... the other Black experience
GOTHIC MOVIES
I have one, it's Japanese, a martial arts film in fact. It's called Death Trance.
Grant you it will never be a classic but it's a fun film that reeks with goth images. I posted a few pictures so you'd see what I mean but the story line is pretty goth too. It concerns a guy who steals a coffin from a temple_ and from then on out he is known as the "coffin man". Legend has it that whoever opens the coffin will be granted whatever he wishes. Others say it is full of wealth and still another tale says that it has a dark goddess of destruction locked inside it and whoever opens it will bring about the end of everything.
It's a cute movie. Our hero drags the coffin around by chains that are wrapped around it and a little girl who never says a word goes wherever the coffin goes (and it changes hands a few times during the course of the film).
I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but in my opinion it is very much a gothic inspired film. This isn't really surprising, however, when you consider that goth is pretty big in Japan.
Anyone have any movies they care to mention? I would love to hear it and probably see it too.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on -
i remember bits of that coffin movie :) the bar scene was funny. :) exactly how goth are we getting here. not sure what the obvious ones are but Perfume the story of a murderer and Brotherhood of the Wolf are gothy enough for my tastes :)
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Permalink Reply by Spookycreep on
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Thanks for the comment. I never heard of the movie you mentioned but that's why I wanted to start this disscussion. I will investigate.
P.S.: Sounds pretty gothic to me.
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on
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Its more Gothic as in the literary style. i need to stop thinking straight visual
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I went on line to check out some images from the movie you mentioned. I see that it tells a story that takes place in the past, the 18th century or thereabouts. Considering that goth as a literary style began during that time and considering the story line, I'd say the film is very much a gothic thriller. A villian with a heightened sense of smell is just odd enough to attract the attention of a goth and I;m thinking, it probably beats the hell out of the yarns Ann Radcliff_ one of the originators of gothic literature_ use to write.(I got about halfway through one of her novels)
The film looks like one of those goth novels you see in women's romance sections of book stores, you know, the damsel in distress in the foreground with an old castle or abbey in the background on the cover . I've read a few of these books out of curiosity. I enjoyed the one's that had a supernatural element (read the first official goth novel, The Castle of Otranto. Dated but still cool. Strong supernatural elment) but everything depends on the story being told. Perfume sounds like a good story. It's not the kind of thing I'd immediately jump to but you giving it a thumb ups insures that if I ever come across it, I will check it out. And if I become a fan of the film, it wouldn't surprise me.
I have three other movies that may or may not be considered as goth inspired films but I think they are movies that goths would enjoy. The first is A Perfect World starinig Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood_ who also directed it.
This is a cool movie. This bad-ass escapes from prison and kidnaps a little boy from his home, carrying him along on his run from the law, holding him as a hostage. All of this occurs on Halloween. The boy's mother is a Jehovah's witness so the boy has never got to go trick or treating. The boy and convict become friends. Convict thinks the kid should have Halloween so, during the course of a store robbery, he picks the kid up a Casper costume. The boy wears it pretty much the rest of the film. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
The other two movies are classic black films. Cotton Comes To Harlem and Come Back Charleston Blue. One might not consider them goth films at first glance but I think argument could be made in their favor. First off, the names of the two detectives, Coffin Ed and Gravedigger Jones. They sound like goth names to me. I haven't seen either movie in a while but in going on line and reading up on them, the second one sounds goth as hell_ home grown. Afro goth.
A string of murders occur in the hood and at the scene of each is left a blue steel striaght razor. This weapon is known to be the calling card of the infamous vigilante, Charleston Blue but... he's suppose to be dead. And then there's Charleston Blue's wife, believing he's going to come back and is saving his razors for him. Creepy.
Any other suggestions?
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on
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Lemme scan my brain for abit....Im kinda young so i cant reach that far back from the obvious. things like perfume are bright spots i stumbled upon as i went through life. but let me think. there's a Japanese movie called Shinobi: heart under blade and its about two warring ninja clans. Its a star-crossed lovers Tragedy, Romeo and Juliet of sorts. all of the fighting takes place in the forest between the villages and the Kingdoms who want them all dead for the peace of the country.
of course it has its own sad sub stories for the characters ( Ive got a crushes on the man that cant die and equally the poison lady and lastly bondage guy)
and if you're into anime at all its kind of fun to sit and pick out which Naruto characters can be very very very distant relatives of the badass ninjas.
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Shinobi. Another new one. On it as we speak.
Something else occured to me, what about films with a cyber goth flavor? I 've never thought of this before and no movies immediately leap to mind except the Mad Max movies and I guess Blade Runner_ although in terms of story line, we might be on easier ground. The 1973 syfi classic, Soylent Green would be a perfect example and for that matter, the first Planet of the Apes. Have you seen Soylent Green? If you haven't, I don't want to give anything away by saying much about it. lets just say, the future's got some F_ed up jokes.
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on
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oh is it one of those Dystopian future type things? it'll be interesting. cyber goth huh....if blade runner then things like Repo men and the infamous Repo the genetic opera fall into that category. then there's that new movie about people knowing how much time they have left on their arms. my dad said there's an older movie like that where the people were expected to go and kill themselves off when their clock ran down. an unconventional means of population control it seems.
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How about the Power Rangers___ no, I'm joking!
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Space Hunter: Adventures InThe Forbidden Zone. I particularly liked the villian, Overdog in this movie. He seemed to hang from a metalic web like a half human, half spider creature and I liked the line he uttered when Mollie Ringwald's character made it through the maze and she told him that he said if she made it through she could go free. Overdogs response: A short, thoughtful pause and then_"I lied!" You gotta love a villian that tells the truth.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... steam punk?
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on
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lol i was raised on power rangers before it turned all corny :D ! Ooh :3 i like my villains to be whole too. They cant just be written off as a super genius or some sort of isolated hermit type. they have to be that way for a reason. he's a genius because he has a hunger for being able to deconstruct anything. or yeah this guys all quiet and stuff but he's doing it because he's picking apart your mind or something :D super psychologist. lol! No i don remember what it was...ill have to ask my dad again. poor guy must be so tired of me scratching at him for info time to dig into the web
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Speaking of Power Rangers and villians, I always thought Team Rocket from Poki Mon was cool. I use to get into that cartoon before it became popular.
I agree that the villian has to be human.. Even Adolf Hitler had friends and loved ones. A kindly old uncle with a funny mustache giving you presents when he comes to visit, doesn't mean, that same man can't be ordering the gassing of six million Jews. I talked to a guy from England over the Net once who told me his grandfather recently died and was given a large funeral. Many of the family are in law enforcement but his grand father had been known as a great bank robber in his day.
Villians. This is a topic all of it's self but I think it's safe to say, goth likes it's villians, so it's fair game for disscussion too. Persoanally, I've always had a fondness for the James Bond villians. Who would not want a secert base under the ocean or deep in some mountain top?
I think I could find something better to do than take over the world though.
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Permalink Reply by 1truCadenza on
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true that. i think however the desire to take over the world actually translates more so a seeking total acknowledgement from the world that he/she (the villain) believes completely shunned them. and in real life who's to call them wrong. i think thats why i appreciated Megamind so much. its the side of things that sort of not so much justifies but makes sense of the event in action. morals all aside of course when thinking logically but i feel people always disassociate human emotion when it comes to characters they can archetype but not relate to. That would make it a sort of Gothic concept. but ye indeed for the secret bases I make them in Minecraft all the time :D
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