This Will Leave Them In Stitches.

[athelind]

I don't know why people assume that Goths model themselves after Vampires -- though, in truth, the misconception is so widespread that much of the Goth community shares it. Truly, Stoker's Dracula has little of the smoldering tragedy that later interpreters have bestowed upon him.

Those who have read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus know that the creature was not the mindless, shambling brute so ably portrayed by Karloff.

Rather, Frankenstein's "monster" was an articulate, deeply passionate soul -- and much of the novel is played out in that memorable scene in which Victor's creation lures him to an ice cavern, and relates the entirety of his life story since his abandonment.

The horror of Frankenstein, you see, is not that of the random destruction wrought by a soulless monstrosity.

It is that a sensitive, intelligent social outcast, a reader of poetry, will corner you in a remote locale and relate to you at length how terrible his life is, how society has rejected him, and the dreadful injustices wrought upon him by his parents.

He is without question the true role model of the Goth.

Comments

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Very true. In fact, it is those that he grew close to who ultimately reject him. He lives and learns off the hidden relationship with that family in the woods, becoming as close to them as if they were his own kin, and yet when he attempts to interact out of a growing desperation, he is once more shunned and cast out.

Neither is Victor Frankenstein an inhuman monster. Though terrified at his monster's capabilities for murder (which does happen, of course), he seeks revenge and a peace both for himself and it. I was quite intrigued and satisfied with the story.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Hee, hee!

-TG

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Very true. :)

[shavastak.livejournal.com]

What people forget is that Shelley's book was really intended as a commentary on the dangers of science - that science could create a man so soulful who is so horribly neglected. Imagine Frankenstein's creation as a metaphor for the poetic soul, ignored and ruined by the scientific mind.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Too many people interpret the message of the book as "Man Should Not Play God" or "There Are Things Man Was Not Meant To Know". Victor's sin is not that he CREATED his creature, but that he ABANDONED it.

We agree there, but I don't agree that the abandonment had anything to do with "the scientific mind". THAT was Victor's repressive, medieval, superstitious superego kicking in.

[drleo.livejournal.com]

Too bad many of the Goths don't quite get the "sensitive, intelligent" part of "social outcast."

[foofers.livejournal.com]

...a sensitive, intelligent social outcast, a reader of poetry, will corner you in a remote locale and relate to you at length how terrible his life is, how society has rejected him, and the dreadful injustices wrought upon him by his parents.

In other words...while Vannevar Bush is widely credited with envisioning the internet in the 1940's, Mary Shelley was way ahead of the game, predicting LiveJournal nearly two centuries ago!

[waywind.livejournal.com]

I suppose the blue color scheme is a bit evocative of an icy cave. And what about the goat?

[gruffgoat.livejournal.com]

Leave me out of it.

[waywind.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, you're right!

I knew goth, and I knew about the proper literary Frankenstein, but I never made the connection before! That is goth!

what the fuck

[(Anonymous)]

i guess vampires arent dark enough for you?

all i have left is my solitude in darkness...
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Re: what the fuck

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Wow. Gothspam.

But I just sprayed for vampspam last week!

[baxil.livejournal.com]

I'm almost tempted to make a two-word "goths vampires" post in my LJ as spambait. Except goth spammers are like ants. Once you've got them in the house, you'll never get them out again.

Re: what the fuck

[zombigirl.livejournal.com]

*giggles uncontrollably*

What the Schmuck

[kolchis.livejournal.com]

... proving yet again that the most important tool with which to face life is a Sense of Humor.

Oh, and Dood - that ruled. Rocked the hizzous.

The fact that you annoyed a humorless goth just makes it all the better...

Re: What the Schmuck

[zombigirl.livejournal.com]

Hear hear, brother! and YES, people forget the many different aspects of GOTH, such as it is. It's like saying hippies are only hippies if they only listen to John Lennon and watch Easy Rider...It's all in perception. I loved Frankenstein, I cried at the end.

[storm-dragon.livejournal.com]

It is that a sensitive, intelligent social outcast, a reader of poetry, will corner you in a remote locale and relate to you at length how terrible his life is, how society has rejected him, and the dreadful injustices wrought upon him by his parents.

So... Marvin is a Goth.