Is this Gothic?
Post your opinion as a comment!
Check back tomorrow for my own interpretation.
2 thoughts on ““Is This Gothic?” #3”
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Is this Gothic?
Post your opinion as a comment!
Check back tomorrow for my own interpretation.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Sure! A young man, surrounded by darkness, his clasped hands, upward-tilted head and closed eyes evoking prayer as he is engulfed by shadow. A classic gothic juxtaposition of the innocent (love the almost tonsure-like bowlcut!) lost in a dark and unknown (unknowable?) world.
Hey!
This one was a bit of a trick question. The person in the photo is Ian Curtis, deceased frontman for the group Joy Division. Joy Division was unequivocally “Gothic” so I thought the answer might vary depending on whether people thought I was asking about the band, the man, or the photo itself. Any answer would have been okay.
As for the photo itself, I am not quite ready to call it Gothic without additional context. Jonathan, all of the points you make are apt, but I don’t know that they can only be satisfied within the Gothic. There’s a plaintive passion to Curtis’ expression which I think you’ve responded to, and of course, he is isolated on the stage and among the darkness. All of this is resonant with the Gothic. If the photo isn’t Gothic itself, it doesn’t throw up barriers to a Gothic context (as would, for example, the bowling trophies we looked at last week).