Zamiel : Emo stands for "Emotive Punkcore", not emotional. I hate when people get it mixed up like that.

Elara : You're right, a lot of people considered "emo" are pretty whiny. Although, that is a broad statement, to be honest. But I'm not going to fight against your opinion.

Annette :
Elara :
Zamiel :

You three seem to know more about the subject now and I saw something that I thought was rather odd earlier. There was a person at my college who was dressed in somewhat Goth-like clothing (most notably black pants with a lot of chains). What I found odd was that he had a tail. That's right. It was like a fluffy cat tail hanging out from under the back of his jacket. Is this tied into Goth culture/subculture?

If this comes off as rude, then I'm sorry.

the_casualty : Dude, emotive means "appealing to or expressing emotion" same thing to me XD

BNuge : That's not rude at all.
That's just the personal preference of that person. I'm not sure if there's a sub-cultural of goth that's combined some elements of Furries with goth or something cause I've only met one other goth that does that.

Honestly I have seen that more at Renaissance Faires (well, fox or raccoon tails), same at anime conventions. I think it is more in line with that person's personal taste than a part of the goth culture.

I really like GOTHIC cathedrals, I visited quiet a few during my year in england. Gothic archtecture is amazing but Emos and Goths I HATE. They always try to get atention the wrong way, and when you give it to them they say something that would sound like they don't whant atention, BUT THEY DO! My sisters one and I don't like her any better for it.

Also I've heard plenty of regular people go to hot topic. (not trying to be mean to creater)

I've always seen the Goth and Emo cultures from outside. I never tried any of it and I fit in more with athletes.

The original questions asked about my opinion. I see both groups as people who are just trying to find friends and fit in with like-minded folks. Since they aren't accepted by 'popular' kids or other large groups, they form their own groups and enjoy membership somewhere. They take pride in being fringe and outside the regular lines because they generally can't find acceptance within the lines.

I think all people strive to belong to something. Whether it is Vizzed or a sports team or a group, we all want community. We're social animals.

Goths and Emos are creating their own communities. As for the clothes and the styles, I think they look ridiculous, though some girls can look really hot. The hair-swept thing guys do makes them look really feminine to me. I can't understand how girls find that good looking.

I learned a lot reading all your posts. I can understand wearing the clothes for the fashion without actually being a hard-core Goth.

I can't understand how angsty they are. Why do they complain about their lives? I mean, if you live in an industrialized country like the U.S. or Canada or England, you're doing 1000x better then entire continents. You have food, you don't have AIDS (most likely), you're not going to die by joining a children's army in Africa, and you have clean water and your basic needs met.

Why so unhappy? ANyone know?

I don't mean to step on nobody toes here

Gothic people dress like the Crow and Emo peoplw dress like people out of the
Breakfast club, I am just trying to Picture it easy here So I am sorry from the
Moive Refenes

But I don't Understand the Clash here Gotics vs Emos I have Freinds on both
sides
but I do like gothics a bit more black is my Favotie color, people say
I dress like a person of Grunge music. and the goth life style is intresting
to me because I know what it is like to be an out class then high of the class.

FrankThePunisherCastle : I am not 100% sure on it, but the basics that I have been made to understand is that goths think that emos are a bunch of whiney posers and emos think that goths are pretentious a**holes.

All I want to know is what Started the war Goth vs emo because the way I see it Goths are the Outcast or ones, people that get picked on in Highschool, while the Eoms think that Highschool is forever. correct. Then I am a Goth

FrankThePunisherCastle : You can't really define Goth like that since there are sooo many different sub-culture within the sub-culture. Some think of themselves as outcasts, others are more like dark hippies and so on. I think what started the whole Goth vs. Emo thing is what Elara basically said. Some goths view emos as posers because emos came after goths and dress a bit like them. Not really fair to the emos lol Emo and Goth have nothing to do with high school btw.

Zamiel :

Ok but I am sorry to keep based it or my post to this matter on goths vs emo on my time
in Highschool But that is were i saw a lot of the cutlure clash between Goths & emos

There aren't any "goth" kids at my school, or around me, so I'm not exactly sure what they are. When I think "goth" I think of the goth kids off of South Park. lol. I don't know any all out emo kids either... oh well.

wow Deaths Elixir, that was a very immpressive post with a colorful tone if
you read between the lines I am just a member who likes two great Gurnge bands
Alice in chains and Narivna that does not choice a side in the Goth and emos
in the culture clash of music.

strange thread....

I was never in with the Goth/Emo crowds. I never really enjoyed the attitude I saw from most of them. Plus I was too much of a nerd to fit in with them

I never understood why goth/emo people seemed to be unhappy/angry so often. I don't get why that is a desirable thing to do. The music, the clothes... it all seemed to make people upset who were a part of it. Maybe my life was better than that of those people and I had nothing to be upset about.

I would say that I am a skater more than anything. I wear DC shoes, a Vans,Dc,element,Quicksilver,etc T-shirt. Hell, I even used to skateboard, but there is no where to skate, so I can't.

Wow, some of the answers here are pretty far fetched. "Goths" are just people who like to dress in a certain "neo-victorian" style, with dark, romanticized themes, "old style" looking costumes, dark, theatric make-up, etc. They may or may not listen to "goth" music and they may or may not be "electro-goths," which is like the dance music version of a goth. To put it plainly, the chains (and not every goth wears chains), leather, etc, are all part of a look that heralds back to older times and Gothic architecture. It has nothing to do with being a Satan worshipper or any of that stuff. It's just a style.

There is no "goth" in the real world, outside of architecture and museums. All of these cliques in high school mean nothing in real life. Nobody cares what color clothing you wore in high school. They care that you pay your bills and that you do your job well.

DeathsElixir : Marilyn MANSON.

Sorry... I am a fan, I had to. But no, the Mechanical Animals album (when the boob-suit thing happened) was actually the glam-rock period. The last two albums he put out... those are the emo ones. I own them, but I don't listen to them... I really hope he goes back to the old style. But yeah, Holywood and Golden Age of Grotesque you might like, if you liked Antichrist Superstar and the early stuff.

... sorry for the tangent guys. Please, continue the discussion.

Oh... and Gothic architecture and the goth culture have little direct relation. People during the Renaissance thought the style of architecture (previously known as the "French Style") was ugly and base, so they referred to it at Gothic, linking it to what they termed as a base and barbaric culture: the Goths, who had destroyed the Roman Empire and thus ended the Classical period that the Renaissance scholars had just rediscovered and were in love with.

The Gothic style we are talking about here draws its name from the 19th century, mostly Victorian as noted by Middlemoor. They took the name from Gothic literature popular in that time (e.g: Dracula, Frankenstein, etc), and Gothic literature got its name from the habit of describing settings featuring Gothic architecture because of the emotions such buildings evoked (you know, the creepy old feeling). Combine all that with the punk movement that Goths evolved from and you have the pale-faced kids in all black with chains and a nihilistic attitude that you see today.