Right now, Fox is showing an episode of "Renovate My Family" that is a very odd, low-rent version of the Munsters. You remember - they had the one normal teenager? Well, this is a family with a goth mom, goth mom's perpetual fiance, two goth kids - and one normal little blonde teenybopper. And the normal teen supposedly wrote to Fox to get them to remake her mom, get her mom to marry her fiance, and knock the house down and rebuild it.
My boyfriend thinks it's all staged, and I have to agree. The "goth" decorations in the house are all Halloween decorations from Spencer's, and crap like that. I know a lot of adult goths, and adult goths do NOT dress their house up like "every day is Halloween" (even though that's a great song). Adult goths have spent a tad bit more money on their surroundings, or they've personalized their house with their own artwork and sculptures, or they collect gothy stuff (like Halloween Barbies) and display them in nice china cabinets like any other collector. Real adult goths do not buy every skull sold at the mall and hang them from the chandeliers for everyday decorations. That's for teenagers.
The decor that is being presented to us as "weird" and "fearsome," I could put together for $50 over eBay. Nu-uh. The coffin in the den (which doubled, supposedly, as the normal teen's bedroom) had a paper freakin' skeleton in it, for pete's sake. NO self-respecting adult goth clutters their home with that crap, except when throwing Halloween parties. This is an example of a good goth decorating scheme - it's not prepackaged, and it's definitely unique (note: her bedroom is pink). My bedroom has angel sconces, purple walls, purple velvet everywhere - and no skulls. My dining-room is dragon-themed - but no skulls.
Hmph. Talk about reinforcing negative stereotypes.
Second, we're supposed to believe the mom will marry her fiance just because the show's host say so, and in the time and manner chosen by the hosts? Right. The family can pack everything they want to save in two hours, and leave everything else behind, potentially to be thrown away? Right. And a team of workers will rebuild a house from scratch in one week? Right. The mom will stop being goth, even though she's a musician who works from home, and doesn't need another look? Right.
The more I watch it, the more I'm convinced they took a normal-ish family and staged the whole decor-goth thing. The better to play into stereotypes about how goths (a) think it's all about skulls and coffins and (b) really want to be "normal," if someone would just help them change.
Update: On the other hand, they just showed the family after their makeovers, and they all look so uncomfortable in their new hairdos/makeup/outfits that maybe it is for real. Certainly, any goth I know would look that awkward if you separated them from their black eyeliner (okay, some of the stereotypes are true). I'm still not buying the paper skeletons, though.
Update #2: Okay, the house is pretty dang spiffy. I love the iguana reptariums, for one thing (although I would have felt weird about someone else handling my reptile). It's my dream to have some nice ones built that are comfy for snakes, yet beautiful to display. The Japanese bedroom is lovely, and the master bathroom looks like something a real goth would design.
But those pimped-out cars? Oh, honey, no. If the skulls went in the trash, those tricked-out hubcabs should go right in with 'em.
Posted by kswygert at September 20, 2004 09:26 PM