanted to become something more, in this case “freaks”. That kind of shocked me because I never really viewed the Goth people I have been in contact with as anything but “freaks”, I suppose that sort of is the point though, the Goth lifestyle is such an “in your face” kind of lifestyle that the personalities which may be “geeky” are often overlooked by the “freak” aspects so much to the point that people don’t consider them to be geeks at all. So I guess I interpreted it to be as though the Goth lifestyle is a shield of sorts to disguise the real person behind the studded belts and black clothing, which it is effective in doing so. I also found the fact that some Goths change in and out of their “Goth Identity” really interesting because it shows that they are aware of their perception by others and how it can impact them both negatively and positively to dress the way they do. I also found it hypocritical in a way as a main theme of the Goth Lifestyle is to suppress conforming to the mainstream style and yet when they switch back and forth they are doing just that, conforming to what society thinks is a more appropriate look, by doing so I feel like it takes away some of the legitimacy to the Goth Lifestyle. At the same time, like I said before, it shows that they are aware that if they dress the way they would normally, it would probably be difficulty to obtain a job and other things.
ReplyDelete