Eli5: How did the term “Goth” go from Germanic tribes destroying Rome, to the music and fashion we know today?
In: 7280
I took a class on gothic literature once and on the first day my professor gave us a lecture on this lol, I’ll summarize.
1. The goths were a germanic tribe who contributed to the fall of the roman empire.
2. Gothic architecture was called such because it was such a massive change in style from architecture of the time, it was a bit of a derogatory term, like how the Goths destroyed Rome, they were now destroying architecture
3. In the 18th century, there was the gothic era of fiction. It was called this because they often took place in a gothic castle. There are a lot of things that define a gothic novel, but in my opinion subversiveness is the most important characteristic.
4. this continued as a mode of fiction throughout history, including non literary fiction such as tv shows and movies and…even music.
5. Rock with gothic-inspired features exists and is referred to as gothic rock
6. this gets popular, and spawns the gothic subculture
What unites these all together? Subversiveness! Gothic fiction can tell us a lot about the national anxieties of a group.
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