What do fans of atmospheric post-punk music have in common with ancient barbarians? Not much. So why are both known as goths? Is it a weird coincidence or a deeper connection stretching across the centuries? The story begins in Ancient Rome. As the Roman Empire expanded, it faced raids and invasions from the semi-nomadic populations along its borders. Among the most powerful were a Germanic people known as Goths who were composed of two tribal groups, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. While some of the Germanic tribes remained Rome's enemies, the Empire incorporated others into the imperial army. As the Roman Empire split in two, these tribal armies played larger roles in its defense and internal power struggles. In the 5th century, a mercenary revolt lead by a soldier named Odoacer captured Rome and deposed the Western Emperor. Odoacer and his Ostrogoth successor Theoderic technically remained under the Eastern Emperor's authority and maintained Roman traditions. But the Western Empire would never be united again. Its dominions fragmented into kingdoms ruled by Goths and other Germanic tribes who assimilated into local cultures, though many of their names still mark the map. This was the end of the Classical Period and the beginning of what many call the Dark Ages. Although Roman culture was never fully lost, its influence declined and new art styles arose focused on religious symbolism and allegory rather than proportion and realism. This shift extended to architecture with the construction of the Abbey of Saint Denis in France in 1137. Pointed arches, flying buttresses, and large windows made the structure more skeletal and ornate. That emphasized its open, luminous interior rather than the sturdy walls and columns of Classical buildings. Over the next few centuries, this became a model for Cathedrals throughout Europe. But fashions change. With the Italian Renaissance's renewed admiration for Ancient Greece and Rome, the more recent style began to seem crude and inferior in comparison. Writing in his 1550 book, "Lives of the Artists," Giorgio Vasari was the first to describe it as Gothic, a derogatory reference to the Barbarians thought to have destroyed Classical civilization. The name stuck, and soon came to describe the Medieval period overall, with its associations of darkness, superstition, and simplicity. But time marched on, as did what was considered fashionable. In the 1700s, a period called the Enlightenment came about, which valued scientific reason above all else. Reacting against that, Romantic authors like Goethe and Byron sought idealized visions of a past of natural landscapes and mysterious spiritual forces. Here, the word Gothic was repurposed again to describe a literary genre that emerged as a darker strain of Romanticism. The term was first applied by Horace Walpole to his own 1764 novel, "The Castle of Otranto" as a reference to the plot and general atmosphere. Many of the novel's elements became genre staples inspiring classics and the countless movies they spawned. The gothic label belonged to literature and film until the 1970s when a new musical scene emerged. Taking cues from artists like The Doors and The Velvet Underground, British post-punk groups, like Joy Division, Bauhaus, and The Cure, combined gloomy lyrics and punk dissonance with imagery inspired by the Victorian era, classic horror, and androgynous glam fashion. By the early 1980s, similar bands were consistently described as Gothic rock by the music press, and the stye's popularity brought it out of dimly lit clubs to major labels and MTV. And today, despite occasional negative media attention and stereotypes, Gothic music and fashion continue as a strong underground phenomenon. They've also branched into sub-genres, such as cybergoth, gothabilly, gothic metal, and even steampunk. The history of the word gothic is embedded in thousands of years worth of countercultural movements, from invading outsiders becoming kings to towering spires replacing solid columns to artists finding beauty in darkness. Each step has seen a revolution of sorts and a tendency for civilization to reach into its past to reshape its present.
帶有獨特情緒的後龐克音樂粉絲們 和古代野蠻人之間有哪些共同點呢? 並不多。 何以二者都被稱為哥德人呢? 是奇怪的巧合, 還是兩者間的深層連結 跨越了數個世紀呢? 故事始於古羅馬時期, 伴隨著領土擴張,羅馬帝國的國界 遭受許多半游牧民族的入侵和襲擊。 其中最強勢的 是被稱為哥德人的德國人, 由兩個部落組成: 東哥德人 和西哥德人。 雖然有些德國部落始終與羅馬為敵, 但是其他的部落被收編為帝國軍隊。 當羅馬帝國一分為二時, 這些部落軍隊扮演了防禦敵人 和內部權力鬥爭的重要角色。 第五世紀士兵奧多亞塞帶領傭兵反叛, 逮捕並廢黜了西羅馬帝王。 奧多賽亞以及他的繼承人 東哥德首領狄奧多里克 名義上持續受東羅馬皇帝統治, 並維持著羅馬的傳統。 但是西羅馬帝國從未再合併過, 而是分裂成被哥德人 及其他融入當地文化的德國部落 所統治的各個主權國, 許多當時的名稱 仍呈現在今日的地圖上。 這乃是古典時期的終結, 和所謂「黑暗時期」的開始。 儘管羅馬文化並未完全消失 但影響力式微,新的藝術風格興起, 著重於宗教象徵和寓言, 而非謹守於比例和現實。 這種轉變延伸到建築風格, 1137 年興建的法國聖丹尼斯修道院 有著尖形拱門、飛扶壁和大窗戶, 使建築顯得更瘦削、華麗, 它強調開放而明亮的室內空間, 摒棄古典建築的結實牆壁或柱子, 在接下來的幾個世紀裡 成為歐洲大教堂的範本。 但時尚風又轉向了, 意大利的文藝復興 再度傾心於古希臘和古羅馬, 使當時那種風格相形見絀。 喬爾喬·瓦薩里在 1550 年的著作 《藝術家的生活》中 首次稱那種風格為「哥德式」, 把它與摧毀古典文明的蠻人 相提並論,是種貶抑的說法。 從此這個用詞難被甩脫, 進而被用來描述整體中世紀, 和黑暗、迷信、幼稚的聯想。 隨著時間推移和時尚推展。 啟蒙時期在 1700 年代到來, 最推崇科學理性。 反對派的浪漫主義作家歌德和拜倫 則尋求過往自然景觀的理想化視角 和神秘的精神力量。 於此,哥德一詞的含義被重新定位 來描述這種較黑暗的 浪漫主義系列文學流派。 霍勒斯·渥波爾於 1764 年的小說《奧特蘭托堡》中 首次用哥德這詞來描述 小說情節及整體氛圍。 後來小說中的許多元素 成為流派的主要元素, 啟發了經典文學 以及無數次被改編成電影。 1970 年代以前 哥德風格專屬於文學和電影, 然後一種新的音樂場面出現了。 受到門戶樂團和地下絲絨樂團的啟發, 英國的後龐克樂團 例如歡樂分隊、 包豪斯樂團 和治療樂隊, 混合了陰鬱的歌詞、 龐克的不協調音樂、 維多利亞時代的意象、 經典的恐懼元素、經典恐怖、 以及中性風格。 到了 1980 年代早期, 這類風格的樂隊 被音樂媒體貫稱為「哥德搖滾」, 這種受歡迎的風格 使表演場地從燈光幽暗的俱樂部 轉向主流唱片公司和音樂電視台。 雖仍偶有負面的媒體報導和刻板印象, 如今哥德音樂和時尚 已是活躍的特殊地下現象, 並已分枝出次類別, 例如 cybergoth、 gothabilly、 哥德金屬、 甚至蒸汽龐克。 哥德這個詞 嵌入反文化運動的歷史長達上千年, 自外族入侵稱王, 至高聳的尖塔取代了堅固的柱子, 以及至藝術家發現黑暗中的美。 每一步都被視為某種改革, 也是回溯過去的文明 進而重塑現在的趨勢。