SA21-A Goths Deviance Day
Yanta Zubiri
Jonard Koa
Gino Roque IV
Christine Felix
Clinton Lim
Yun Ji Seo
1. Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did you choose this identity?
We chose to portray the Goths since they are not very common in the Ateneo community; they are an elusive bunch of people whose lifestyles are normally exaggerated in television dramas and movies.
The gothic identity being closely linked with the worship of the devil is due to the previous association of the gothic subculture to cults. The association made by the people is brought by years and years of relating the color black to evil and antagonistic factors in life. Relating goths to the devil coincides with the cajoling of the others that goths are wannabe-vampires (case point: a scenario in the tv show Glee). With the malicious prejudices and immoral claims of the people who see their lifestyles as something to be identified as counterculture, the other side of goths are then hidden from the public. That is why, the group had shown interest in relaying to the public what goths are really like by choosing to dress like them and quell the stereotypes of society on certain things about goths.
2. What is your identity’s main function in the society?
They are seen as a sub-culture or group that would house angsty bunch of people who shy away from the brighter side of life. We also see this housing people that share thoughts on death and pretension. With the media only focusing on the goths' all black and punk-rock inspired ensemble, these people are often branded as satanic and sadistic.
In a societal point of view, the function of goths is to have another group such as the hipsters who deviate from the social norm or mainstream and express themselves in their own unique and different way. They act as a form of diversity in society that allows people to expand out of the pressures of social norms and see where they truly see themselves fit to be.
3. How does he/she look like?
Just like how their taste in music becomes their emotional outlet. The goths' preference in clothing also reflects their inclination towards the grotesque and the surreal. Goths wear dark colored clothes, mostly black and gray, designed with metal adornments to showcase their rebellion from the optimized view of life. Metal accessories are also commonly worn by goths such as spiked metal neck-pieces, metallic bracelets with spikes; piercings are also commonly found in the appearances of goths. Popular culture would show these metal adornments and metal accessories as having skulls in their main design; this further strengthens the correlation of themes like death relating to goths and their identity that society encapsulates goths under.
Their reference to the past also suggest that goths want to plugs their look with a touch of religious imagery. Goths also refer to earlier gothic literature in their quest to establish their identity. They use the images found in gothic historical and cultural scenes.
4. How does he/she speak or behave?
Instead of the typical portrayal of goths as dark-loving satanists, they are actually quiet and emotionally turbulent people who express themselves through their punk-rock inspired clothing. With the Gothic subculture being heavily influenced by the post-punk rock music genre, goths are more inclined to heavy metal music. Goths gravitate to heavy percussion for the rhythm becomes the outlet for their suppressed emotions.
5. What are their beliefs in life? What are their values?
Goths see themselves as absurdist who cling to the past as a form of expressing their suppressed individualism. They identify with the preceding subculture of punk rockers who openly advocate the idea of disorder as a person's manifestation of his or her reality. The lives of goths are most of the time, generalized in television series as something that is reflective of a troubled past. Most of the times, goths encounter malicious prejudices that do not only taint the perception of the society about them but also brand them as immoral and satanists. The deviant identity of the goths only exist due to the perceived relation of immorality and satanism in gothic lifestyles. In terms of their behavior, goths are generally nonchalant in their mood and prefer not to show that much reactions, which is why they may seem dull and dead to most people’s perceptions.
6. How does his/her day look like?
We tried to recreate what a goth's day would have been like through portraying them. Thus, as a group who would identify themselves as goths for an hour. We would try to create a ruckus by showing who we are while being quiet and distant with the crowd of people in the campus. We plan to jam to heavy-loud music which showcase our admiration for punk-rock to extreme heavy metal music. We would also stare down at people who would judge our dark aura. Raising our middle fingers up, we would defend our identity to our audience that immediately judge who we portray ourselves to be. Passers by who would start gossiping about our outfit and demeanor would receive a rascal remark of "what yah staring at, huh?!?". These would not only incite fear to our audience but also it would also ignite the idea that goths advocate, which is to push away people who live for the brighter side of life and also those who judge them for who want to be may it be through their clothes or behaviors. As we create a rock-studded portrayal of goths along SEC foyer, the group would be deviant as much as possible by offering headphones to those who are studying as we share our love for the screamo music. We would also chant to the lyrics of the song, we would then establish our inclination to be out of the primary by subtly creating a scene. genre of music, which is seen in heavy metal music as well.
1 7. Any sociological and personal reflections? How did it feel being
another person for a day?
After the deviance day activity, we, as goths, noticed a lot of people staring at us. Most if not all were just stunned to see people dressed like goths in campus. Through this activity, we came to the conclusion that most people in the Ateneo aren’t used to the idea of goths since they reacted in a shocked way when they saw us dressed in Gothic clothes and presenting the Gothic lifestyle. The females would be dressed in all black with either black pants or skirts to contrasting bottoms, while having silevr jewelry such as chains. This would also be paired with a black leather jacket with a white black inner shirt with or without any prints. The males would also wear black overall outfits where we see a black shirt or hoodie is worn with black or dark colored pants with black boots or shoes. A jacket could also be worn with a contrasting inner shirt such as white or non-contrasting such as black. Both sexes would be covered in make-up where the heavy eyeliner would be emphasized. While black or dark make-up would cover most of what surrounds the eyes.The pressures of society and its norms are still deeply embedded in the ateneo campus culture due to the fact that only a few groups are widely accepted in the campus, such as “the JSEC kids/ conyo kids”, the nerds, the dancers, the athletes and the gamers. This shows the reality that the deviation from society and its norms in ateneo is still not that widespread due to the strong pressures of social norms and the lack of more people challenging it.
A Perspective and Reflection from a female member of the Goths:
Yun ji : i had no idea of what a goth group is before the deviance day. However, through this experience, i got to know what it is and how society sees it. It was embarassing for me to walk in all black with the wild music because i am not the type of person who enjoys doing things that aren't socially accepted. People were looking at us and judging us, but i knew i am no different from them. It was still a nice experience because I don't think there will be any chance in my life to be a goth. It was a fun activity!
A Perspective and Reflection from another female member of the Goths:
days before the deviance day, i was kinda panicking since me and my personality are nothing close to goth. Though on the day itself, i kinda felt relaxed because it would be obvious that we were doing a project. Ive always known that people who deviate from societys norms (especially in the philippines) are looked at in a weird way/looked down upon so it wasnt really shocking to me that we were being judged. It was slightly humiliating because goth groups are hard to find in the philippines and we were just there in the middle of sec walk being a goth group. It was a fun and different experience
A Perspective and Reflection from a male member of the Goths:
I had a glimpse of what a goth might be through movies showing them briefly. I even remember seeing something like it on glee but I never really thought about it. I come from a family that really values having good manners and presenting yourself decently. Goths are really different from what I am, where they mostly wear black and have musical taste that is geared towards metal, death metal and Gothic themes. I really found people to have reacted distasteful towards us, mainly because we looked very much in character and looked different from everyone else. I felt really awkward and would feel as if people would keep starring as if I had an enormous pimple on my face. I'm used to being in decent attire and the shift to black make-up and dark clothes was most probably the cause of why other kept staring. We played loud heavy metal Gothic music through Spotify which also caught the attention of people. We would look them in the eye with our Gothic make-up and they would just briskly walk away. It was a really interesting experience of going against the norms of what is socially accepted or seen on the campus of Ateneo. I doubt that I'll be given another opportunity like this and I'm really glad to have been part of this.
A Perspective and Reflection from another male member of the Goths:
before the day itself, I was feeling not too bad about dressing up as a goth because, I felt that people would know that it would be for deviance day, however on the day, as my group and I would walk around, I would suddenly get the feeling that people were watching us, in an unflattering way... And this is an experience of how society has shaped us in the sense that's once we deviate or when we do something not socially accepted, instead of people treating everyone with the same respect, the people would put you down... Also this is a sad sight, it is an experience I will never forget
References:
Stripy Tights and Dark Delights. (2011, October 28). Retrieved
October 9 ,2014,from http://ultimategothguide.blogspot.com/2011
/10/sociological-explanation-of-goths-who.html?m=1
Common Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved October 8, 2014, from
http://www.gothicsubculture.com/common-culture.php
http://www.wikihow.com/Dress-Goth
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