“黑色”的歌特文化_武汉中山歌特文化传播有限公司

　　URBAN GOTHIC"Gothic" 　　 　　Goths can be defined in a succinct but unhelpful way as "people who are into gothic things". But what does that actually mean?
　　The gothic novels of the early nineteenth century, was responsible for the term "gothic" being associated with a mood of horror, darkness and the supernatural. They established the now-familiar horror staples such as graveyards, ruined castles or churches, ghosts, vampires, cursed families, being buried alive and melodramatic plots. Gothic novels are often concerned with the fate of a curious young woman. A notable element in these novels was the brooding figure of the gothic villain, which developed into the Byronic hero, on which the male goth image is heavily based. The most famous gothic villain was, of course, the vampire Count Dracula. In 1993, the English town of Whitby became the location of the UK"s biggest goth festival purely because it appears in Bram Stoker"s Dracula.
　　Mary Shelley furthered the popular gothic mood and genre with her novel Frankenstein. The work of gothic short story maestro Edgar Allan Poe has also been an inspiration for many goths. The modern figure of the femme fatale, which has its roots in Romantic literature, is a key image for female goths.
　　Some people go further and say "goth is a state of mind". Having a goth attitude is about not ①playing along with mainstream but being tranquil and cool - other people often think goths look ridiculous, but goths don"t care. The stereotype of goths as angst-ridden teenagers writing florid poetry while moaning "why am I so much more sensitive than everyone else?" has some basis in fact. But those who stick with the goth culture on a long term basis rather than as a teenage fad tend to be fairly well-adjusted, as it"s difficult to act terribly depressed and still get on with your life.
　　
　　Music
　　
　　From the late 1970s, certain bands in the UK began to be identified as "gothic", mostly associated with the "post punk" sound. The most famous of these include The Cure, Bauhaus and Joy Division. The genre expanded in the 1980s and became much more popular - around this time saw the debut of Sisters of Mercy, widely thought of as the quintessential gothic rock band (much to the displeasure of the band themselves). At the same time, completely independently, the genre of "death rock" was developing in Los Angeles. Eventually the two scenes found each other and were sufficiently similar to effectively merge.
　　Goths" music tastes have diversified a lot since then, though. Since the mid-1990s, styles of music that can be heard in goth venues range from gothic rock, to industrial, punk, metal, techno, andmore.
　　关于“歌特”
　　歌特可以被定义为“喜爱歌特事物的人群”，虽然精练但却言之无物。不过，它到底是指什么呢？
　　这个与恐怖、黑暗和超自然的意境相关联的词汇――“歌特”，源于19世纪早期的歌特小说。它们确立了现已众所周知的恐怖要素，如墓地、荒废的城堡或教堂、鬼怪、吸血鬼、受到诅咒的家庭、被活埋和传奇剧情节。歌特小说经常关注有好奇之心的年轻女子的命运。这些小说中一个值得注意的因素是，歌特式反面角色的郁思形象演变成了一个拜伦式的英雄，而男性歌特形象就主要是以此为基础的。最知名的歌特式反面角色，当属吸血鬼德拉克拉伯爵了。1993年，英国城镇维特比仅仅因为它出现在了布兰姆・斯多克的《德拉克拉》之中便成为了英国最大的歌特节举办地。
　　而玛丽・雪莱更以她的小说《弗兰肯斯坦》推动了这一流行的歌特意境和流派。对许多歌特而言，短篇歌特小说大师埃德加・爱伦・坡的著作同样是一个灵感来源。源于浪漫主义文学的红颜祸水的现代形象，对于女性歌特来讲则是一个重要形象。
　　更有甚者，宣称“歌特是一种心态”。拥有歌特风范就是虽与主流格格不入，但却既镇静又冷酷――其他人常常认为歌特们看起来荒诞不经，但歌特们却满不在乎。歌特们总是被看作是忧心忡忡的少年，一边写着绮靡诗歌一边呻吟“我为什么比其他所有人都要敏感许多？”，而这是有一定事实根据的。但那些并不是在少年时追风，而是长期坚持歌特文化的人则往往调整得非常好，因为在举止极其压抑的情况下是难于继续自己的生活的。
　　
　　歌特与音乐
　　
　　从20世纪70年代晚期开始，某些英国乐队（其中大部分乐队的音乐都和“后朋克”有关）开始被归为“歌特”一类。这些乐队中最知名的有“治愈乐队”、“鲍豪斯乐队”和“快乐分裂乐队”。这一流派在20世纪80年代得到了发展，变得更加流行――这一期间，“仁慈姐妹”这支被广泛看作是出类拔萃的歌特摇滚乐队（这支乐队本身非常不满于此）发行了处女作。与此同时，“死亡摇滚”的流派正在洛杉矶进行着完全自主的发展。最后，这两个圈子彼此碰到了一起，相似之处非常之多，以至于进行了有效的整合。
　　不过，自那时起，歌特们的音乐品位更趋多样化了。从20世纪90年代中期起，在歌特的集会之地可以听到各类音乐，从歌特摇滚到工业乐、朋克乐、金属乐、科技乐，等等。
　　
　　Gothic Fashion
　　
　　Typical goth dress consists of black clothing accessorized with silver and/or pewter. The typical gothic outfit is limited only by what the wearer thinks he or she can pull off, and can include elaborate gowns and corsets, veils, teased hair, lots of eyeliner, fishnets, and styles borrowed from the Elizabethan and Victorians eras. Also popular are tight-fitting trousers, flouncy shirts, and plenty of buckles. Occasionally, goths will tear or cut their clothes apart, normally with scissors, then repair their clothes with safety pins, giving an image of the clothes splitting at the seams.
　　Piercings are common, and both males and females often wear dark makeup. A newer subset of goth fashion is the "Cybergoth" look, inspired by Japanese anime, futurism, and electronic music. It generally includes bright haircolors and/or synthetic dreadlocks, platform boots, clothing made from PVC, latex, or even spandex, and accessories such as goggles. There are similarities between goth fashion and heavy metal fashion, which can be a bit confusing sometimes.
　　After the demise of post punk, the goth continued to evolve, both musically and visually. This caused variations in style, creating different "types" of goth. Local scenes also contribute to this variation. By the 1990s, Victorian fashion had worked its way into the goth scene.
　　The style worn is ②to some extent dictated by the occasion, but it is not unusual to find goths dressed in divergent styles in the same place. If you go to a goth club night, for example, it"s pretty common to encounter several people dressed very formally for no apparent reason. A person"s style (including their clothing, hair, makeup, accessories), is a major factor in determining whether the person will be perceived as authentic by others in the goth subculture.
　　Members of the subculture may and often do have different ideas about what constitutes gothic fashion, and some styles may be considered "goth" by one person and not another. These disagreements rarely rise above minor snobbery. It has been said that goths use their fashion choices to demonstrate commitment to the subculture. In particular, more extreme, less easily concealed choices, such as dyeing your hair or shaving part of it off, demonstrate greater commitment. However, the core of gothic fashion is that whatever you like is fine, as the gothic culture is against the idea of rigid rules. Even wearing black isn"t mandatory.
　　
　　Media
　　
　　An important link between the original gothic literature and the goth subculture today is the modern horror genre in popular media. Most important is the horror film. Imagery from horror movies and television, especially the figure of the vampire, has been a big influence on gothic fashion. The goth aesthetic can be found in films from the silent era, such as the famous Nosferatu, as well as more recent movies, particularly the camp horror B-movies and British "Hammer Horror" films of the 1960s.
　　Some of the early gothic rock and death rock artists adopted traditional pre-sixties horror movie images and passed them onto their goth audiences. Although this started off very tongue-in-cheek, the connection began to be taken more seriously. Nowadays, morbid, supernatural and occult themes are a rather more serious element of the goth scene.
　　Some contemporary media popular amongst goths include Anne Rice"s novels (Interview with the Vampire) and films such as The Crow, the Blade trilogy, and the movies of Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow), as well as role-playing games like Vampire: the Masquerade. Influences from anime have also crept into the goth scene.
　　1. scene
　　在本文当中，有多处地方都用到了一个词――“scene”。这个词除了我们常常用到的“场面和情景”的意思外，还有另一层含义，即指一种围绕某种艺术，主要是音乐，而松散结合在一起的团体，通常是一个抽象的概念，有点儿相当于汉语中的“圈子”。例如，“a local rock music scene”指的就是某支乐队常常在某个地方演出，有固定的乐迷定期参加他们的演出活动，由此组成的一个圈子。另外，这个词也可以是一种泛指，如知名的影星或导演就可以被描述为“part of the international movie scene”。
　　
　　2. anime
　　在“Gothic Fashion”部分的第二段中用到了一个词――“anime”。日本人将“animation”做了一些读音上的变化后，借用到了其语言当中，后来这个日语中的新词又被英语借用了，演变成了“anime”，专门表示一类动画作品，即日式动画。
　　
　　3. camp
　　在“Media”部分的首段最后一句话中，用到了一个词――“camp”。这个词在此句话当中用的是一层不常用到的含义。它指的是，有些影视作品或戏剧的创作者、导演或演员自我感觉良好地运用了一些他们欣赏的技巧或手段，结果却贻笑大方。这些作品往往是指20世纪60年代的一些低预算的作品，矫揉造作，质量很差，如道具差劲、一看就很假的早期日本怪兽片。
　　
　　4. B-movie
　　在“Media”部分的首段最后一句话中，还用到了一个词专有名词――“B-movie”。在20世纪70年代以前，西方的电影院通常会一次播放两部电影，但重头戏只是其中的一部，即观众真正想要看的电影――“A-movie”，相当于汉语中的“正片”。而另一部电影就是在正片之前播放、成本低且质量差的“B-movie”，相当于汉语中的“副片”。而现在，“B-movie”则用来指那些成本不高的影片，尤其是20世纪60年代的差劲科幻和恐怖影片。
　　subculture /`s7bk7ltH9(r)/ n.亚文化群
　　succinct /`s9k`siMkt/ adj.简洁的
　　supernatural /,s(p9`n2tH9r9l/ adj.超自然的
　　staple /`steipl/ n.主要或重要成份
　　graveyard /`Greivj3d/ n.墓地
　　castle /`k3sl/ n.城堡
　　vampire /`v2mpai9/ n.吸血鬼
　　brood /br6d/ v.郁闷地想
　　villain /`vil9n/ n.反面角色；坏人
　　genre /E3Mr/ n.类型；流派
　　maestro /m3`estr9u/ n.艺术大师
　　tranquil /`tr2Mkwil/ adj.镇静的；安静的
　　stereotype /`sti9ri9utaip/ n.固定形式；陈腔滥调
　　angst-ridden /3Mst`ridn/ adj.忧心忡忡的；充满忧虑的
　　florid /`fl4rid/ adj.华丽的；绚丽的
　　moan /m9un/ n.呻吟
　　quintessential /kwinti`senH9l/ adj.精萃的；精髓的
　　diversify /dai`v8sifai/ v.多样化
　　venue /`venju:/ n.集合地点
　　accessorize /2k`ses9,raiz/ v.装饰；穿戴装饰品
　　pewter /`p(t9(r)/ n.锡铅合金
　　outfit /`autfit/ n.整套服装
　　elaborate /i`l2b9r9t/ adj.精心制作的
　　corset /`k5sit/ n.(妇女的)紧身胸衣
　　teased hair 蓬松的头发；打毛的头发
　　eyeliner /`ailain9(r)/ n.眼线膏
　　flouncy /flaunsi/ adj.镶有荷叶边的
　　buckle /`b7kl/ n.装饰用扣环
　　scissor /`siz9/ n.剪刀
　　seam /s1m/ n.接缝；线缝
　　makeup /`meik7p/ n.化妆；化妆品
　　synthetic /sin`Fetik/ adj.合成的；人造的
　　dreadlock /`dredl4k/ n.“骇人”长发绺
　　latex /`leiteks/ n.乳胶；橡胶
　　spandex /`sp2ndeks/ n.斯潘德克斯弹性纤维
　　goggle /`G4Gl/ n. (复数)风镜
　　demise /di`maiz/ n.死亡
　　dictate /dik`teit/ v.规定
　　divergent /dai`v8_9nt/ adj.分歧的
　　dye /dai/ v.染
　　mandatory /`m2nd9t9ri/ adj.强制的
　　aesthetic /1s`Fetik/ n.审美
　　tongue-in-cheek adv.不当真的；半开玩笑地
　　morbid /`m5bid/ adj.病态的
　　occult /4`k7lt/ adj.神秘的；玄妙的
　　
　　① play along with 参与；与……合作
　　② to some extent 在某种程度上