The LA Times has a report on some shiny, happy Goths:
Getting in Touch With Their Dark Sides -- in a Happy Way
In what has become an annual ritual, nearly 1,000 black-clad, death-rocker types from around the country invaded Disneyland on Sunday for what organizers officially bill as Bats Day in the Fun Park.
Attendees simply call it Goth Day. The event started five years ago with about 90 people going to Disneyland for the simple irony — a morose crowd in a place best known for making people happy.
Right. Simple irony. Sounds more like when you catch your friend, the indie film fan, renting "Forrest Gump." At Blockbuster.
For the clueless, or those who mistakenly think being Goth means wearing trench coats and worshiping the devil, a crash course on the subculture, which originated in the 1980s: Gothness is about appreciating darkness — whether in music, literature, clothing or a theme park ride.
Do they play Sisters of Mercy in the Haunted Mansion?
The event is held now because the park has longer hours in summer and the last Sunday in August is the first non-blackout day for season ticket holders. And you'd be surprised how many Southern California Goths have annual passes, said San Diego Web designer Joey Large, 33.
"Most of the Goths I hang out with are not dreary people," she said. "They're pretty perky."
The disconnect between Goths and Disney isn't as great as one might think, Large said, adding that Disney has a lot of evil — think Pirates of the Caribbean, the "Nightmare Before Christmas" movie or Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty's nemesis.
The "wenches" in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride had to be shown carrying food so it would look like the pirates chasing them were hungry and not, in fact, drunken rapists. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is about as evil as "Space Ghost Coast-To-Coast," and Maleficent...well, she's pretty bad ass. "Sleeping Beauty" came out over 40 years ago, however, and she still got killed by the good guy. Hell, they all do: Scar, The Queen from "Snow White," Ursula, Jafar, Gaston. In my opinion, the Gothiest Disney villain was Cruella DeVille, and she lived.
Maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but if you're a Goth and you want to take your kids to Disneyworld and get your picture taken with Belle and Mary Poppins, don't make excuses and claim it's all because "Disney has a lot of evil." It does, but it's the boring "exploit our third world labor force" brand of evil, not the cool kind. Be up front about your weakness for the Mouse and hopefully, some of your brethren will understand.
The rest will snicker at you behind their black, laqcuered fingernails.
A few days ago I heard an NPR opinion piece about how Disney was finally starting to embrace the sexier type of evil: they recently introduced among the Disney paint colors available at Home Depot a gray called "Mickey's Shadow".
"Gothness is about appreciating darkness..."
No, Gothness is about being "a member of a Germanic people that overran the Roman Empire in the early centuries of the Christian era." The meaning of "goth" is far too varied and fluid for someone to use some definition they pulled out of thin air to justify describing some given behavior as goth. Look! It's a goth: http://www.weta.org/pressroom/reading/images/fred_rogers.jpg
For some reason, I can't read the "Gothness is about appreciating darkness" line in any voice other than that of Galstaff, Sorcerer of Light.
http://www.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/GillyKayleighMatt/Page01.jpg
John Kovalic has been drawing Gilly the Perkygoth for years. Note the very happy looking Ankh. Given the commonly accepted symbolism of the Ankh, I think we can tell why she's a happy goth.
And on that theme, I suggest the complely not safe for work Sexy Losers (http://sexylosers.keenspace.com/195.html ), a comic strip that shows a keen understanding of the ups and downs of gothboi moodswings.