By: EDWARD O'TOOLE
By: Phenomena Esotericist-at-Large
What is it and what is its appeal?
Why do some feel arousal at the sight of the bleached skin and ebony hair, the
bloodened lips of a saddened waif?
When one considers the ‘traditional’ icon of beauty – the full breasted blonde,
blue-eyed with luscious lips, perhaps with a little more ‘body’, a remnant from
our more primal past when girth of hip and roundness of breasts signified a
better chance of surviving multiple childbirths – why then does the macabre and
morbid look of the Goth attract?
Perhaps the greatest symbol of Gothic beauty to have ever graced the screen – as
opposed to literary romance where the reader’s imagination fills in the blanks –
is Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams. Unlike Angelica Houston, who is
far too masculine and angular, Carolyn’s portrayal of the character was one of
femininity, grace and innocence, while simultaneously being perceptive,
intelligent and self-sure. This dualism, wrapped in a gothic mantle and yet
capable of unparalleled love for her husband, really set the stage for future
examples of the female gothic aesthetic. She combined the symmetry of a
ballerina with the darker facets of the imagination – the hidden lusts of the
Id.
Do we lust after death? No, but death is an aspect of life that, while abstract,
is still the ultimate conclusion – a fact deliberately ignored by most as they
try to make their ways through the mortal realm. The sight of a beautiful woman,
symbolically portraying death in garb or manner, is perhaps a temptation for our
imaginations – to cavort with and caress that which ends all; a sexual liaison
with the metaphorical representative of our nemesis.
The natural ‘Goth’ – those born with the aforementioned attributes – the
Romanian look, are a living treasure; a pleasant break with the norm of
convention. While some ladies opt for peroxide as a solution to their personal
wants, substantiated by the theory that gentlemen prefer blondes, a minority go
the other way and trade their natural locks for a myriad of unnatural colours –
blues, purples, greens and the more recognizable sable. They dress in ragged
frocks, Victorian corsets, suspenders and fishnet stockings; they ladle
eyeshadow and lipstick onto their sun-denied skin; they adorn their necks with
silver bats or heavy wooden crosses.
Why?
But before we venture into the realm of fashionable imitation – and the belief
that the Goth image is a modern phenomenon – we must first look at the past and
the raven-haired beauties who occasionally emerged to grace the world. I was
reminded the other day of Bettie Page, the 1950s pin-up star with long, wavy
black hair, marble skin and blue-grey eyes, who was once described as having the
perfect body. Her photographical biography was certainly well into the realm of
the Gothic – even into sado-masochism and vampirism – and was highly
controversial in its day. Voted Miss Pin-up Girl of the World in 1955, it is
clear that her image incited passion in mortal man.
Louisia Nax, on her website ‘Vamps; Dark Goddesses of the Silver Screen’,
states:
“In the earliest days of cinema, the role of the femme fatale took on a definite
persona which encapsulated feminine sexual power and flaunted their dangerous
perfection to the world. These icons changed the face of womankind forever.”
The vamp, the femme fatale, the precursor to modern gothic chic. Names like
Theda Bara, Pola Negri, Maila Nurmi and Louisa Banks. Dark and sexual both
on-screen and off.
But is this Gothic? Perhaps I should clarify, in my own terms, the two aspects
that I would classify as gothic:
a) The Vamp / Femme Fatale
b) Gothic Waif – not to be confused with the Japanese subkultur of Gothlolita
Prior to the popularity of the cinema, great artists sought their muse in ladies
of alternate looks with that je ne sais quoi: Edvard Munch's death-masked,
openly inviting Madonna, or the true Gothic portrait of Sister; Dante Gabriel
Rossetti's demure and sexually alluring Proserpine, or dominatrix vamp Astarte;
John Everett Millais's beautiful, dead Ophelia; Edward Burne-Jones’
blank-staring Girl with Goldfish.
Once moving-pictures had affirmed its place in the modern world, and sultry
temptresses like Bara and Negri, the staple of such works as Pam Keesey’s
‘Vamps: an illustrated history of the femme fatale’, had infected the
unconscious desires of theatre goers globally, the Gothic image re-emerged from
its dormant hiding place in fairy tale; the most relevant being Disney’s
animated Snow White, the runaway waif who had:
[skin] as white as snow, [lips] as red as blood, and [hair] as black as ebony
wood.
…the primary qualifications for a Goth.
The stark contrast between the two Gothic styles – the Vamp and the Waif – were
united in Morticia Addams and, to the extreme, in Wednesday Addams. The modern
Gothic image is well summarized by the Gothic Beauty magazine forum dweller,
Vickatron5000:
“The whole allure of anything "gothic" plays off of innate desires, & in a lot
of instances, fetishes. With a classic, more Victorian style, the draw is a dark
romanticism that is found in a lot of literature that sweeps people away. With
more modern interpretations, you might find the style mirrors more bondage or
dominatrix, or with gothic Lolita, it's a playfully darker version, all
harkening towards things previously unattainable. In those cases, it's taking
things that are taboo, even illegal, in our society, and giving it a form that's
tangible.”
The success of such films as The Matrix and Underworld could not have been
hampered by the lithe black-pvc-bodysuited figures of Carrie-Ann Moss and Kate
Beckinsale, both white skinned and black haired (albeit dyed for the latter).
Liv Tyler as a Neo-Romantic elf in Pete Jackson’s Lord of the Rings was a
stunning and enticing presence – her ‘mysteriousness’ played against the fair
haired niece of the King of Rohan’s everydayness. Goth crosses into cyberpunk
and fantasy, but it brings with it that darkest desire of the elusive, innocent
– yet sexually dangerous – female; a go-between for life and death, passion and
mortality, innocent child and worldly madame.
Why then do so many members of the fairer sex opt to deface their natural selves
and spread a mantle of darkness over their faces and forms, to step out of what
is considered conventional?
Because it looks damned sexy, and makes men like me wonder… what if?
Edward O’Toole – Non Serviam – Slovakia, 2005. You can discuss Gothic Beauty at
Aestheteka.
Special thanks to Yaish of Skeptomania Forum for Bettie Paige references.
